| Hamilton | 04 Mar 2019 11:18 a.m. PST |
The muzzle blast and visible shock waves on the projectiles are crazy. The impacts on the dilapidated truck target not so much.
You'll also learn that watermelons will be the next improvised armor solution :) YouTube link
YouTube link |
| SBminisguy | 04 Mar 2019 11:35 a.m. PST |
very cool, thanks for sharing! |
 Saber6   | 04 Mar 2019 12:26 p.m. PST |
Watch all the way to the end |
| PzGeneral | 04 Mar 2019 1:57 p.m. PST |
That is amazing. I would never have guessed any of those results! |
| Stryderg | 04 Mar 2019 2:16 p.m. PST |
Looks like watermelons would make great sand bag replacements. You just have to stack them about 157 layers deep. Nice find. |
 ColCampbell | 04 Mar 2019 2:38 p.m. PST |
I was surprised at the yawing of the tank round. But I imagine that would account for some of the glancing misses if the round impacted on sloped armor while in a nose-up attitude. Thanks for posting this, Hamilton. Jim P.S. I was originally trained as an armor officer and fired both the 105mm M60 main gun round and the 152mm M551 Sheridan conventional round. Both were impressive but the recoil of the whole Sheridan when firing the conventional round has to be seen to be believed. |
| panzerCDR | 04 Mar 2019 4:28 p.m. PST |
That was really neat! I hadn't expected the yawing of the round either. So much for the argument a certain type of round "HAS" to be able to penetrate so much armor at range "x." |
| Ragbones | 04 Mar 2019 6:13 p.m. PST |
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 Yellow Admiral | 05 Mar 2019 12:18 a.m. PST |
That was really neat! I hadn't expected the yawing of the round either. So much for the argument a certain type of round "HAS" to be able to penetrate so much armor at range "x." Agreed. Somebody found a way to make even an inert shaped steel slug into a dud. Huh! It would be very interesting to compare high speed films of the AT rounds fired from each major type of tank/AT gun and see how they vary in unpredictable things like that – wobbling, tumbling, straightening out, and on and on. The cycling of that kind of round might have been one of the things that made the 76.2mm Sherman gun a less effective anti-tank gun than others of similar caliber. Or maybe it's just that the gun and the rounds are all old and not working up to spec anymore… On that topic, it occurred to me while I was watching that these guys were really taking their lives in their hands. These guns are really old and the rounds are probably not perfectly reliable. When something goes wrong at those energy levels, it can go really, really wrong. - Ix |
| langobard | 05 Mar 2019 2:09 a.m. PST |
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| Cavcmdr | 05 Mar 2019 6:07 a.m. PST |
Thanks. Impressive.
Do go to the end !!! Have fun. |
 StoneMtnMinis | 05 Mar 2019 7:51 a.m. PST |
It may-be that the gun tube was "shot out". There is minute wear on the rifling with each round fired. When I was in, we had to keep a log of number of rounds fired and when we reached a certain number the barrel, if possible, was replaced because of this wear.
And because you don't know the actual age of the gun tube on this vehicle, nor the number of rounds fired, it could be nearing the end of its effective life.
Plus, based on the vegetation, it appears the firing range is in an arid environment, air density and humidity should have a reduced effect on the projectile.
Dave
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| panzerCDR | 05 Mar 2019 1:16 p.m. PST |
"It may-be that the gun tube was "shot out". There is minute wear on the rifling with each round fired. When I was in, we had to keep a log of number of rounds fired and when we reached a certain number the barrel, if possible, was replaced because of this wear." Good point! I certainly don't expect this tank or gun is new out of the factory. I wonder how the crew on a WW2 tank knew their gun rifling was shot and needed replacement. The video emphasizes to me the quote I first read in Frank Chadwick's Combined Arms rule book: "Many factors affect the behavior of a shell or shot on striking an armour plate, and it is impossible to give a simple and categorical answer to the question whether the projectile will or will not penetrate on the battlefield. Calculations and tests serve as guides, but in battle the conditions are so variable that, except in extreme cases, only broad forecasts can be made." MG I.S.O. Playfair, The Mediterranean and Middle East, vol. 2. How true! |
| Marc33594 | 05 Mar 2019 1:40 p.m. PST |
As to safety note they are using a cable from outside of the tank to fire the gun. As to when it was time to replace a gun I am guessing it was something like after so many rounds. |
| Yellow Admiral | 06 Mar 2019 1:20 p.m. PST |
As to safety note they are using a cable from outside of the tank to fire the gun. Exactly my point: outside the tank is the worst place to be when shrapnel is flying around. After watching the slo-mo of the watermelon stand disintegrating into a cloud of high velocity pieces, I thought the lanyard probably should have gone all way down into another tank nearby, or at least into a sandbag bunker. |
