Help identifying relics from Guadalcanal

Hi everyone,
Here are a few relics Ive found in Guadalcanal, most are from the area west of the Mataniko (Matanikau in ww2 texts) river, just up the hill from Point Cruz (now well and truly 'suburban' Honiara)... from a little bit of research and the location these items probably date from the Matanikau battles, in particular fighting around hill 84 in September 1942
Id really appreciate any assistance with identifying them.

Any comments , suggestions, questions welcome.
I have a few more relics Ill add to another post (image size restrictions)

Attached:
Handfull of different projectiles, some .50cal? unsure of others - any ideas?
Machine gun shell casings - Japanese type 92?
Bayonet pieces - Japanese type 30?
Boot heel - US?
Thanks

 

The casings on the belt are definetly not Japanese. To my knowledge all Japanese land-based machine guns used either a box magazine or a brass strip. With that in mind, I'd guess they're off a .50 cal Browning M2.

I'd say that the bayonet is a Type 30.

 

Thanks, appreciate that, sorry I made a mistake in my post I meant Japanese type 92 machine gun, not 96, but I really don't know. Reason I thought it might be type 92 was from googling it looked like they fired belts of 30, and the brass strips holding the casings looks similar to images on the Web. I did look at the browning but it looked like the browning belts were held together by a different means?

 

here is a better pic of the casings

 

Measure the length of the casings and the diameter of the openings.

Same with the various slugs. The Japanese 7.7 is so close to US diameter (.308 vs .311) that with corrosion you'll probably have to go by weight, or with the cartridges, by length. The 7.7 case will be 58mm long and the 30.06 cartridge will be 63mm. The US .30 slugs will be about 150 grains, the Japanese 7.7 about 175 grains.

The other common Japanese slug is the 6.5, (actually 6.7mm) which is just over 26 caliber (.2640) and weighs 139 grains. The case/cartridge of the 6.5 will be 50mm long.

All of the slugs will probably have lost a few grains due to corrosion and wear.

The round-nose slug is certainly a US .45acp and should weigh 230 grains.

 

Ahh, OK. From the first photo it looked like a normal disintigrating belt found on the .50cal M2s. With this new photo I can see that's not the case.

I can definetly see the similarities with the brass strips. The casings also look to be from 7.7mm "semi-rimmed" ammo that was used in the Type 92. So you're probably right. Check the diameter of the casings at the neck, and compare the diameter of the case body ("lower casing") to the rim. If the neck is close to 7.7mm and the rim is slighly larger in diameter than the case body, its off a Type 92.

 

Thanks for that - was wondering what the round nosed slug was.
the casings a L=51.4mm, dia. opening (internal 7.7mm, external 8.8mm), dia.rim 11.96mm (diameter of the case body just below the shoulder c.11.6mm) - shell casings rusty and weathered so measurements approx.

the other projectiles are in these sizes (approx)
L=57.6mm, dia. 12.7mm
L=34.74, dia 7.7mm
L=27.75, dia. 7.7mm
Does that help?
unfortunately I dont have any scales to weigh them.

 

Here are another couple of relics, from the Cape Esperence/ Visale area in Western Guadalcanal

Some sort of machine gun, has a stainless steel ending on the barrel, it is anazing to see how the stainless steel has held up to corrosion better than the rest of the gun.

Light tank - upside down.

 

The 30.06 (7.62) and 7.7 are extremely close in diameter so considering wear, you aren't going to be able to tell the difference in diameter.

As for length, I have some 147 grain .308 (7.62x51) slugs for the more modern .30 military arms and they are just over 28mm in length. That should be within a millimeter or so of the WWII era 30.06. Yours are probably a tad short from wear, or just from being fired. Anyway, the 27.75 slugs are certainly 30.06, and the 34.74 slugs are almost certainly the heavier Japanese 7.7 175 grain slug.

 

Thanks Kodiakbeer, yes they're all worn from 70 or so years in the tropics and most have been fired, so the measurements would be affected.

It's certainly a long way from Alaska.

 

here are a couple of others,
first is a projectile (its badly weathered so measurements difficult)
diameter = c.11.1mm, length = 46.25mm

second item I'm not sure about at all, might be WW2 or any other era, just found in same place as other relics and similar wear.
Flat spanner, has 2 small holes in it, length 148mm, opening 19mm (or 3/4 inches AF)

 

I think the first item is the steel core of a .50 BMG AP round after it has struck something and shed its brass liner. The dimensions are about right for that.

 

Excellent, thank you, yes that would also explain why its texture is so different from the others, and it is so corroded.
Much appreciated

 

That light tank is a great relic too !

 

Is there a problem with un-exploded ordnance over there?

 

I'm pretty sure those particular casings must be 1950's/60's/70's era 7.62x51NATO cartridges.

 

Thanks, after googling the measurements I came to a similar conclusion, the only close match seems to be the NATO cartridges, I've re-checked my measurements, they're correct. It's a bit of a mystery why they're here amongst other WW2 relics... There was later fighting here as part of the ethnic tensions, but very mysterious....
If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them.

 

Yes there is, for the last few years there has been a concerted effort by Australia, US and other countries to clean up these ('operation render safe') they have located and destroyed tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance. There is a place called Hells Point near Henderson airfield where they explode them. But it's not uncommon for people to find unexploded, bombs, mortars, mines, grenades, cartridges etc, it seems everyone has stories of finding unexploded ordnance, or knows someone who has. There is even a small illicit business for some brave guys in extracting the explosives to re-use for 'dynamite fishing'.

 

Well be careful digging around out there then. And welcome to the forums.