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40 mm anti-aircraft shell?


ADM1953
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We are cleaning out my mother-in-law's condominium and found this item in a trunk in the garage. I did a little snooping on the Internet and it looks like it's a 40 mm antiaircraft shell casing. The stamp on the head of the shell near the primer is 1943. The shell was in a round tube and the cap on the tube has some markings that makes me think these rounds were individually shipped or stored in these tubes. Is the tube and the spent shell casing of any interest to collectors?

shell 1.jpg

shell 3.jpg

shell 4.jpg

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Kaptainssurplus

Hi this is a common 40mm bofors case, it is odd to find a single tube for them though as most were packed in multiples in larger cans. They were used in many roles, including anti-aircraft. They do have collector interest/value but are very common, during WW2 they made millions of them. 

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11 minutes ago, robinb said:

Interesting in that it has a British Broad Arrow acceptance mark. First time I've seen that one a 40mm shell.

I believe the RM/C denotes Canadian issue...Bodes

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40 mm Bofors. What makes it very collectible ( above and beyond the common Navy issue) is the M25 head case markings, that denotes Army issue for their AA guns. Army 40mm Bofors are found about 1 for every 10 Navy issue. The projectile side crimp should be continuous moon staked as opposed to common navy press crimped. A close up picture of the crimp would be appreciated. I have an Army ( black one -AP- on right) and three Navy factory crimped examples, notice the crimps. I know of no existing crimped examples ( other than loading dummies), these are from  a retired artillery officers estate.9BBE08C2-74E4-4C61-8E10-3C6EC8E9A48A.jpeg.f731c54cd62bf7b48d7dba27aa6619f6.jpeg

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