Alrighty guys, I was going around taking pics of tanks, and guns now used as monuments, and came across this little beauty, in the yard of a private home only a few miles away.
I know its Japanese, or at least a Japanese version of a commercial design, and the bore is somewhere in the 20 or more m.m. range. its semi automatic. A very interesting piece to be sure, and I would like to know if any of you Hooligans know anything about it, and the ammo it used.(the owner would like it too.)
Hi.
Standard type 98 20 mm aa-gun
from Taki´s website:
[QUOTE=]Introduced Year : 1938
Caliber : 20 mm (X 141 mm)
Barrel Length : 1.4 m (L70)
EL Angle of Fire : -5 to +85 Degrees
AZ Angle of Fire : 360 Degrees
Muzzle Velocity : 950 m/sec
Weight : 373 kg
Range : 5,500 m
Altitude : 3,500 m
Rate of Fire : 300 rounds/min
Production Qty : 2,500
Type 98 was the most popular light AA gun of IJA. About 80% of IJA light AA guns were Type 98. It first saw action in Nomonhan and it was used until the end of WWII.[/QUOTE]
Ammunition:
It fired type 98 HE-T, type 100 HE-T self-destructing and type 100 AP-T grenades. The grenades were interchangeable between type 98 AA-gun and type 97 20X125 mm at-rifle
Yours
tom! 
Gee Wiz! Thanks Tom! I’m sure the owner will love all the info about his lawn ornament,its been welded in a couple places, but all the parts are there except for the forward leg, so maybe he’ll get it fixed… Tnx again!
There’s one not far from my place here, about 20 miles up the road next to a tank at a VFW. Next time I go that way I’ll get some pics of both of them.
What I find funny, though, is that both of these guns have the front ‘leg’ removed, and by the looks of it possibly welded in the same places. The VFW tells me they understand it was to fit it for shipping to get it home. I can’t possibly verify that story for you, unfortunately. I don’t think I see a front ‘leg’ on the pic of the one mounted to the truck bed above, so maybe they’re gone for another reason.
But what a find! Guess I never really thought about it before, but there’s quite a bit of hardware around town here to photo.
Hi.
The gun on the type 94 6X4 truck (also known as Isuzu TU10) was mounted at the gun axle and so the third leg could be removed for a more compact mounting. Wheels and third leg were carried at the cabin rear to allow the dismounted use of the gun, too.
Yours
tom!
The pic below (from the Ammunition Photo Gallery on my website) shows the bigger and more powerful 20mm cartridges used in the WW2 era:
20x110 (HS.404), 20x113 (Lahti L34), 20x120 (Madsen), 20x125 (IJA Type 97; and Ho-1, Ho-3), 20x138B (‘Long Solothurn’ used in FlaK/KwK 30 and 38), 20x139 (Swiss FMK: drill), 20x142 (IJA Type 98), 20x144R (Bofors m/32)
thanks T.W. the owner of the gun has had it in his front yard since the 60’s and never knew anything about it. He was delighted to find out what it was, and the details of its history.
He told of finding it in an antique store in a nearby city, and purchasing it for the grand sum of $200 USD. It had been de-activated, welded in some few places. It has been in the same spot for all that time.
Hi.
I would be very glad if I would find something like that in my backyard, neighbourhood or even in our lokal scrapyards…
Yours
tom!
Well, I am sure that there are many old bunkers still unopened, when I was in Germany there was a large motorpool bunker under ours, flooded to keep people out, (it was said to be booby trapped) it contained lots of stuff abandoned by the Reich. and it was not uncommon to hear of construction on the different posts in germany unearthing a storage bunker or 2 holding equipment, and weapons from the Reich days.At Monteith barracks that happened, opening up a bunker holding a few 88 mm guns, and related supplies and ammo. The Wehrmacht folks came and removed it all.
most all of those old posts have been closed, the one i was posted to has been developed into housing, and office space, so there are apartments over the old Wehrmacht motorpool, I hope they cleared it all out before they built over it.