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Question on m1a1 MG ammo for Desert Storm
kampfy
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 10:42 AM UTC
What type of ammo was used in the m2 and m240 MG's during Desert Storm?

Epi
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 10:57 AM UTC
25mm for the main gun and 7.62mm for the coax.
Scarred
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 11:31 AM UTC
M2 Bradley or M2 machine gun?
Bradley- 25mm
M2- .50 or 12.7x99mm
M240- 7.62x51mm
kampfy
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 07:07 PM UTC
I should have clarified some things in my original post.

With the m2 I mean the M2 HMG.

What I would like to know is what type of ammo (Ball, AP, etc.) was loaded into the M2 and M240 MG's on the Abrams during Desert Storm? I want to get the bullet tip colors right.
m75
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 09:08 PM UTC
Normal mix would be one tracer and 4 ball rounds
Scarred
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 09:43 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Normal mix would be one tracer and 4 ball rounds


and that would be for both weapons. 4:1. Not sure about AP rounds but I don't see why they wouldn't use the 4:1 ratio. On one night fire exercise I put a belt of 1:1 ball/tracer through my M60. That was cool. It looked like a solid stream of red bbs heading down range when they hit the berm they ricocheted up into the sky until they'd burn out.
HeavyArty
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Posted: Monday, January 08, 2018 - 10:08 PM UTC
There are tracer rounds for each type, including AP.

Tankrider
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 12:27 AM UTC
Matt,
For the M2 .50 caliber either Ball 4/1 mix or Armor Piercing Incendiary (API).

Ball 4/1 for the M240 (7.62mm)

John
jcrutcher
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 03:12 AM UTC
Since tanks normally engage other vehicles the M2 .50 cal load would be (4) API rds then (1) API Tracer. Coax 7.62mm was (4) Ball rds (1) Ball Tracer. The whole time I was in USMC active and later Reserves we only fired API/API tracers w/ our .50 cals. Both training and in combat. Hope this helps...
18Bravo
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 04:48 AM UTC
That chart could use an update.

AmTrac1833
#431
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 07:41 AM UTC

Quoted Text

That chart could use an update.



SLAP rounds! I did similar, delinked & relinked mix of API, APIT and SLAP after first engagement with just SLAP. SLAP didnt provide visual "sparkel" the way API/APIT does on impact - it just goes straight through stuff.
jcrutcher
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 08:12 AM UTC
SLAP rds were after my time.. Wish we had them back then..
18Bravo
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Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 01:24 PM UTC
So you want "Sparkel?"



Same ammo can rack as you can see, with SLAP.
kampfy
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Posted: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - 09:16 AM UTC
Thank you everybody for the replies, your input was invaluable.
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