MEDELMA@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU (Michael Edelman) (03/27/91)
From: Michael Edelman <MEDELMA@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU> I noticed in an illustration that the standard M1 sabot round has a series of circumferential grooves over about 1/3rd of its length. What is the purpose of these grooves? It also appears that the fins on the APFSDS round are not integral to the round, but are seperately fabricated and riveted or attached in some other manner. This makes sense from a manufacturing point of view, as making the fins out of DU would serve no purpose. -- mike edelman medelma@cms.cc.wayne.edu medelma@waynest1
chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey) (03/27/91)
From: Irving Chidsey <chidsey@smoke.brl.mil> >From: Michael Edelman <MEDELMA@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU> > >I noticed in an illustration that the standard M1 sabot round has >a series of circumferential grooves over about 1/3rd of its length. >What is the purpose of these grooves? There are matching teeth in the sabot that mate into the grooves. They are used to transfer the firing impulse from the sabot to the shell. leave them off, or even reduce their extant significantly, and the powder and sabot will leave the gun without any accompanying penetrator. There are an awful lot of gees that have to be imparted to the penetrator. Most of the force comes via the sabot, because it blocks most of the bore. -- I do not have signature authority. I am not authorized to sign anything. I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government to anything, not even by implication. They do not tell me what their policy is. They may not have one. Irving L. Chidsey <chidsey@brl.mil>
ferguson@maitai.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Dennis Ferguson) (03/30/91)
From: ferguson@maitai.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Dennis Ferguson) MEDELMA@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU (Michael Edelman) writes: >I noticed in an illustration that the standard M1 sabot round has >a series of circumferential grooves over about 1/3rd of its length. >What is the purpose of these grooves? The grooves enable the sabot to grip the tungsten rod. I believe the majority of APFSDS use tungsten as opposed to DU. DU makes the battleground cleanup worse. This brings up an interesting question. According to the news reports on the Iraqi's use of oil fires and oil spills as "environmental weapons" and the reported lack of concern by the Arab nations over environmental concerns... did the Coalition Forces uses DU in Desert Storm. I seem to recall a CNN report on an A10 armorer who showed a GAU-8 round and declared that it was a DU round. Can anyone verify this? Dennis