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20mm identification

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EvilAL

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I was going thru some of my deceased father's boxes and came across 2 20mm shells. One has DAC 20mm MK II 1943 stamped on it and has a red projectile. The other has 105 ASB 43 stamped on it and has a yellow projectile with a red stripe. It also has a silver tip that looks like it can be unscrewed. I've been reading up and I am beginning to think that these are explosive projectiles and would like to get rid of them for safety reasons if that is the case.
Thank you..
 
Also on the tip of the projectile that looks like it can be unscrewed it says... asr 43 (then a small hole) 434 (then a stamp thats hard to see) A.Z.49
 
20mm.png

He had them mounted on the board before but for some reason took them off, the ID tags he made were there and I never knew what they were for. I put them back on the board, the writing on the board is what is stamped on the back...
 
The top one is 20mm Oerlikon most likely U.S., primarily for antiaircraft use. The red projectile would be High Explosive/Incendiary. The bottom one is most likely German also primarily Antiaircraft, and it's projectile is also High Explosive. Of course it is better to have experts handle them, but you might just gently see if the aluminum nose piece unscrews. They are both right-hand thread. Most shells mounted on boards have had the explosive contents removed. If they won't unscrew with your fingers, assume they are still filled with explosive. If they do unscrew easily, look inside to see if they are empty. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, turn them over to the military or police. If the nose piece (fuze) does unscrew, but the interiors are filled clear up to the fuze, it is most likely explosive and you need to get them to the police or military.

You didn't mention if the primers on the cartridge cases were still live. Also if you shake the rounds, and hear powder shaking around inside, that is a clue that they might still be loaded and live.
 
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They are live. Maybe I'll bring them to the barracks here instead of the police, I don't trust the police not to arrest me for having them in my possession.
It sucks I have to get rid of them, they are nice, but I can't think of any way to safely make them inert, and I like my arms attached to my body..

Thank you so much for your help HAZORD..
 
Glad to see this has worked out, it is always better to be safe if in any doubt at all that any item may be live. A shame that they were not inerted before being mounted on a board, the lower of the two was as Hazord pointed out a WW2 German 20x138b Solothurn high explosive tracer. On another note these rounds are available in a safe inert state for collectors if you wanted to start a collection of your own.
Best regards Weasel.
 
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