Japanese 20mm Ho-5 Cannon

Specifications:

Ammunition type
HEI or AP
Projectile weight     
3.95 oz (AP)
112 g (AP)
Velocity 2460 feet per second
750 meters per second
Range 2950 feet
900 meters
Rate of fire     
850 rounds per minute
Gun weight
82 lbs
37 kg


The Ho-5 (Type 2) cannon was an excellent weapon resembling a scaled-up Type 1 machine gun. It was widely used as a fixed weapon on Army aircraft. It used a Browning short recoil action and was belt-fed. The design was kept as compact and lightweight as possible in hopes that it could replace Type 1 machine guns on existing aircraft. Because of difficulties in quality control during production, the cartridges had to be underloaded with gunpowder to avoid too great a strain on the weapon, which reduced muzzle velocity from the 820 meters per second possible with fully loaded cartridges.

References

Francillon (1979)

Williams and Gustin (2003)

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