Jump to content

Real M1 Abrams Ammunition Loadout


Ninja2dan

Recommended Posts

Greetings everyone. I have been away from SB for a while now, looks like my last visit according to my login was May '06.

I had a quick question regarding the real M1 Abrams, specifically the loadout and storage of the 7.62mm coaxial ammunition. I am aware that they hold 11,400 rounds in total, but what I'm curious about is how many rounds are actively loaded and ready in the M240C and how many are in stowage.

From my previous experience working with the community, this seemed like the perfect place to ask. I have lost my Abrams TM during a move a few years ago, and won't have my new AKO account for a few months. I would greatly appreciate any information available by actual current or previous armor crews who know this data.

I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of SB Pro PE, but it will have to wait until I get back home. I'm in the process of reenlisting into the Army, and will be deployed to Iraq in a few months. Sadly, the laptop I plan to bring with me on my deployment will not be capable of running the game so I'll wait until I'm back home again. It's good to see a lot of familiar names are still active on the forums though, shows great promise in future online sessions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ISTR from recent Tanknet discussion a value of 4500 for the M1/M1IP and 4000 for the M1A1 et al.

The earlier box has the baffles that were designed to aid feed when the ammunition was low, these have been deleted from the new smaller box (size reduced (a little) to fit the larger breech of the 120mm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its been a while, but I seem to remember the spent brass box held more then 250 rds. In any event it doesn't take very long to empty out. As far as the coax ammo storage I thought the M-1/M-1IP I crewed also held more then 4000 rds. i do remember it was tedious to load, as it had cells within it that had to be loaded a specific way so that there wouldn't be any stoppages as each cell emptied and the belt began feeding from the next cell. In any case these numbers are probably close enough to reality to not worry about it, and accept them at face value. I dont read tanknet but apparently they are to be accepted as a reference, so there you go.

Mog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Fubar, good to see you still around.

Thanks for the replies. I'm needing this information for another military simulation currently in the works, still in the design phase. This information will prove helpful, as all the armor guys I used to know are either no longer serving or still in-country and hard to contact.

So from what I'm getting here, the A1 and A2 will hold 2800 rounds at the ready. The A1 will usually hold an additional 10800 rounds in stowage, and the A2 about 8600 in stowage. The 2800 in ready plus 8600 in stowage equals out to the 11400 I already had confirmed.

I really appreciate the information, it'll help me get a few things organized before I deploy. Just got the confirmation last night, I'll be sworn in by the end of the month.

I look forward to seeing everyone again in SB once I get back home. All that money I make while overseas is going to help build a new PC that is capable of running SB Pro. How's the MP community doing now compared to SB1 a few years ago? Still easy to find plenty of matches set up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So from what I'm getting here, the A1 and A2 will hold 2800 rounds at the ready. The A1 will usually hold an additional 10800 rounds in stowage, and the A2 about 8600 in stowage. The 2800 in ready plus 8600 in stowage equals out to the 11400 I already had confirmed.

No an 'A1 has 2800 ready for the coax and 200 ready for the loader, with an additional 7800 rounds in storage: 3200 rounds in the bustle rack, 3200 in the loader's foot box, and the rest in the loader's sponson box. The other vehicles load out the same with the exception of the loader's foot box ammo, which is reduced in each subsequent model due to the increasing amounts of crap stuck over there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
So the 8000 round ready bin in SB is a bit out then?

:biggrin:

Well, I am not sure what tank everyone else have been on, but the M1A1 (HA)s I was on had a huge coax ready ammo box -- there were no baffles in it, it was just a large empty box on the left side of the gun with a door at the top. Considering that 1,000 rounds is only 5 boxes (2 belts of 100 in each box) of 7.62 ammo, this amount of rounds would be very little in the actual box itself. Consider linking 15 boxes of ammo (3,000 rounds), then drop the belts inside the box and you would still have a great deal of room left inside.

The TM does say the coax ammo quantity is 10,000 rounds, and the loader's 240 has a capacity of 1,400 rounds. I seriously doubt that only 2,800 rounds would fit in the huge coax ready box, and another 7,200 (that is 36 boxes of ammo!) are located all over the inside and outside of the turret, that just doesn't make a lot of sense considering that the tank does carry other things besides boxes of ammo. Factor in the fact that the loader's 240 has 200 rounds in it, you have to have room for another 1,200 rounds (that is 6 boxes of ammo). The loader's ammo goes into the loader's sponson box and some under the radios, so that would mean that 42 boxes of 7.62 ammo would require storing. If you put 42 boxes of 7.62 together, it would easily surpass the capacity of the bustle rack (unless the bustle rack carried only coax ammo), both sponson boxes (unless both boxes were devoid of anything else), and would probably be stacked all over the blow out panels. No, I do believe the M240 box holds much more than 2,000 to 3,000 rounds from my experience -- maybe something like 4,000 rounds or so, maybe a little more or a little less.

So I guess the answer to the question is, 8,000 rounds is probably too high on the ready ammo amount, but I think 2,800 is far too low. 4,000 seems like a more realistic amount (in other words the 8000 | 4000 ready/stored should probably be reversed -- which is most likely what the error was, a mix up and accidental reverse of the values). I am not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, because I do think that the coax ready boxes were designed differently on some tanks. Anyway, I am sure that will be on the top priority list of things to address. ;)

On the other hand, it is a question of practicality too. Would you be supplied 11,400 rounds of 7.62? Multiply that by 4 tanks in a platoon, 14 in a company = 159,600 rounds, 798 boxes of ammo. Probably not.

A word of advice too, if you are looking for data because you are helping with "another game" then perhaps it would be smarter to go somewhere like TankNet, and not potential competitor's game forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So how much ammo were you issued with?

I guess it would be a different amounts for range exercises, and something like the gulf wars.

But 800 odd Boxes of ammo would fuel a fair sized infantry firefight.

:biggrin:

**Imagines HEMMT Truck pulling up, Heavy amounts of MG fire, rounds zipping overhead**

Truck commander: "Who ordered 800 boxes of ammo?"

Infantry Sgt: "Over Here!"

TC: "Sign here please."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I am not sure what tank everyone else have been on, but the M1A1 (HA)s I was on had a huge coax ready ammo box -- there were no baffles in it, it was just a large empty box on the left side of the gun with a door at the top. Considering that 1,000 rounds is only 5 boxes (2 belts of 100 in each box) of 7.62 ammo, this amount of rounds would be very little in the actual box itself. Consider linking 15 boxes of ammo (3,000 rounds), then drop the belts inside the box and you would still have a great deal of room left inside.

Nah, it's 2800, I've loaded them plenty of times, sure the box looks big enough for more...but that many rounds takes up a lot of space. The design is wonky anyway, load anything less than 1500 and you need to stick an MRE box in the bottom of the thing so the coax will feed reliably. :) As for the massive amount of 7.62 carried...I think someone was thinking about Korea when they laid down the specs. I do stand corrected on my previous post though, after checking both the TM and my 1998 'A1 load plan, there actually should be 3200 rounds (16 boxes, 8 on each side in front of the water cans) in the bustle rack, 4000 in the loader's foot box, and 400 in the loader's sponson box. Sorry for the bad intel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Hmm, well, maybe so. Athough I did find that some Google searches (just now) did yield results saying that some have loaded 3,800 to 4,000 rounds into the coax box during OIF. Either way, I have word that the M1 coax ammo level in SB has now been changed to 4000|8000 instead of 8000|4000. Either way, it will be more correct than it is now. :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, well, maybe so. Athough I did find that some Google searches (just now) did yield results saying that some have loaded 3,800 to 4,000 rounds into the coax box during OIF. Either way, I have word that the M1 coax ammo level in SB has now been changed to 4000|8000 instead of 8000|4000. Either way, it will be more correct than it is now. :biggrin:

Though I remember reading in Thunder Run, there were occasions where the coax jammed and the crew were wondering why.

Till someone twigged the the empties bag needed emptying.

:biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...