Is "Topside" .50 cal player manable on M1A1.....??

[Kilo60]

Reason I ask is that I was plaing a single mission last night and my TC, when I wasn't occupying the spot, was blasting away with the "topside" .50 cal. on some convoy trucks..........it was excellent. :thumbup:

I there some way to man this when occupying the TC spot yourself?

I know you can man the ball mounted .50 cal alongside the turrent, when occupying TC position, but I find it to be rather slow at tracking fast moving vehicles.

The "topside" .50 would be nice to be able to jump to when your unbuttoned and scanning with binos.......

[Bluewings]

You can use the F3 key for the .50 cal but if you switch to Binos ~"B"~ , you leave the .50 cal . You need to re-hit F3 to go back to it .

Cheers . :3starSK:

[BladeIV]

To bad you can't man the Loader M240 MG to help spray those pesky troops :P

[Bluebat21]

When using the .50 cal in the TC position via F3 key I can only aim the gun right or left it will not traverse up or down - is this normal or am I doing something wrong? :?

[PS-SCUD]

This is normal. To move the MG up or down you need to repeatedly press the up or down arrow keys. This was implemented to simulate the hand cranks which must be manually operated to adjust elevation on the M2 .50

http://www.steelbeasts.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=17#76

[Kilo60]

You can use the F3 key for the .50 cal but if you switch to Binos ~"B"~ , you leave the .50 cal . You need to re-hit F3 to go back to it .

Cheers . :3starSK:


Yes I have used this .50 cal but it's very slow at tracking fast moving targets especially in the vertical (having to mash those up/down arrow keys), plus you have to duck down back into the tank to use it.

I'm specifically refering to the .50 cal mounted to the "topside" turrent hatch.

It would be very nice to be able to jump to that station when topside scanning for targets or when moving through an urban area like you can already do on the topside Humvee .50 cal.

Is this particular .50 cal "Player" man-able and not just A.I. man-able?

[dejawolf]

there's only 1 .50 cal gun on the M1A1 abrams. the other 2 are 7.62mm M240C machine guns.
yes in reality you can actually fire the 50 cal from 3 different positions,
from a semi buttoned position, looking through the front periscope window,
looking at the ironsights mounted under the gun,
and from the interior, looking through the front periscopes at the ironsights mounted
under the gun.
and last, the position thats currently available in SB. through the magnified sight.
but at the time, the interior model for the abrams isn't entirely finished yet.
so the other 2 positions has to wait.

[Kilo60]

there's only 1 .50 cal gun on the M1A1 abrams. the other 2 are 7.62mm M240C machine guns.
yes in reality you can actually fire the 50 cal from 3 different positions,
from a semi buttoned position, looking through the front periscope window,
looking at the ironsights mounted under the gun,
and from the interior, looking through the front periscopes at the ironsights mounted
under the gun.
and last, the position thats currently available in SB. through the magnified sight.
but at the time, the interior model for the abrams isn't entirely finished yet.
so the other 2 positions has to wait.



Great thanks for the info! :thumbup:

Can't wait for those other positions and would love to see those, "7.62mm M240C machine guns" manable, hopefully in the future as well!

[dejawolf]

you can already "man" 1 of the M240C machineguns. its the coax.
the other is on a skate mount around the loaders hatch.

[Kingsman39]

Anyone have a problem firing the .50 on the M1? I'm in the TC position, looking through the .50 sight... when I hit the space bar, the TC gives a "Fire" command to the gunner. I'm using a mouse, btw.

[Martyr]

Anyone have a problem firing the .50 on the M1? I'm in the TC position, looking through the .50 sight... when I hit the space bar, the TC gives a "Fire" command to the gunner. I'm using a mouse, btw.

It works fine for me. Are you sure you're in the F3 view? That's the only way to fire the .50 on the M1A1. (You can't fire it standing in the turret.)

[dejawolf]

with the mouse, you have to "activate" the view. so left click 1 time, make sure you can move the sight around, then fire.

[Kilo60]

you can already "man" 1 of the M240C machineguns. its the coax.
the other is on a skate mount around the loaders hatch.


O.K how do you man this weapon....???

[FlatTax]

When the M1 is finished, we will be able to man the .50 from the turret deck? That'll be nice. Any plans to incorporate the loader's MG?

A nice (lack of) realism option would be to allow mouse/joystick elevation on the .50 from the F3 view.

[Flash-Kiwi]

You man it through the gunners position.
Just need to switch from the main gun to the coax.
Cheers
Flash Out

[3Star]

The joystick elevation was actually implemented for a short while, and soundly blasted by the beta testers. (We're purists).

Might show up for SB2. Personally, I don't think we should.

I guess, theoretically, one could model hip-shooting the .50 cal from the TC's open-hatched view, but I'm not sure I see the point.

NTM

[Kilo60]

I guess, theoretically, one could model hip-shooting the .50 cal from the TC's open-hatched view, but I'm not sure I see the point.NTM


I don't want to "HIP Shoot" it.

I would like to man it like you can on the Humvee though (looking down the actual gun sights or using the crosshairs through the top turrent shield glass).

[3Star]

Well, there are no gunsights on the top, but you do have the iron crosshairs underneath... I don't think I've ever shot with them though. Probably a low-priority deal.

NTM

[Volcano]

Kilo60, you CANNOT aim or use the the real .50 cal from the unbuttoned position. If you have done so, then explain to me how. :) Anyway, it does not work like that as it is specifically a remote fired weapon. On the M1A2 you can do this (fire down the weapon's sights), because it is the exact same .50 cal that is mounted on the HMMWV (FLEX mount). The .50 cal on the M1A1 is the remote fired type, fired by butterfly trigger. It is the same gun that resided inside the wings of the WW2 fighter planes.

The only thing you can do IRL is reach down and move the TC's cupola left and right powered and sqeeze off some rounds. But you cant elevate or depress unless you rotate the knob so in otherwords you wont be able to hit Jack McSquatterson. The iron sight underneath the .50 cal is only intended for use against aircraft, and I seriously doubt anyone has ever used it at all.

[3Star]

Being as we never seem to have working tanks, I have actually shot PC targets on the range unbuttoned with the .50. Get a general direction on your target, let loose a few rounds, and with your left hand, reach down and rotate the elevation crank until you start hitting. SB generally assumes that you have a CWS which both works and has been boresighted, however, so there is no need for such workarounds.

It might be said that there is a sanctioned provision for the unbuttoned use of the .50 as well: In Iraq I would mount the power traverse on the external mounting point, which is where I would have my right hand, I'd have the .50 pre-elevated to an angle which I thought would be useful (Hitting the ground about 100m away), and the left hand would rest on the safety/butterfly. That way I could scan around, and immediately lay down suppressive fires. Obviously aiming for elevation would not be possible, but it's just supposed to be a quick burst until the coax can swing around. That sort of thing also doesn't seem to be entirely applicable in SBP though, as the SBP threat is usually not people hiding with RPGs/AKs/Bomb triggers near the side of the road.

The end result of all this is still the same: It's such a little-used option, I'm not convinced it's worth the time to code it. Just hit F-3. That said, it -might- be an idea to be able to turn the cupola when unbuttoned. Could make laying the .50 on a bit faster.

NTM

[TopKick]

If the .50 on the M1 was actually useable in SB, I would use the hell out of it in the recon by fire role if for nothing else. As it is now, I need it because the damn coax will not fire 1000 rounds before it gives up the ghost. What have they done to the coax in Pro???

[Wahrborg]

What have they done to the coax in Pro???

It was some customers request, and they didnt want to change it back for PE even thoe i and many whit me asked them many times.. sux :S

[Bluewings]

What have they done to the coax in Pro???

We had weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks of talk and testing about it TopKick :lol: :?
It seems that the coax is highly jammable in real life . But 3Star can answer this one better than I ...

Cheers . :3starSK:

[Wahrborg]

What have they done to the coax in Pro???

It seems that the coax is highly jammable in real life .

Cheers . :3starSK:

No it's not

[Bluewings]

Hum , I seem to remember the Beta Team having long chats about it . Am I mistaking ?

Cheers . :3starSK:

[Kilo60]

Kilo60, you CANNOT aim or use the the real .50 cal from the unbuttoned position. If you have done so, then explain to me how. :) Anyway, it does not work like that as it is specifically a remote fired weapon. On the M1A2 you can do this (fire down the weapon's sights), because it is the exact same .50 cal that is mounted on the HMMWV (FLEX mount). The .50 cal on the M1A1 is the remote fired type, fired by butterfly trigger. It is the same gun that resided inside the wings of the WW2 fighter planes.

The only thing you can do IRL is reach down and move the TC's cupola left and right powered and sqeeze off some rounds. But you cant elevate or depress unless you rotate the knob so in otherwords you wont be able to hit Jack McSquatterson. The iron sight underneath the .50 cal is only intended for use against aircraft, and I seriously doubt anyone has ever used it at all.


Great!

I guess I was confusing it with the M1A2.

Thanks for the info.

[TopKick]

I would expect to fire the coax all day long as long as I fired it in 15-25 round bursts, and as long as I didn't over heat the thing, especially with pauses between bursts. I usually count the tracers going out in each burst. This realism thing . . . for the "Purist" is getting to be a immersion killer. If I had a loader (who takes care of the coax in a damn M1) who could clear a stoppage or malfunction, it would be okay. But the dead coax takes a 5 minute countdown to fix after about a five minute delay before it starts counting down. After it is fixed I may not get another 200 round off and it stops again. That Sucks. Do the other tanks do the same thing?

[Wahrborg]

That Sucks.

yes it does :(

Do the other tanks do the same thing?

Yes, thay are all the same. Hopefully the community get Nils and Al to change their minds about this. I can not lol

[3Star]

Stoppages with the coax are not unusual. The MG can fire all day long, almost, the causes are usually with the infrastructure. The argument (and the couple of reports currently in the system) focus not on the amount of stoppages, but on how long it takes to fix the bloody thing. There is no distinction in SBP right now between stoppages which can be fixed simply by yanking the charging handle or clearing/reloading the MG and those which require removal of the 240 from the mounting (which are rare), and things in between. (Such as the belt in the 240 ready bin getting tangled) Right now, all stoppages take 5 minutes.

The workaround, as the user, is to fire relatively short bursts. Don't hold the trigger down for 100 rounds at a time, sort of thing. If you don't over-use the coax, it won't jam.

The other catch with the 240s is that the collection bins for the shell cases don't hold much over 500 rounds, and the bins must be emptied else the weapon stops. Takes about 30-45 seconds for the coax.

NTM

[chrisotto]

Take the M2 HBs. You'd actually have to exchange barrels after 3 boxes of ammo, due to overheating.

[TopKick]

Take the M2 HBs. You'd actually have to exchange barrels after 3 boxes of ammo, due to overheating.


In RVN I had an ammo box that held 600 rounds. In a typical fire fight I'd empty the box. I've seen barrels so hot they glowed in the dark. I've seen the .50 so hot it would sit there and smoke. I've seen barrels so worn out that the rounds would spit out and fly off wildly. But I've never changed a barrell in the middle of a fight.

[3Star]

Not something you want to do on an M2, really...

"Hold on, let me get my headspace and timing guages out, while I stand on the turret roof doing this for a few minutes..."

NTM

[chrisotto]

But I've never changed a barrell in the middle of a fight.

But you weren't following standard procedures, as described in FM XYZ!

Sgt Topkick, you are to report yourself in to stockade, immediately, as you have obviously survived the fire-fight...