Boy, Does 55 Years Play Tricks on the Memory

[COSteve]

I saw AJMD's response this morning to my post in "Moving away from the AR-15" thread and my answer about my "shotgun" looked off. I guess my memory from 55 years ago isn't as good as I remember. Anyway, I Googled the rounds and realized that I'd mixed up the performance of both of them into one so I need to correct that.

We actually carried 2 different types of 'shotgun rds' in our tanks, the M336 rd we called the Canister rd and the M337 rd we called the Beehive rd. The M336 Canister rd had 'only' 1,281 pellets, not 12,000 as I said and it only had a range of about 250 meters. The M337 Beehive rd had 5,600 flechettes (they looked like the old Flash Gordon rocket about 1 1/2" long and much heavier) and they had the 400 meter range.

We kept the M336 Canister rd loaded up as that's the one we used the most as it really cleared out the vegetation and made whatever was firing at us just disappear. We didn't carry very many of the M337 Beehive rds as they were better on more hardened targets and we just didn't have that many to shoot at as the Canister rd could destroy a hooch with ease.

Anyway, it still was a 3 1/2" diameter shotgun shell and I loved it because one shot and whatever was out there was gone.

[GunnyMack]

Was the canister round steel balls or lead?

[COSteve]

As I remember they were steel.

[Bruce Scott]

Our canister round for the 20 pounder main armament on the Centurion tank had only 600* steel pellets made from 3/8" diameter steel rod, 1/2" long. It left the muzzle at 3000fps and, like your M336 round, was affective to 250 yards. Great stuff, and we also carried one up the spout at all times.

* Online sources say 580 but my recollection from my gunnery course in 1967 is 600.

[GunnyMack]

Ah steel, gives new meaning to non toxic shot !

[AJMD429]

.
I'm guessing THIS was a multiple-projectile tank-cannon round - - - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vho5eTabWQI

[JimT]

I have very clear memories of 1966 through 1969, whether they actually happened or not!

[765x53]

On a Sheridan we only had two choices, combustible cased H.E.A.T. round or Shillelagh guided missile which was also a H.E.A.T. round. The six inch bore would have made for an awesome beehive. Maybe they did make one later.

[COSteve]

Yep, the newer tank models had totally different combat loads. My M60A1 in Germany in late '67 - '68 before I went to VN, had a 105mm main gun and the ammo for it was HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank), APDS (Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot), SMOKE (White Phosphorous but we called it Willy Peter) and HEP (High Explosive Plastic) which was supposed to be really good on soft vehicles.

In gunnery practice at Grafenwoehr, we got to shoot a few of the HEAT rounds and in the evening they would light up the sky with all sorts of bright colors depending upon what metal they were burning through as they exploded.

[Griff]

Our Destroyer had one 5" gun mount forward, and AISTR had HE, WP & AP or High Explosive, White Phosphorus, Anti Personnel rounds. Spotters would call for the shell type they wanted and we willingly supplied it! Our usual spotter was an Aussie in a Piper Cub, his accent was pretty thick and our Gunnery Officer had a hard time understanding him at first... Since I was used to talking with my NZ family I was asked to "interpret"! We'd often hear him taking small arms fire as he flew around. I remember him once asking, "Ave ya ever seen a wrecked 'tangular 'aystack?" After our negative response, he called for WP to be followed up by HE on a position, and after giving us the coordinates, dare I quote: "Put that WP on the wrecked 'tangular 'aystack!" "Blimey boys, that's burning right smartly! Now put the HE right in the fire!" Whatever he said next was lost in the sound of secondary explosions. We marked it down as one tank destroyed and several KIA. Wished we could've gotten the 188mm gun they had at the mouth of the Cua Viet River, but we ran, firing at it's guesstimated position, once they returned fire, we did the tactical retreat... Once we turned, it's hard to fire a forward gun mount to the rear! And even zig zaggin' away didn't help! the Air Farce was supposed to bomb it out of existence, but they claimed the ceiling was too low and didn't bother to show up to our little one ship show. Nor did they inform us of their absence until we asked WTF over? Luckily the VC didn't have much ammo for it, as we sat within its range for weeks at a time providing NGFS for activities along the coast in Quang Tri Province that lay within our range. After our 1st stay on the gun line we went to Hong Kong, and the spent brass paid for a civilian crew to chip, then apply a fresh coat of paint! Looked spiffy for our next rotation on the gun line. 51 years & 11 days ago... got a star on my CAR for my birthday!

[piller]

In gunnery practice at Grafenwoehr, we got to shoot a few of the HEAT rounds and in the evening they would light up the sky with all sorts of bright colors depending upon what metal they were burning through as they exploded.

My older brother, commo sergeant for the Cav unit, said that the Germans got upset about using the green tip ammo 5.56 on the range. It chewed up the concrete.