Army Projectiles - Part 1
Type 38 6.5mm Ammunition
There are three different 6.5mm rounds detailed in the Technical Manual, describing the size and weight of the cartridge; Ball, Training, and Wooden.
They all used the same case and vary in the length of the projectile, overall length and weight of the projectile. It is interesting to note that there were 2 training, or blank, rounds and 1 practice (Ball) round.
Ball rounds had a CuNi or steel jacket and a lead core;
Tracer rounds had a CuNi jacket and lead core;
Blank rounds had either a paper or wood projectile;
Practice ball rounds were snub-nosed, had a copper jacket and a lead core.
6.5mm Ammunition Characteristics
Ball Training Wooden
Overall Length 3 inches 2 and 1/2 inches 2 and 31/32 inches
Length of case 2 inches 2 inches 2 inches
Length of projectile 1 and 1/4 inches 1/4 inches 1 and 19/54 inches
Weight of projectile 138 grams 34 grams 5 grams
To tell these rounds apart, they had a colored band located where the projectile and the case meet. The type of shot and color are as follows:
Ball : Pink
Tracer : Green
Blank : Wood
Blank : Paper (purple)
Practice Ball : Pink
The 6.5mm cartridge was, as mentioned in the introduction, still fairly common in the Japanese inventory.
6.5mm Rifles: Type I rifle, Type 1 rifle, Type 30 rifle, Type 35 rifle, Type 38 rifle, Type 44 Carbine, Type 97 rifle
6.5mm LMGs: Type 11 LMG, Type 96 LMG
6.5mm HMGs: Type 3 HMG
Notes:
Ammunition when used in rifles and LMGs will be found in clips of 5 rounds each. When used in HMGs it will be found in feeder strips of 30 rounds each. The wooden bullet round is used with the rifle to launch the rifle smoke grenade. The paper bullet round is used to launch rifle grenades. The propelling powder used in the blank rounds is nitro-cellulose while in the other rounds it is graphite-coated nitro-cellulose.
Next Time: 7.7mm and 7.92mm Ammunition
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