Relevant to our interests - collector's tanks and their armament

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I posted in a thread a while back about collector's MBTs and so on, specifically regarding their main guns: do all civilian owned AFVs with large cannons have to have the breechblock cut?

[schnickelfritz]

No, not necessarily. I've seen and touched some personally. As I understand it, a live fire cannon or mortar, etc. must be registered as a Destructive Device in the USA. There are collectors who have every thing from 37mm in the M3/M5/M8 to Shermans to German WW2 stuff and so on. On the US 37mm, the breech block unscrews using some large acme-style threads.

The question is usually do you really want to fire one of these live, assuming you can make some solid shot on a lathe with black or smokeless propellant. It would depend on what it is and how it was treated since it's last use.

Look on youtube...there are videos of someone who has one of the rare US 90mm AT gun prototypes from WW2 and the guy fires solid shot through it at places like Knob Creek. As I understand it, it takes the same 90mm Ammo as the M26/M46/M47/M48 (and M56 Scorpion).

On the other hand, something like an old AT gun just firing black powder charges would probably scare the hell out of your average biker gang, though.

-Dave

[pmulcahy11b]

One possible source of artillery and even old tank destroyers and aircraft are Ski Patrols in certain parts of the country. They use them to cause controlled avalanches under some circumstances. These guys may have anything from air cannons that throw explosives charges to actually retired military vehicles, recoilless rifles, and field guns, and howitzers. (But they generally are only allowed to fire HE or smoke rounds.)

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by schnickelfritz

No, not necessarily. I've seen and touched some personally. As I understand it, a live fire cannon or mortar, etc. must be registered as a Destructive Device in the USA. There are collectors who have every thing from 37mm in the M3/M5/M8 to Shermans to German WW2 stuff and so on. On the US 37mm, the breech block unscrews using some large acme-style threads.

The question is usually do you really want to fire one of these live, assuming you can make some solid shot on a lathe with black or smokeless propellant. It would depend on what it is and how it was treated since it's last use.

Look on youtube...there are videos of someone who has one of the rare US 90mm AT gun prototypes from WW2 and the guy fires solid shot through it at places like Knob Creek. As I understand it, it takes the same 90mm Ammo as the M26/M46/M47/M48 (and M56 Scorpion).

On the other hand, something like an old AT gun just firing black powder charges would probably scare the hell out of your average biker gang, though.

-Dave

You know, I remember (now that you mention it) that R. Lee Ermey has a friend who has a French Renault FT-1 in 100% operable condition complete with 37mm gun (he builds his own solid shot; The Gunny fired off a few rounds, IIRC).

It would definitely jack up some NA's beefed-up commercial Humvee!

EDIT: not to mention a crimped shell full of glass, fishhooks, 1" bolts, roofing nails and whatever other nasty shit you wanted to stuff in there... x-(

[Olefin]

There are collectors who have vehicles that are fully operational. At least one was shown on Auction Hunters, a show here in the US that is seen on Spike. They found a live barrel in a storage unit and sold it to a collector who had a tank (cant remember off the top of my head but will see if I can find out what the model was) that was fully operational and they fired off a round in the show.

[schnickelfritz]

They sold the uncut, live 37mm to Northeast Military Vehicle Services in Massachusetts. The 37mm was bare of the breach block, but in great shape.

They can be found at: http://www.site.ww2mv.com/

Dave

[Olefin]

Love that site - and the post there about the Hellcat for sale says it all as to operational tanks in the hands of a collector

ie.

"This Hellcat is hull no 1550 and was perfectly restored in 2008 at Milspec in NJ after being brought in the country from Bosnia. This tank saw action in Bosnia and has the battle scars to prove it, some of which were left during restoration.

Everything on the tank is functional including the hydraulic turret traverse and the radio-intercom system. The paint has some blemishes from being used in parades over the last few years, but that's about it. The engine runs perfectly, absolutely no issues with the Continental R-975 C1 motor."

meaning we may need to add the Hellcat to the Orbat for Yugoslavia