what is it?

[JimmyTheDentist]

need help identifying a thing . . . i might have simply missed it . . . but i'm not seein' a spot on this site where folks can get help with un-categorized confusion.

what the heck is this thing?

130829130830130831

it was in a pile of "gun stuff" but i can't find anything anywhere on-line . . . i'm not even very confident that it's related to our hobby.

it is marked:

4 -42
20MM MK III MOD. 14
T.P.C.

threaded at one end . . . solid in the middle.

i hate to even guess but perhaps some very old shotshell re-loading tool?

those of us who are more confused than the rest of you might need a regular place to ask stupid questions that ain't answered elsewhere on this webpage :veryconfu.

anyway, any info would be appreciated.

thanks much.

J the D

[Mk42gunner]

Looks like a 20mm projectile to me. Might be an unfinished example from the way it looks.

Only one of my ships still had 20mm guns, and they were taken off shortly after I got on her; before I could talk the skipper into letting us shoot the training allowance up.

Robert

[Vopie]

Looks to be a de-milled (deactivated) 20 mm projectile to me...

[JSnover]

I haven't seen enough I fired 20Mike projectiles up close to know if/how they were marked. Could it be some sort of 20mm go-no gage?

[Dan Cash]

Un assembled 20mm HE projectile casing. Has not been put together yet.

[JimmyTheDentist]

thanks fellas!

you're right, of course . . . part of a 20mm projectile. i wouldn't expect all those markings to be on every single round . . . or any round.

http://www.big-ordnance.com/forsale/20mmHE.JPG

http://www.inertord.com/images/foreign/germ20mmprojo.jpg

these situations are the things that make me love this site . . . i'd never know where to even begin looking without you people!

if anybody is interested, this thing is free to a good home.

thanks for all the input!

Jimmy

[Artful]

You seem to be missing the fun part
http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Oerlikon_20mm_machine_gun_on_the_USS_Massachusetts _museum_ship.jpg

[skeettx]

http://soldusa.com/rainworx/detail.asp?id=21999

[JimmyTheDentist]

You seem to be missing the fun part

that gun looks dangerous . . . i live in NY where nobody gets to enjoy "the fun part" especially if a gun looks dangerous.

you're right though. and boy oh boy would i love a chance to do this at our Bullseye range:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fXeEM5jhrM

James

[Artful]

Arizona has some fun shooting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCppmoZiXUY

[JimmyTheDentist]

Arizona has some fun shooting

well thanks. you've ruined me.

now all i ever want to do is shoot full-auto tracers at explosives during no-light hours.

SO JEALOUS!

alas, here in NYS that's just five hours of Class C Felonies for everybody in the video.

i appreciate the link.

J the D

[Artful]

Hey, it's public - just plan your vacation around it
http://mgshooters.com/

Every think of going to Las Vegas, Nevada?
http://thegunstorelasvegas.com/

and closer to you - Knob Creek/West Point, Kentucky twice a year
http://www.knobcreekrange.com/events/featured-events/machine-gun-shoot

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That's what it is, all right. I suppose the steel part swells almost imperceptibly until it is wide enough to ride the bore, while the brass driving band is engraved by the rifling.

What surprises me, though, is to see all that writing stamped or deeply engraved on the body of the shell. Possibly this was a demonstration item used in instruction.

[JimmyTheDentist]

and closer to you - Knob Creek/West Point, Kentucky
great info . . . thanks!

gotta make it to at least one of these in the not-too-distant future . . . KY is do-able.

besides, who can possibly resist a joint whose tag line is "Nothing brings families together like blowing stuff apart... Safely."

now i'm all jazzed.

Jimmy

[JimmyTheDentist]

. . . What surprises me, though, is to see all that writing stamped or deeply engraved on the body of the shell. Possibly this was a demonstration item used in instruction.

i figure that's right . . . for training/presentation or maybe a prototype.

and maybe the "4 -42" could mean "April 1942"?

at least most of the mystery is solved.

thanks again everybody for the input.

Jimmy

[Powder Burn]

Son is going to Knob Creek in a few weeks. Here's a display 20 MM I picked up somewhere. It is hollow and can unscrew at the base to hide stuff? Dad was on two battleships before (USS Arkansas) and during (USS New Jersey) WWII. He told me they removed the 20 mm since they couldn't stop the Kamikaze. The 5 inch and 40MM Bofors would put the hurt on them though.

130991

[dtknowles]

I will take it if it is still available, I have brass to go with it.

Tim

[JimmyTheDentist]

I will take it if it is still available, I have brass to go with it.

Tim

sure is . . . PM me with your shipping info and i'll get it to ya asap.

J the D

[W.R.Buchanan]

IN 1972 just before the Final Bombing offensive on Hanoi during Christmas of 1972, I was running the C9 Phase dock at Clark AFB. C9's were the Hospital Ships (DC9's) that brought the POW's back from Hanoi after the truce in 1973.

We also took care of all of the other aircraft that the Base Flight Squadron had under it's banner including the Base's own Squadron of 20 or so F4's which were about to be deployed to Thailand to take part in that offensive.

Since I was "Supervisor," (believe me, in the loosest sense of the word) I was invited to watch the initial firing of the first Vulcan Gatling Gun hung on the bottom of an F4D. Our group had adapted a pod that took the place of the belly tank on the centerline of the aircraft as there were not enough F4E's to go around. The whole pod unit was about 15-18 feet long and the gun had 7 barrels, they had it turned down to about 5000 rounds per minute for the test, but was capable of 6000. IN 10 seconds they fired 500 rounds, and the noise was something I have never forgotten! We were 1/2 mile back!

They had the airplane on jacks to test fire the gun, as it would have removed the Front Landing Gear otherwise. They also had the engines running to counteract the purported recoil of the gun which in fact did exist in substantial amounts.

The test lasted 10 seconds and generated a big pile of brass and turned a cinderblock test wall 200 yards in front of the plane into dust. We were advised to remain well back in the Line Truck as they didn't know what was going to happen, but we were allowed to inspect the plane up close after the test was complete.

There were a few unfired rounds in the pile of brass, and this one came home with me and has been in my reloading kit ever since. It is a live round that didn't fire as the primer was not hit, and it just went thru the gun and ended up in the pile of brass. It is marked M55, and is loaded with an inert bullet.

The sound was like the largest Hornet you have ever heard, but the bite was much worse as anyone who has seen a Vulcan Cannon fired can attest!

At the time of the first F4's Jet Fighters and Fighter Bombers were not being designed with guns as the think was that air to air missiles were the be all end all. This was disproven quickly in Viet Nam as the only thing the missiles would do reliably was miss the targets. As a result of that experience all fighters now have guns as their primary weapons system.

The F4's we had were C and D models that had no provision for mounting the gun. Our C models were RF4C's and strictly for Reconnaissance and had no armament at all. The D models had a provision for a Belly Tank or a Nuke. The E models came out with the gun mounted inside the fuselage and the muzzle was right under the nose. They were the best F4's ever made and pretty awesome machines.

Randy

Here's a link to info on the M61A1, it is an interesting read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan

[Artful]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xMD0bGodFE

[Artful]

GAU-8 30mm from the A-10 - for comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33teK7L4DM4

to give idea about sizes
http://atomictoasters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Ammo2.jpg
The GAU-8 which the A-10 is built around
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/GAU-8_meets_VW_Type_1.jpg
Drum at the back holds both live cartridges and fired casings...

[dikman]

Awesome! How on earth can something mechanical operate so fast??

[Mk42gunner]

Electric motors.

Robert

[JimmyTheDentist]

Here's a link to info on the M61A1, it is an interesting read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan

very interesting indeed.

i think most folks realize the Gatling gun has been around for a century and a half. but for some reason it doesn't register that the "vulcan" technology has been around for the better part of six decades.

makes me wonder what's next.

J t D

[Artful]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/navy-tests-laser-weapon-system-uss-ponce/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DbgNju2wE


Watch the U.S. Navy test out its ultra-precise laser system in the Persian Gulf

It’s no secret that the United States military has some of the most advanced weaponry in the world, but even so, it’s still hard to believe some of the weapons they use nowadays are real. With things like rail guns, self-guiding bullets, and pseudo-mechanical exoskeletons for foot soldiers, our arsenal seems like something straight out of a science fiction movie.

The latest addition to the growing list of sci-fi tech is the U.S. Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LaWS for short) — the most advanced “directed energy weapon” the military has deployed to date. Check it out in the video below.

Designed to defend ships against drones, small boats, and even submarines, the LaWS is comprised of two parts: a high energy solid-state infrared laser and a computerized targeting/tracking system. Using machine vision, LaWS operators are able to lock onto extremely distant targets, and follow them as they move through the air or water. Once locked on, the laser can fire a 30-kilowatt blast at a target, directed in a beam that’s only about 2 or 3 nanometers in diameter. This extremely focused beam allows LaWS to burn up targets incredibly fast — much faster than previous directed energy weapons the U.S. military has produced.

And it’s not just for blowing stuff up either. The intensity of the laser’s beam can be adjusted to provide different effects. When fired at lower energies, LaWS can be used to “dazzle” or blind an enemy rather than destroy it.

So why build a laser when the Navy already boasts some of the most powerful weaponry in the world? There are a handful of reasons. First of all, firing a laser is drastically less expensive than firing a surface to air missile. The Navy estimates that LaWS costs less than one dollar per shot, whereas standard missiles often cost upward of $750,000 apiece when you account for all the design, manufacturing, transportation, and maintenance that they require. Lasers also pose less of a danger to the ship and its crew, since they can’t explode or detonate accidentally.

LaWS hasn’t been fired on any actual adversaries yet, but was recently deployed in the Persian Gulf aboard the USS Ponce, where it has been conducting tests for the past few months. And this is just the beginning. The Office of Naval Research is reportedly has plans to deploy a much more powerful laser (100 to 150-kilowatts) by 2016, so if your world domination plot involve taking on the U.S. Navy in any way, you might want to rethink your plan.

:bigsmyl2:

[JimmyTheDentist]

Watch the U.S. Navy test out its ultra-precise laser system

now that's what i'm talkin' about!

and at just a couple a bucks per shot i think that means everybody can have one mounted on top of their garage or minivan.

i want to be the guy that gets to run this thing:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZR0mjiLOrs/U_OfuKzbcOI/AAAAAAABGJw/5Lhnh_RooGo/s1600/00001953.jpg

maybe someday.

ciao.

Jimmy

[Artful]

Well considering the previous USAF Laser weapon took up all of a 747
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-DEW-HEL-Analysis.html
the new smaller size of the Navy Laser
in just 20 years you may see vehicle mounted versions.
I still want the 40 watt phased plasma rifle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIPCn-aYMoM

[dtknowles]

Jimmy

Thanks, here is a picture with it on my brass. I will make a nose cap some day, hopefully soon.

131499

Tim

[JimmyTheDentist]

Jimmy

Thanks, here is a picture with it on my brass.

Tim

that's great . . . . looks a whole lot better there than collecting dust in my junk box!

glad you could use it.

Jimmy the Dentist

[257]

that is a 20 mm raw projectile when I worked for Winchester we loaded 1.3 million a month of those are's were painted yellow we charged them with incindary rdx powder and then fused them ares came in yellow bodys then when they were loaded they were stenciled with lot info none of them had marks on the body just engraved info on the driving band

[Dusty Rhoads]

I was a weapons load crew chief stationed with the 557 TFS,Can Ran Bay, South Vietnam, Jan 1968 to Jul 68, and the 391 TFS, Taegue Air Base, South Korea in support of the Pueblo crisis. We loaded M61A1 Gatling guns on F4c and F4d all the time. My crew loaded 6 to 8 aircraft every day for the 6 months I was in Nam.
Dusty Rhoads, TSgt, USAF (Ret)

[skeettx]

Dusty Rhoads, welcome on your first posting
Pleased to have you here
Are you one of the 462s who's knuckles leave tracks in the dirt??
:)
Glad to have you on this site
Mike

[Smoke4320]

I want a Klingon disrupter :) :)

[Artful]

I was a weapons load crew chief stationed with the 557 TFS,Can Ran Bay, South Vietnam, Jan 1968 to Jul 68, and the 391 TFS, Taegue Air Base, South Korea in support of the Pueblo crisis. We loaded M61A1 Gatling guns on F4c and F4d all the time. My crew loaded 6 to 8 aircraft every day for the 6 months I was in Nam.
Dusty Rhoads, TSgt, USAF (Ret)

Thank you for your service to our country

[Got-R-Did]

Some of my ordnance collection.
Got-R-Did.