I need your help, David.

[John 'n' W.Va]

I spotted a place where the pavement was tore up and MD it for an hour. No coins, just junk and a shotgun shell I think. I have found brass shells, but this thing is heavy. What is it David?
[attachment 57510 5-20-07schell.jpg]

I then went to a high school built in 1921. I should have went there sooner. Lots of targets. Most of the cents were from the 60's to early 70's. I was there for only a few minutes. I had a time limit and had to be somewhere. I shall return.
[attachment 57511 5-20-07total.jpg]

 

[awhitster]

Looks like a 50 cal shell. It might be someones war prize. They use them for anti-aircraft guns or to blow big holes in the enemy. I got a few when I was on the USS Constitution air craft carrier.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Looks like a 50 caliber to me. Odd find. Looks old, perhaps from WWII. They had 50 cal. machine guns then on land and sea and the fighter planes all were armed with 50's.

Bill

 

[DavHut]

Military headstamp .50 cal BMG, like everyone said. Really just an overgrown 30-06 - same dimensional proportions.

Nowadays, there is a fast growing contingent of long range sihoutte shooters who use the .50 BMG for target practice - at 1000 yds!

 

[JoeinMemphis]

Military headstamps include the date and place of manufacture. A give away that it is military is the primer pocket crimp. The three equally spaced pressings to keep the primer from backing out. It originally *probably* since there were more than one loading, had a 750 GN bullet that was about two inches long. Bad medicine for people, planes, buildings, you get the idea.. HH Joe

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah they made a real mess of things. Probably a water cooled BMG?


Bill

 

[DavHut]

The .50 cal Mg's werent water cooled as the neccessary jacketing, water tanks and accoutrements would have made them too cumbersome. They were invariably air cooled, with barrels that could be swapped out as they heated from firing.

 

[Uncle Willy]

They had water cooled 50's and 30's during WWII and the BAR wasn't no feather weight.

Bill

 

[DavHut]

The thirty cals, yes, they were often water cooled, especially early on - before the concept of mobility and squad-level firepower was pioneered by the Germans. Once that became the norm, then a premium was put on portability and the water jacket was left behind. Ditto for aircraft use and thus light weight. They tried water jackets on aircraft in WWI and gave it up real quick.

Water cooled fifties - heck a fifty of any sort, is just a beast. They were far more common as mounted weapons and water jackets would have been better adapted to that method of use. But even so, you just didnt see them so employed very much during the 20th century, at least not in any of the photos of US forces that I've seen. That might have been a better way to put my comment.

As for the BAR, it's sort of relative. In military parlance, "man portable" has a pretty wide interpretation. In essence if a man can tote it and the ammo to feed it, then it's portable! The BAR while no lightweight for sure, was still an arm that could be carried within a squad body, by one man. Add that BAR and maybe a guy to help carry more of the mags (with his own M1) plus 5-8 other M1 totin' GI's ... and you could lay down some serious fire.