M103 tank (US/USMC)

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by DRG

Is there some hint as to how the ammo load was distributed between HE and AP ?? ( and HEAT for the A2 )

Don

Zero info on ammo distribution.
But it was mentioned the USMC used them in the infantry support (CS) role.

((Probably because they were too slow and short legged to be of much use in the traditional tank role))

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Ready for USA in late 1953/early 1954 however due to many issues were put back in storage. Fielded in Europe in JAN. 1958.
No specific ammo load out info on the M-103 as well except 33 or 34 rounds carried sourced based and many blogs mentioned preference for the AP-T and HEAT-T rounds as they had a much higher velocity then the main rival JS series tank AP rounds of 750m/s vs ~1075m/s for both types mentioned above. It was to be a tank killer for the USA, 11 years to develop and of a poor design. What surprised me was some made comparisons saying it's still the largest tank we ever built to include the ABRAMS.
http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/m103heavy.html
http://panzerfaust.ca/AFV%20interiors/m103a.html

The second ref. is very detailed on the M-103 especially Photo 12 on ammo types carried for this tanks 120mm Gun M58. I bet the answers lie in the Part 2 or Part 3 section which when I tried linking to them I got a 404 error. Did not somebody know or was involved with that website on here? Seems I recall something about that beyond it being used as a ref. somewhere.

http://military-photo.blogspot.com/2...ank-specs.html

Ah crap almost 5am, boy will I be in the "pooper" now!?! GOOD NIGHT!

Regards,
Pat