Hi everybody. I found a bullet at a yard sale that I need to ID. it is somewhat teardrop shaped, a litle over 3 inches long, it has a redish (copper?) band near the back end, and the back has a small compartment with a screw in cap. It seems to heavy/hard to be lead. there is a small japanese character on the back that looks like the carecter for person, but it has an up side down and backword L shape on the right side. the tip is very sharp. could this be tank buster amo or depleted uranium? thanks


--bullet

hmm, interesting...could you possibly provide us with a picture/s so we can further help you?

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

Good luck. What is the diameter? A photo would help. Tony Williams might weigh in on this one. He is much better at IDing rounds than I am.
One thing is certain it is not depleted uranium but, if you happen to have an AN/PDR-56 Alpha sintilation detector you can check and see for sure.... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I have no idea what caliper is as it is metric. its more than an imperial .75 though. I am not positive its from WWII, so it may be depleted uranium. I dont have a AN/PDR-56 Alpha sintilation detector, but I know someone who might help me out. I just remembered, the chamber in the back is counter threaded. here are some pics.











one of the pics is a shot of my crude interpritation of the japanese character. one is the bullet near the end to its inner chamber. one is what the bullet looks like fully asembled

Are you absolutely sure it is a bullet?
It's very like a Plumb-line I've got, the back unscrewing to fit the string??
Also that copper 'driving band' looks an awful lot like the ring from a Plumbing compression fitting, though I suppose they perform similar tasks.
Sorry if this isn't helpful, I'm no ammo expert.
Cheers,
Adam.

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your right....that does look like a plumb bob.... as i have never seen a bullet that has a screw on the back...
just a guess...

__________________
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

I thought it was a plum bob for a while too. then, I went to google images to see if I could find any like it, and there is not a single one made of steal with a coopper ring. I also dicoverd that the ring is not copper by tring to scratch it with my knife.

--bullet

could i tbe chinese?

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

It might be chinese, but it looks like japaneese. my friend who teaches japaneese toold me it looks some what like the character for heaven. my friend who is chineese said that it could be a word, but if it is he dose not know what it means

If it's just over .75 inches in calibre, then it's a 20mm cannon projectile. The shape, and the lack of the nose fuze, shows it to be an armour-piercing type, WW2 era. Definitely no worries about DU! These cannon projectiles all look very similar, but if it's Japanese it could be from the 20x125 Type 97 (anti-tank rifle and aircraft gun) or the 20x142 Type 98 AA gun, as shown in the pic below, from the Ammo Photo Gallery on my website.

Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website

hope we helped you out so far bullet

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

the size of the projectile is over .75, not the size of the shell, which I dont have. sorry my pics are gone, my dad cleared out his website

Yes, that's what I meant.

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website

After looking at the pictures bullet posted a few days ago, I think Tony is right on as to which bullet/projectile it is. Cool find.

Thanks for all the trouble you guys went to to find this!

If anyone anywhere was going to I.D. this object, it would have to be Tony Williams !

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