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WWII 12.7mm Aircraft Ammo Variants

This cartridge was introduced in the late 1930s and remained in service until the end of WWII. It was used by Italy, Spain, Hungary, Japan, and Britain for heavy aircraft machine guns. The original was the British .50 Vickers V/565, while the Italian and Japanese versions were interchangeable but not with the British. The Japanese copied the Italian version. Both countries produced various ammunition types identified by colored tips/seals, including: armor piercing, tracer, incendiary, explosive, and practice rounds. Headstamp markings identified country and manufacturer of origin.

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478 views8 pages

WWII 12.7mm Aircraft Ammo Variants

This cartridge was introduced in the late 1930s and remained in service until the end of WWII. It was used by Italy, Spain, Hungary, Japan, and Britain for heavy aircraft machine guns. The original was the British .50 Vickers V/565, while the Italian and Japanese versions were interchangeable but not with the British. The Japanese copied the Italian version. Both countries produced various ammunition types identified by colored tips/seals, including: armor piercing, tracer, incendiary, explosive, and practice rounds. Headstamp markings identified country and manufacturer of origin.

Uploaded by

enrico
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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This cartridge was introduced in the late 1930s for heavy aircraft machine guns and it remained in service

until the end of WWII. Italy, Spain, Hungary and Japan used it and Britain manufactured it for export. The
original cartridge was the British .50 Vickers V/565. The Italian and Japanese cartridges were
interchangeable but the British version isnt interchangeable with any other 12.7mm.
The Japanese copied this cartridge from the Italians and their original ammunition supplies were Italian.
ITALIAN VARIATIONS.
This cartridge was used in a BREDA aircraft machine gun.
Tracer with red tip
Armour piercing with green tip
Armour piercing/ Tracer/ Incendiary. Stepped boattail projectile with white tip.
Armour piercing/ Incendiary with red tip and red primer annulus.
Incendiary/ Tracer with blue painted projectile.
Observation two piece projectile with blue tip.
Explosive fuzed projectile with red tip.
Explosive/Tracer/Incendiary fuzed projectile with yellow painted projectile.
JAPANESE VARIATIONS.
This cartridge was used in the Type 1 and HO 103 machine guns.
Ball with red case mouth seal.
Tracer with green case mouth seal.
Armour piercing with green over white case mouth seal.
Armour piercing/ Tracer with black case mouth seal.
Incendiary flat tipped projectile with red case mouth seal.
Explosive fused projectile with white case mouth seal.
Explosive/ Tracer fused projectile with blue and red case mouth seal.
SPANISH VARIATIONS.
Ball steel jacket with cupro-nickel wash.
Tracer with red tip.
Blank rose crimped case mouth.
80.9 mm
13.05 mm
19.55 mm
Dummy nickel plated case with hollow projectile.
12.7 x 81 British Vickers linked belt.
12.7 x 81SR Japanese. Left to right,
Tracer, HE/I fuzed and HE/I fuzeless.
12.7 x 81SR Japanese linked belt from crashed Zero Darwin 1942.
12.7 x 81 British Drill and Ball comparison.
12.7 x 81SR Italian H.E/I fuzed
version.
12.7 x 81SR Italian. Top Armour Piercing, bottom Armour Piercing Incendiary
Tracer.
HEADSTAMPS
Japanese
Tracer.
British Mk 2Z ball
made by Royal
Laboratories.
British Mk 1 Drill
also by Royal
Laboratories.
British Ball made
by Kynock.
British Mk 1
practice ball.
Italian HE. Marked
with S for Scoppianti
Italian Armour
Piercing.
Japanese HE/I. Japanese HE/I fuzeless. Japanese AP/T
Italian HE/I. Italian
API/T
AP?
COLOUR CODES USED ON JAPANESE
12.7 x 81SR
AP/T
AP/T
AP/T
BALL
HE/I
HE/I
HE/I
HE/I
COLOUR CODES USED ON ITALIAN
12.7x81SR
AP
INC
(PHOS)
TRACER
AP/I
INC/T
(THERMITE)
INC/T
(THERMITE)

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