Thread: M551A2 Sheridan
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  #19  
Old 09-30-2009, 08:52 PM
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ChalkLine ChalkLine is offline
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All good points.

But if we look at probably the only ever nation to endure T2K-like conditions, the tanks German put out in 1945 were five times more armoured than they manufactured in pre-war peacetime. They up-armoured light vehicles progressively during the war, as has every other combatant in armoured vehicle history. When something doesn't work, you just whip it out and put something in that does. A short 105mm howitzer has a commonality of munitions with the support weapons, the M119 Hamel howitzer. The canister round is impressive (as the Australian gunners at firebase Balmoral in Vietnam will attest to, when they fired their M110 howitzers over open sights at assaulting NVA and VC troops) and the vehicle is going to be simpler, faster firing and longer lived. You get easy access to reloads anywhere there's NATO supply, and when your local ammo runs out you don't have to discard a useful vehicle.

Honestly, I've always liked the M8E1 gun. It wasn't until I read the field manual for the gun that I realised how flawed it is. The caseless cartridges are highly flammable, and the slightest penetration resulted in catastrophic explosions. There's no extraction device on the gun, so if you get a misfire (and it's an electrically fired round, misfires were common) you couldn't get the round back out. If you have a missile or a shell loaded and need something else, under combat conditions you had to fire it off because you couldn't get it out of the gun. Worse still, if you open the breech of the launcher with a missile loaded and neglect to flip over the lock switch - only used when firing a missile - the breech screw rips the backside off the missile and scatters explosive propellant through the fight compartment. This stuff explodes if you stand on it! If you fire the MG while this stuff is in the tank, you'll probably blow the whole thing up.
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