Nice pics Orita. It is a matter of personal taste, but I do prefer a black background. A digital compact camera is lighter in weight and therefore more difficult to hold still when using longer exposure times. I´ve shot these pics free hand. The two small casings are .30-06 Cal and the larger one is .50 Cal.

Took some more test pictures. With this camera I can´t get the exposure right when using a white background.

- Kilian: How close can you get when you take a picture using your digital camera??? I don't use a black background for different reasons in the headstamp photography; it may be OK if the shell cases are made of brass and with enough light. Steel shell cases [coated with dark green or brown laquer] and black background is not going to work. I have many hundred photos showing headstamps of shell cases from my collection and it will be too much for "virjinz" to post here. Orita 09/14/08

- @ Kilian: Speaking about your Dutch made 20X139 [inert] steel shell case, I cannot tell you for sure the date of manufacture. Unfortunately not all the headstamp markings are helpful. At the same time I can tell you that the only ammo plant from Holland which made the 20X139 ammo was NWM "De Kruithoorn" between around 1980-1998. The 20X139 round is for the "HS-820 (Oerlikon KAD)" and "Rh-202" 20mm automatic cannon. See more about this type of round here at http://www.municion.org/mapa/central09.htm and click on => "20X139". Note: I also have a fired [inert] 20X139 steel shell case made in Holland and headstamped "20X139 DM1 A1" over "LOS NWM- 2-102-X". The fired primer screw is marked "DM64" over "LOS IWK-1-14". Orita 09/14/08

Approximately 4 cm between front of lens and object, in full wide angle close-up mode.

- @ Kilian: With all the 3 aluminum tubes between the camera and lenses I can get about 5-6 cm close, closer if I use more tubes but it's no need for that. A wide angle lenses will not help the photography at very close ranges. Orita 09/14/08

My camera has a zoomlens. In the camera´s macro function and the lens fully zoomed out, i.e. in wide angle position, you can get the object sharp at approximately 4 cm from the lens. With these settings I took the pictures of the headstamps and the rusty Dutch 6,5 mm Mannlicher bullet. When the camera is in macro function and you zoom the lens in to tele, you have to go much further away (30 cm) from the object to get it sharp. That is what I meant.

You´ll probably know:

DM in the type designation stands for Deutsches Muster (German Pattern), whereas A1 means that it is the first modification of the German Pattern DM1. LOS is the German word for LOT, so LOS NMW-2-102-X is lot number NWM-2-102-X, whilst NMW is a three letter code officially allocated by the German defence procurement agency to identify the manufacturer and that has to be mentioned as part of the lot number for deliveries to the German armed forces. Logically NWM De Kruithoorn received the code NWM. "Kruithoorn" is Dutch for a powderhorn and NWM stands for Nederlandse Wapen en Munitiefabriek, meaning Netherlands Weapons and Ammunitionsfactory. I don´t know how to interpret the rest of the lot number.

NWM De Kruithoorn held the exclusive sales rights for the Stoner 63A1 rifle outside the USA in the late 1960´s / early 1970´s. With the German company Eickhorn they developed a wirecutter bayonet for that rifle. The rifle was not a commercial succes. I am not sure when, but I believe in the 1970´s, NWM De Kruithoorn became part of the German Rheinmetall Group and I think that was helpful in acquiring the orders for the 20x139mm rounds for the German armed forces. The company also developed and produced the 30x173mm tungsten penetrator ammunition for the Goalkeeper Close-in-Weapon-System, which has the same GAU-8A gattling gun as the A-10 Thunderbolt "Warthog" tankbuster aircraft. If my memory does not fail me, the factory was shut down because of lack of orders in the second half of the 1990´s.

Goalkeeper CIWS:

- @ Kilian: I don't have zoom lenses. I only have 4 types of lenses: 200mm, 135mm, 50mm [normal with 47 degrees field angle] and 20mm [wide angle of 94 degrees, I got it from Dordrecht, Holland]. All my lenses are attached to the camera by thread, not by the bayonet system. ---> I asked some other cartridge collectors about the date of manufacture and the headstamp for the Dutch made 20X139 round. No answers yet but I'm sure the date of manufacture is related to the lot number which is registered in the maker's file. Orita 09/14/08