Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[48marine]

Can anyone post pics of the 7.7 ammo for the rifle and for the machine gun?
I saw some 7.7 on strippers at a gun show and the vendor said it was for the
MG. It was in the usual pie shaped box with the top torn off. The box contained 3 strippers of 5 round each. I'm curious why maching gun ammo would be issued on strippers.
I know the rims on the 7.7 ammo is different for the rifle and MG but I've never seen pictures of them side by side to tell the difference.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!!

[arisakadogs]

To start from the beginning - T-99 'rimless' ammunition was produced for the rifle and for the T-99 LMG. This ammunition does have different designations on the boxes but, can be used in either weapon. The LMG ammo has a heavier & more pointed bullet.
7.7mm semi-rimmed ammo was produced for the T-92 HMG and for the T-89 aircraft MG. The T-89 ammo is found in 15 round boxes in stripper clips that don't have lugs on them. The T-92 ammo is found in the 30 round strips.
MG ammo was issued in 5 round stripper clips & a loader was used to strip the ammo into the machine gun's magazine.
Here are photos of 7.7mm rimless ammo. The 6 rounds on the right are T-99 LMG rounds. The round 7th from the right is a Navy produced round made for the M-1 Garand copy. All to the left of this are rifle ammo.



Here are boxes of T-99 rifle & LMG ammo.




It seems most 15 round boxes of the T-89 ammo are missing the top, where it bears the T-89 designation. The bottoms are marked as being T-92 ammunition. It is identical. No wonder they lost!

You can tell a semi-rimmed round from a rimless by checking to see if the rim is the same diameter as the case. Semi rimmed is slightly larger than the case.
_________________
"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")