Posted 10 years ago
Peasejean55
(415 items)
This is a strange one for me.
I have been through my storage and found this. I vaguely remember one of my kids found it and bought it home. I rung both of them and it transpires that it was my daughter who found this bullet in her school playing field, in Mexico City.
I have absolutely no idea about these things, but it looks big.
The measurements are 10 cm long with a bullet bore of 12mm. The base is marked K65 50 1Z .
If any body has any information, I would be very interested. Its not everyday a kid brings home something like this.
I'm really not interested in value. I'm most interested in how it got into a children's playing field. As said in my write up do not know anything about guns. Is it possible if you could tell me approx the age it was manufactured. Just curious. Thank you
I've just looked it up on Wiki. I didn't realise that Magnum rifles where manufactured in the UK. These bullets were first manufactured in 1880s. It makes sense there was a big British presents in Mexico. They all left when the oil companies where taken over by the Mexican government in the 1930s. A bit of history.
Thank you
Yet again thank you
The School was built in the 1950s.
Yes lots of them. Luckily I was never on the receiving end.
A friend of mine has now done some researching on the cartridge and thinks that it maybe a .50 Browning machine gun or 12.7 x 99mm NATO cartridge. The Magnum Rifle is only 80 mm in length whilst this is 99mm.
Thank you
Ripley
Valentino
Aghcollect
Vetraio
Sean
your measurements are very close to .50 Browning Machinegun (.50 BMG) which the Mexican Army has been equipped with. I am not certain, but I think the "K65" could indicate 1965 manufacture by Kynoch, a British manufacturer who did make .50 BMG at the time and did use a "K" plus two digit year to mark some of their ammo. The 50 would probably indicate the caliber, and I have no idea about the 1Z.
Here is my theory about how it got on the playground: A child found in some place else. perhaps by playing in an old military training area, or among the father's souvenirs of military service. The child brought it to the playground, threw it while playing or dropped it accidentally - only for your child to find and bring home.
Thank you Chrisnp, I shall pass your findings on to my friend who put in all the work.
Would it make sense to clean up cartridge and have a detailed look at the markings.
I do not know that it would be worth the time to clean up the markings on the base (known as a "headstamp"). I downloaded the photograph and enhanced the markings using photoshop in order to read them.
I have read your theory again and it's most interesting.
This as been cleaned the date was k55, so nearly 60 years old. Thanks to Chrisnp.
Thank you
Ripley
Many thanks
petey
Many thanks
Dan