Original Item: Only One Available. This is a completely INERT example of a WWII Japanese 25mm Cannon Round, and is in compliance with the current BATF standards on inert ordnance. Not Available For Export.

The Type 96 25mm Gun was an automatic cannon used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. A locally-built variant of the French Hotchkiss 25 mm anti-aircraft gun, it was designed as a dual-purpose weapon for use against armored vehicles and aircraft, but was primarily used as an anti-aircraft gun in fixed mounts with one to three guns.

The Type 96 cartridge case was a rimless type design with a deep extraction groove at the base. The projectiles fired by the weapon were slightly unusual in that they had two rotating bands. The forward band was slightly smaller in diameter than the rear band. It was believed that this was to reduce wear on the rifling near the chamber. The case of the cartridge was crimped around the rear rotating band. The complete round weighed approximately 820 g (1.81 lb) with the projectile weighing 320 g (0.71 lb).
The propellant was 102 grams of single-perforated, graphited grains of nitrocellulose approximately 2 millimeters in diameter and between 2.5 and 4.5 millimeters in length.
Normally one tracer round was added every four or five rounds to aid laying.

High-explosive shells. Orange body.
High explosive incendiary. Green body.
High explosive tracer. Orange or red body.
High explosive tracer self-destroying. Orange or red body.
Armor-piercing. Black, white or smoky blue body. Approx 42mm penetration at 0-100m and 0 degrees from normal.

This example has trace amounts of green paint still visible, identifying this as a High Explosive Incendiary round. It measures approximately 9” in length with a 1 ⅝” base. The round is complete (minus explosive content) and comes with the original removable fuze on the end. A hole was cut into the casing during the demilitarization process in 1945.

This round was sent home by United States Navy Reservist D. W. Christenson, a Mineman 2nd Class who was apart of Bomb and Mine Disposal Team #3 and sent back a group of deactivated fuzes and ordnance. The original pictured paperwork is included with the purchase. We have uploaded scans of the complete set of documents from the whole set as well (not included).

Prior to World War II, there were no formally trained bomb or mine disposal personnel, but the need became apparent when in 1939, the British navy dismantled the first German magnetic mine that had washed up on the shore of Shoeburyness, England. In 1941, the U.S. Naval Mine School was established at Naval Gun Factory in Washington, D.C., and subsequently, the Bomb Disposal School was established.

The first U.S. casualty in mine disposal was in 1942, when Ensign John M. Howard was killed when he attempted to dismantle a booby-trapped German magnetic submarine-laid moored mine. About 20 trained bomb and mine disposal personnel, to include Howard, were killed in action during WWII.

This wonderful example comes ready for further research and display!