MG 151/20 shell colors

[MeyerBMW]

What is the name of the book? Thanks Scott.

[Tony Williams]

"Deutsche Bordwaffen Munition bis 1945", by J. Lippert. It was privately published in small numbers in Munich some years ago, and the projectiles appear to be hand-coloured.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[stardude89]

hi i have recently come into these 20mm shells and was unable to identify their type from the markings, would some1 please help?

[stardude89]

i have been told this 20mm round is an 'armour peircing incendiary' can anybody confirm that?

[Erich]

hmmmmmmmm

a couple of questions:

what is the colour band on the yellow body ?

what is the colour of the lower band on the blue bodied round ?

upper yellow would indicate High explosive, the blue would indicate AP round but the fuze cap does not look right to me. Maroon red band = Incendiary
tracer

can you read the markings on the silver coloured fuze caps for us ?

your second pic looks like a yellow band on the AP round making it HE not Incendiary

E ~

[Denniss]

According to the german ammo manual available here a black projectile should be AP, black with upper yellow band should be APHE, both without self-destructive fuse.
An upper green band should be a marking for self destructive fuse.

The upper of the two-set pics looks to be a 20x80 MG FF piece, yellow color = HE. The other marking looks like either like green or blue, a green band would be self destructive fuse but the position should be just below the ammo cap and not so much down below. A blue band would indicate an incendiary component, maybe this is a HE-I shell

The lower of the two looks like a 20x82 MG 151 incendiary with glow-tracer and self destructive fuse. Blue = incendiary, upper green band = self desructive fuse, lower dark red band = Glow-tracer, probably from an aircraft to operate at night (light red would be tracer).

[stardude89]

hi its me again

i bought this round and i know its an AP round but i am not sure what the blue band denotes. can anyone tell me?

[Tony Williams]

It means it has an incendiary filling - it's an API.

If it has the letters "Ph" then the filling is phosphorus, if its "E" then it's Electron.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[stardude89]

hi, i cannot see "Ph" or "E" anywhere on it. the markings on the head read "wg32 d42 115g"

[CharlesBronson]

Is only API then.

Originally Posted by stardude89

hi i have recently come into these 20mm shells and was unable to identify their type from the markings, would some1 please help?

Just to ad that the upper cartrigde is an 20x80mm Rb for the Ikaria MG-FF cannon and the lower is for the Mauser Mg-151/20. (20x82mm)

[stardude89]

what does the RB stand for?

[Tony Williams]

Originally Posted by stardude89

what does the RB stand for?

Rebated rim - i.e., the rim is a much smaller diameter than the body of the case. This is needed for API blowbacks such such as the Oerlikon guns and the MK 108.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[stardude89]

hi me again i found another round tucked away and yet again i am not sure what it is, apart from AP can anybody tell me?

its the same as this but the band is white

[Tony Williams]

The only coloured bands on German 20mm AP projectiles which are shown in my source are:

Near the tip:
- yellow = HE
- blue = incendiary
- yellow over green = HE self-destruct

The addition of a red band around the base of any of the above indicates a tracer (the dim tracer has a slightly darker and wider band).

The colours may of course fade over time.

No band means just a plain AP

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[cucu]

Hi there! I came across your discussion about the Mg-151/20 ammo, can anyone estimate how much these original cartridges cost and also the original Mg-151 machine gun. Does anyone know if they are available to purchase anywhere? Thanks in advance!