20mm Round.

[Laurence Strong]

I have had this inert round since the 70's. By the looks of the main initials, my first impression is British, Is this right? First the base with the markings

[Laurence Strong]

The primer looks like it might be live, but I can remove the round from the casing and there is no power inside

[Tony]

Laurence,

I just found this on the net which could be what you are looking for:

20 mm "mickhaque" case

I was handed down a cartridge case which was found in our garden in Folkestone, England by my father in 1940. The base has the markings 'BMARO 1940 20mm ZI'. Would you know how I could track down its source? I assume it was a German aircraft origin.

Many thanks: Martin

Headstamp of the case is actually "BMARC", abbreviation from words "British Manufacturing And Research Co." (A loader of 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cartridges in Grantham, England). Letters "ZI" denotes use of nitro-cellulose propellant (powder), loaded into those cartridges, which must function in very cold climate, like altitudes of the sky. Therefore it was preferred over Cordite propellant for cartridges of aircraft weapons. Powder manufacturer has been Imperial Chemical Industries. "1940" is year of manufacturing and "20 mm" denotes the calibre. The case was presumably dropped from Supermarine "Spitfire" or some other British fighter aircraft during a dog-fight.

Word "mickhaque" is somewhat irrelevant, meaning a small long-barreled cannon, calibre 20 to 30 mm. These infantry cannons with light carriages were used as a sniping firearms during 16th Century in Scandinavia, including Finland, and North-West Russia. In Swedish the word was spelt as "mickhake" and in Finnish as "nikhaka". In French the name of these firearms was "amusette". Many times they were breech-loaders, already in 16th or 17th Century. Hispano-Suiza aircraft cannons shot burst or full-auto fire, of course.

This is the site I found it on http://guns.connect.fi/gow/QA8.html

Cheers

Tony

Edited August 30, 2005 by Tony

[Laurence Strong]

Thanks alot for all that Information Tony.