Romanian 12.7 X 108

[Orita]

- I have a few Romanian made 12.7X108 rimless fired shell cases which were fired on December 22nd 1989 at Bucharest during the so called "Romanian Revolution". The shell cases are made of brown lacquered steel and were fired by the 12.7mm heavy machine-guns mounted on tanks. The B.O.C.N. member "dano1917" will be kind enough to post again below my picture, since I cannot do it myself. At left [in my photo] can be seen 2 headstamps for the Romanian made 12.7X108 rounds. The headstamp markings are raised. At the 12 o'clock position there is the code "21" for the Cugir Arsenal from Transylvania, the Romanian State plant where these 12.7X108 rounds were manufactured [the code "21" was also used by Poland and Hungary]. At the 6 o'clock position there is the two digit date of the year of the ammo manufacture, "78" at left [for 1978] and "80" at right [for 1980]. Note the clear markings left on the shell case heads by the ejector during the extraction process. The head of each 12.7X108 shell case has a diameter of 21.8mm [0.858-inch] with Berdan percussion primers with the diameter of 9mm [0.354-inch]. The same type of primer was used for the 14.5X114, 23X115 and 23X152B ammo. At right [in my photo] there is a Romanian made 12.7X108 fired shell case. The side of the shell case was scratched by the belt link during the loading process and the shell case mouth was badly dented during the extraction process. These Romanian made 12.7X108 rounds had "B-32" API bullets with black tip and a red band below. Orita 07/09/09

 

[dano1917]

photo

photo uploaded as per Orita request

 

[waffenamt]

Interesting write up.
I have a contact in Romania who maybe able to shed any info on these if i can tap her up to go and study for me about these cases?
best

waff

 

[Orita]

- @ waffenamt: Since you posted above "her", I assume your contact from Romania is a woman and I don't think she can find out anything about the 12.7X108 ammo manufactured 30 years ago. If she lives in Romania she speaks Romanian but so do I [after living more than three decades in that country]. => Romania joined the NATO forces about 5 years ago and NATO type ammunition is manufactured now in Romania together with old type Soviet ammo [7.62X39, 12.7X108, 14.5X114, etc.] Orita 07/10/09

 

[MissingSomething]

12.7x108

Nice cartridges Orita :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

I have a few Russian (factory 188) ones with bullets (on left)

And a few Czech ones (czo) (on right)

 

[MissingSomething]

A few more

And a Igman Zavod, Konjic, Yugoslavia (IK) round.

To the right are a 14.5x114 belt (top) (round to the left for comparison) and a 12.7x108 belt (bottom)(round to the left for comparison).

 

[waffenamt]

- @ waffenamt: Since you posted above "her", I assume your contact from Romania is a woman and I don't think she can find out anything about the 12.7X108 ammo manufactured 30 years ago. If she lives in Romania she speaks Romanian but so do I [after living more than three decades in that country]. => Romania joined the NATO forces about 5 years ago and NATO type ammunition is manufactured now in Romania together with old type Soviet ammo [7.62X39, 12.7X108, 14.5X114, etc.] Orita 07/10/09

oki doki,just trying to help pal.
Its just she lives not far from the National Museum in Bucharest and it would have been no trouble for her to go ask some questions.



waff

 

[Orita]

- @ MissingSomething: I also have a Russian WW2 and Egyptian 12.7X108 but I don't have an original steel belt for this type of ammo. What is the capacity of the belt you have for the 12.7X108 rounds??? Orita 07/11/09 P.S. I forgot to mention at the beginning of this topic that Romanian made 12.7X108 rimless rounds with brown lacquered steel cases had been also manufactured by "Cugir Arsenal" using the code "15" [not only "21"]. I have such a very rare fired shell case [Romanian 12.7X108] made in 1981 and headstamped "15" over "81".

 

[MissingSomething]

Very cool..

The 14.5 and 12.7 Russian belts were all in 10 round sections.... they then linked the sections together to make a bigger belt. It looked like a good idea as you didn't have a large chunk hanging out of the weapon after extended periods of firing.

 

[MT-LB]

Only wanted to mention that the 14,5 belt is for any KPV - KPVT weapon, but your 12,7 belt is only for the DShKM. The original DShK and the newer NSV - NSVT use different belts.
Can post pics of them next week if of interest.
Erik

 

[MissingSomething]

Only wanted to mention that the 14,5 belt is for any KPV - KPVT weapon, but your 12,7 belt is only for the DShKM. The original DShK and the newer NSV - NSVT use different belts.
Can post pics of them next week if of interest.
Erik

Yes Erik, I would like to see the different variations.

 

[Orita]

- @ MissingSomething: I know the 14.5mm steel belt has a capacity of 10-rounds 14.5X114, I have 2 in my collection and I fired the 14.5mm heavy machine-gun in Romania during the 16 month military service [1974-76]. I had no idea the 12.7mm steel belt has the same capacity. ---> @ MT-LB / Erik: I would like also to see close pictures showing the 12.7mm steel belts and their markings [if any]. Orita 07/12/09

 

[MissingSomething]

- @ MissingSomething: I know the 14.5mm steel belt has a capacity of 10-rounds 14.5X114, I have 2 in my collection and I fired the 14.5mm heavy machine-gun in Romania during the 16 month military service [1974-76]. I had no idea the 12.7mm steel belt has the same capacity. Orita 07/12/09

OOOHHHH, I would love to have fired a belt fed 14.5 machine gun :tinysmile_cry_t4:

I have fired a PTRS-41 and a PTRD-41 though.... but its not the same....

 

[MT-LB]

Here now pictures of the 3 different 12,7x108 DShK, DShKM and NSV belts.
First pic shows DShK, DShKM and NSV , pic 2 and 3 will show the difference between the DShKM and NSV and pic 4 is a part of the DShK belt.
DShK belt came in 50 rounds length
DShKM belt in 10 round section
NSV belt in 10 round section

 

[MissingSomething]

Thanks for the pics MT-LB... learned another new thing today :tinysmile_fatgrin_t