Knock Out: The Evolution of Tank Ammunition
2024 ж. 4 Мам.
508 501 Рет қаралды
Tank ammunition has gone a long way from basic solid armour piercing shot to the high-tech fin rounds of today. In this video we look at the development of tank ammo in its different forms and how it has evolved from the First World War to the modern battlefield.
Support The Tank Museum & Get great perks:
► Patreon: / tankmuseum
► KZhead Membership: / @thetankmuseum
00:00 | Intro
01:21 | WW1
04:13 | WW2
06:42 | Armour Piercing Rounds
13:10 | High Explosive Rounds
16:41 | Uses & Summary
#tankmuseum #ChrisCopson #Evolution #Ammo
Hi Tank Nuts! The live chat has now ended. Thank you for your questions and we hope you enjoyed the video! For more opportunities to ask The Tank Museum experts your questions, support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/tankmuseum/membership or become a KZhead member: www.youtube.com/@thetankmuseum/membership
Be honest, we only went smoothbore so we could get cheap rds from the yanks....and germans.
There is no stable isotope of uranium. So uranium is always radioactive. And highly toxic, that is much more important. True, different isotopes are radioactive to different extent, but as we are mostly talking about U235 vs U238, the difference in radioactivity of these is meh. Real difference is that one is suitable to sustain a fission chain reaction and the other is not. Otherwise, if we are not talking about building a fission device, both are equally dangerous.
Please do a far more in depth video regarding tank ammunition at some point for those of us who understand the basics & would like to see more.
EXCELLENT VIDEO.....Thanks very much i am Sub'ed..... Shoe🇺🇸
Oh the radiation from the uranium is "minor". Tell that to the deformed babies in Iraq. Simply disgusting this report, how it skips over the issue. It is impossible to prove that any disease is related to this by definition because you cant ethically test on pregnant women. However there is significant correlation. Disgusting how he skipped over all this. To me it is an utterly criminal weapon. This is why some countries abondoned using it decades ago. Utterly disgusting heartless propaganda slipped into an otherwise great video. The mention of the russians in current day betrays the alternate agenda in this presentation. Y'all make me sick.
Just to be clear, DU is not waste from nuclear power stations. It is 'waste' from the process of extracting the radioactive U235 that goes on to form the fuel for nuclear reactors. Military DU comprises more than 99% U238; that's why it's only weakly radioactive and it will certainly never have been near the inside of a power station. It is though still a heavy metal and still chemically toxic, but you wouldn't want to be ingesting too much lead either.
So it is not nuclear weapons, just very nasty chemical ones? Some justification on the usage of DU.
@@roll-outcommanders6520 You might as well call lead small arms rounds chemical weapons then
While not a nuclear weapon, of course, DU is toxic and somewhat radioactive. The biggest danger is produced when DU shatters and produces dust. Even if the chemical hazard is more serious I wouldn't discard the radiological aspect of DU, which decays, as anything does.
So it's basically like firing lead asbestos at someone
U238 particles still give you cancer when ingested. Its by no means harmless, especially given that the rounds - be it tank sabots or 30mm fired from a Gau-8 - do not stay intact but, as mentioned in the video, shave material off upon impact. The area will be salted with U238 particles and dust... Also noteworthy: U238 is used as a booster for thermonuclear weapons, as the intense neutron flux of a fusion process can split U238 and trigger another fission chain reaction on top of it. Its the only way to achieve multi-megaton yield.
I must say, I really enjoyed this video. Chris Copson has tremendously improved as a presentator. In the past I found his style good enough, but now i like it. the cadence has improved, as well as where, when and how he chooses to pause. Well done! Looking forward to more
Agreed. His knowlwdge has been obvious, his experience emergent and I suppose I've become used to, and like his presentation style. Hard to follow David and David:) Tghough I'd really like to see more of David W.
Was thinking the same thing
Great presentation indeed
Got presence . 🤙
The word "sabot" (the 't' is silent) originally meant a type of French wooden shoe. In the 18th century, it was used to refer to a wooden disc which was attached to a cannon ball to give a tighter fit in the barrel.
The same wooden shoe that gives its name to sabotage, because machine wreckers in the early days of industrialization would throw their shoes into the gearworks of industrial machines to break them.
During the Industrial Revolution many of the new factory workers in France were peasants, who wore wooden shoes or sabots When they went on strike, they would throw their shoes into the factory machinery to damage it. Thus they were "saboteurs" committing "sabotage"
@@user-gr4sq3lo6n Nice u all watch time team, too.
@@bradyelich2745 Or Star Trek VI...
@@trolleriffic Ha!
A mistake about annealing (5:10): Hardening the round (via quenching) gives it strength but also brittleness. Annealing improves the toughness of the round so that it doesn’t shatter on impact.
Yup, basically hardening the skin of the metal (about 2-7%) of the overall metal but imparting a relatively 'softer' metal inside after heating it up again.
I assume he was conflating annealing and tempering. Heat treatment is probably above the level of this video though. You can do some pretty fancy things with heat treatment if you know what properties you want in a specific part of the design.
Agreed, Annealing is a process used to actually soften steels. I guess the rounds were quenched and possibly tempered to get the desired hardness.
It’s neither here or there it’s actually an exact science of just the right amount either way for the use case it’s just oversimplified for a short video
Please do not feel as if you have to apologize for explaining all of these concepts so clearly and simply that a novice like myself can understand. I believe that your pacing, and the accompanying illustrations and film, will keep the video interesting even for those who are more knowledgeable on the subject.
I completely agree with your comment. The presenter combined with the location made the whole video very interesting and enjoyable. I'm not one who can identify tank types but it's sure fun to see the various tanks in the museum.
I've probably forgotten more bout tanks than these videos detail, but I till find them charming and must say I'm impressed that he managed to accurately describe the way HEAT works with the current understanding of things. While I was familiar with the statistics of the 17 pounder, actually seeing the rounds and projectiles handled gave me a much better understanding of their sizes. In short, I agree. These videos provides something for all.
Just a correction on the solid rounds. "Annealing" is a heat treating process which SOFTENS metals, it doesn't harden them. It is used to control the crystal grain growth in the metal.
To make them less brittle...
@@dwwolf4636 to me annealing means to make soft completely. Stress relief refers to a 300-500 degree draw to relieve internal stresses in material. Hardening is the opposite of annealing. The man in the video misspoke unless there are different terms used across the pond. I think he is just using the term annealing a little loosely and means that they are hardened and then stress relieved. Which makes complete sense. If the were hardened and annealed then you didn't do anything but waste electricity or gas.
When he said annealing I assumed he meant tempering, which to the average person sounds like the same thing. At a guess, the shell would be forged from something like 1065 high carbon steel. In a fully annealed state it would be something like 15 on the Rockwell C scale of hardness, soft enough that you could easily file shavings off it. Heated to ~825°C and quenched in oil or water it might be around 65 HRC, but also very brittle. It would be so hard that a hand file wouldn't scratch it. Tempering it at say 250°C for a couple hours would greatly reduce the brittleness giving it toughness and elasticity so it doesn't shatter and reducing the hardness to something like 58 HRC, which a hand file would be able to scratch but just barely.
@@mattkotewa6098 Only a waste if you do both things to the whole projectile. For instance, you could harden the top and anneal the bottom so you get a hard striking surface with a bottom that won't break away on impact.
@@johanmetreus1268 thats true, you can do some fancy things with your quench and with your temper.
Even as someone who's a bit of a "casual enthusiast" on arms and ordnance topics (and who once-upon-a-time did volunteer work at a very different armor museum), I did appreciate the relatively comprehensive yet approachable coverage in this video.
Great stuff! Excellent presentation.
Super awesome to see a comprehensive basic talk about tank shells! I hope you guys expand the series and talk about stuff like HE filler vs solid shot in WW2, canister, and artillery shells
Left out APCR / HVAP - Armor Piercing Composite Rigid / Hyper Velocity Armor Piercing (Known to the Russians and Germans as Arrowhead from its shape) - A half way house to Discarding Sabot Armour-piercing, composite rigid (APCR) in British nomenclature, high-velocity armour-piercing (HVAP) in US nomenclature, alternatively called "hard core projectile" (German: Hartkernprojektil) or simply "core projectile" (Swedish: kärnprojektil), is a projectile which has a core of high-density hard material, such as tungsten carbide, surrounded by a full-bore shell of a lighter material (e.g., an aluminium alloy). However, the low sectional density of the APCR resulted in high aerodynamic drag. Tungsten compounds such as tungsten carbide were used in small quantities of inhomogeneous and discarded sabot round, but that element was in short supply in most places. Most APCR projectiles are shaped like the standard APCBC round (although some of the German Pzgr. 40 and some Soviet designs resemble a stubby arrow), but the projectile is lighter: up to half the weight of a standard AP round of the same calibre. The lighter weight allows a higher muzzle velocity. The kinetic energy of the round is concentrated in the core and hence on a smaller impact area, improving the penetration of the target armour. To prevent shattering on impact, a shock-buffering cap is placed between the core and the outer ballistic shell as with APC rounds. However, because the round is lighter but still the same overall size it has poorer ballistic qualities, and loses velocity and accuracy at longer ranges. The APCR was superseded by the APDS, which dispensed with the outer light alloy shell once the round had left the barrel. The concept of a heavy, small-diameter penetrator encased in light metal was later employed in small-arms armour-piercing incen
Yes, this was a bit of a dead end technology, but it was used, so it would have been nice to see it included; and you could then include squeeze bore guns as well possibly? A good constructive comment, and well explained.
Was about to say this as well. Quick addition though regarding the caps, they are not necessarilly present. Soviet 45mm APCR has no cap, only an aluminium (or was it soft steel?) ballistic.
@@Simon_Nonymous for tank use, they are definitely a bit of a deadend. Not so much for aircraft though. The discarding sabot can get caught in the propeller of a helicopter or turbine of a jet engine, which you certainly do not want. For some reason Germany also never developed 20mm APDS until the 80s, instead using APCR (with a small incendiary component) for their autocannons on infantry fighting vehicles like the Marder.
Sighting in the enemy first, and getting an effective first hit quickly is the key.
Or destroy the tanks support.
Recon, intel, observation 🤓
Before that, by looking what's happening in Ukraina, avoiding mines, enemy artillery and drones is the most inportant. After that there might be change to shoot that first shot.
so?
this guy has one of my fave new youtubers, he is very thorough.... what i like from youtube is enthusasts, not some presenter that is just presenting and i think this channel understands what youtube is about in that regard a great many museams now put on top quality docs of their own, the imperial war museam also does great ones to
Superb video, i can not fault it. The information was given in an understandable way. Chris gives great explanation for all subjects. Personal memories...RCT supporting RSDG in 1985, found out they called the HESH practise rounds SHSPRAC. When said it sounds good. No idea what they called SABOT rounds. Edit. @19.28 Let that sink in, then remember Challenger had the longest Tank on Tank kill ever, with a "dart" with a "Rifled" gun.
I was at tankfest 2023 last weekend, my 3rd tankfest & an amazing weekend. These videos, along with the tank chats series are all presented by people with an incredible depth of knowledge of the subjects discussed, & are great insights in to the complex & fascinating subject of armoured warfare past & present. I am a full gold membership holder & supporter of the museum & I cannot encourage a visit to the museum in beautiful Dorset , highly enough. Keep up the great work guys, & hope to see you next year at tankfest 2024. 👍👍😎
Well done, sir! A complex subject briefly explained, but not over simplified. I look forward to future videos on the subject.
Excellent video. Keen to see an expanded and more in depth look into the other tank munitions that you were unable to cover in this video.
Excellent as ever. A video on the development of fire control systems would be good - basic telescope, stadiametric range finding, ballistic computers and digital fir control. Plus gun stabilisation to allow firing on the move. Then there are night vision devices
A really excellent video and a fantastic explanation of the various ammunition types without getting too technical. Thank you
What an excellent subject! Thanks for a really good video Chris!
For anyone wanting to know the basics this is very informative and straight to the point.
What a brilliant, and yet concise, explanation on the subject. Thank you very much for sharing with us your knowledge and cheers from Canada.
Great video adding a lot of new material to whole process that doesn’t come around alot in other videos. Great channel, thanks.
Exceptionally good video. It covered things in accessible depth in an admirable fashion. Though I would happily have gone deeper! Mentioning what wasn't covered was a great so we can go on and do some further reading/watching. Though I would love more on the subject.
Great vid. I wish you could go deeper. Fantastic job folks. Thank You!
Outstanding presentation indeed!!! Very accurate information. I used to be a Tank Commander on the M1A1 Abrams. I used to be a Paratrooper and an Infantryman once upon a time. Learning the M1A1 Abrams to maintaining and driving was very short and mastered it quickly. Gunnery was very important and foremost along with tactics. A good understanding of Tank Gunnery and especially crew, platoon, company or troop level live fire exercises after qualification is very essential. It develops unit cohesion especially under combat conditions where coordination must become instinctive when calling out fire commands to your crew, platoon, and to relay the engagement to your unit commander. It also works in reverse if your unit commander is excellent at his job as company or troops commander. When moving out on a mission all tanks as a first engagement round in combat should battle carry a SABOT round. After the first round is fired by the gunner, the commander has to identify the next target as he is searching to select the next round either HEAT or SABOT.
Thanks! Excellent coverage of your subject!
Excellent clear and concise look at the different tank rounds. Another great video.
Highly informative presentation of a very complex subject. Well done, and thank you!
I love the POV shots where you can see the actual flight of the tank round. A great segment, folks, I enjoyed it.
Thank you for the video! Your explanations were spot on for my intellect.
Excellent video ! 18:58 sounds like an excellent follow up video idea
Awesome crash course! Thanks so much for the video.
I would really like to see a longer form video on rifled vs smooth bore guns and the pros and cons of the respective rounds fired!
This is a very informative and well presented video. Thank you!
Now I know we all want Smoothbore v. Rifled - A closer look!
These videos should be mandatory :D Great quality!
I never knew what cordite looked like before. Now I do. It’s one of those things I never really gave any thought to before. I enjoyed this video tremendously!
Excellent commentary. Thank you very much.
Thank you. I think that was an excellent introduction to the subject.
Well done video, good intro for people who dont know much about tanks in the first place.
I'd love to see a part 2 to this particular video covering the other types of rounds and where the spent brass goes please!
Thanks for a great presentation. Cheers!!
Very much informative video, well done 👏
Good video, especially for new people. Thank you.
This was fantastic! A very good introduction on the subject to a layman like myself.
Beautifully presented!
Very good. Clear and useful information (as always) 👍
Really enjoy these videos. Thank you!
Excellent intro. Thanks!
I love listening to this guy talk. Chris Copson? Great job!
Good video. The driving band also seals the gun tube to ensure the force of the burning propellant pushes the round out the barrel.
great explanation for the shell composition. Well done!!
I learnt a lot. Looking forward to more stuff. The presenters are excellent and very clear and interesting.
You are right ; I did enjoy this video. Thank you.
Very good content well presented. Good job !
Chris. You're doing a good job! Please announce your name at the start of the video or get it added to the title. You deserve the credit !!!!!
Very cool, I learned a lot here: so it was much more than just entertaining, but educational too!
Very informative. Thanks for the chat.
I never understood what the first cap in APCBC was for. Now I know. Thanks Tank Museum!
Excellent explanation. ❤
My favourite round is the Oddball. Filled with paint to produce pretty pictures. Scares the hell outta people.
Excellent! Perhaps a second one as a follow-up covering the rounds you describe at the end? Great stuff.
He described the use and composition and even showed a cut-away model! What is it you want to know?
As I say, the rounds briefly mentioned @ 18:54 might be deserving of a short follow-up, or even an entire video of their own. A cross section lasting 2s does *not* explain how it works or how it's used tactically. THAT is what I would like to know. Any more questions?
@@RobSchofield Oh. Well, you point your gun in a direction, fire that round, and it spreads ball bearings at a rate of about 1 meter every 10 meters forward, utterly destroying *everything* not substantially armored in its path; to about 50 meters' swath at 500 meters. The ball bearings remain lethal well past 1 kilometer, but dispersal at that point reduces hitting any individual to a fluke. As the projectiles form a Cone of Destruction, many go high and many go low, but those going low are at such velocity and hardness that they tend to ricochet off hard ground and _graze_ targets. They are nominally for clearing brush, such as the hedges in Normandy, allowing the tank to exit a road. These are the modern version of canister shot, by the same name, and used much the same.
Excellent technical presentation of modern ballistic penetrators. I was particularly impressed by the fraze " this keeps the pointy end going forward". They are very big. Can we have one on Hesh next week.
excellent as always
Yes the depleted uranium has way less radioactivity, but when its shot at a tank and creates microscopic dust, it still gets everywhere in your body and its known how 'not that bad´ it is.
Any airosol particles are bad for you. Wood dust can cause cancers. In that light depleted uranium is probably less toxic than wood dust.
Ask the Serbs and Iraqis how the cancer rates increased after the US used DU on/around them.
Yes. Uranium 238is decays emiting alpha radiation. That's basicaly the HE-shell among the various form of ionising radiation (shitty penetration, but if it does get in, it does a ton of damage). And Uranium dust in your lungs is just in the perfect spot to put those alpha particles to work...
@@Bird_Dog00 "International Atomic Energy Administration points out, “DU is 3 million times less radioactive than radium still found in many old luminous watches and 10 million times less radioactive than what is used in fire detectors.” DU is also far less radioactive than the potassium 40 found in the human body. Potassium is a substantial percentage of the dry mass of common Hawaii agricultural crops such as bananas and marijuana. A 2.5 lb bunch of bananas will contain over 100 mg of potassium 40. Gamma detectors are used to detect marijuana smugglers at international borders."
A wonderful explanation thanks for sharing
Very interesting video. Please do more of this kind of stuff!
that was super interesting, thank you
Great presentation. Thanks
Glad this guy is on the payroll. Excellent quality videos, some tiny inaccuracies pointed out in the comments, but look at the wording of them. This is clearly not troll/hater territory, it's a respectful exchange of knowledge and opinion. Maybe the tank museum can appreciate the quality of it's viewers.
Fantastic content and presentation
As a retired US Army ammo dawg, I approve this great video!
Great series!
Brilliant video!
I loved the video, but I would love to see more technical and in-depth videos. So many channels provide the same baseline of information on things like ammunition types and their functions, different types of armor, etc. But I have yet to find a channel that goes into real depth on the subjects.
It would be interesting to see close up the damage various rounds to to a tank. I am always amazed at the power of an impact on a tanks armour.
There’s various KZheadrs making slow motion CGI videos of various shells impacting various armours.
If you are anywhere near Portsmouth, then head to fort Nelson, they have a section of ship armour that shows where it is has been hit by a HESH rounds and the resulting 'scab' marks on the inside. Must be absolutely terrifying to be pootling along in your tank and that large bits of the inside start ricocheting around at 300m/s.
@@darrenjosephgregory Been to Portsmouth a few time to see HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. thanks for the tip.
Excellent, this was a great introduction
Thoroughly enjoyed !
Well that gave me a shock. The knocked out Sherman at 4.27 was commanded by Robert Hiseman at El Alamein. He happened to be my mothers boyfriend in Egypt. She commanded the Army telephone exchange in Cairo. I have a print of this and Bob has written on the back of the print. That’s not Bob in the picture but one of his crew How we caught it at El Alamein ‘Blighty’ T74285 5 troop B squadron 47 RTR
At around 10:55 when they describe the hit on the T-72 it would have been prudent to point out that it's internal ammo detonated. An APFSDS round does not have the kinetic energy to lob a 4 ton turret 300 meters. To viewers not intimately familiar with the subject mentioning which guns uses cased ammo and which does not would probably have been helpful. Especially the last segment went rather quick back and forth between the two scenarios.
description of the annealed chromium projectiles is incorrect. it was not to harden. hardened chromium steel tends to fracture in to smaller pieces, which would degrade effectiveness of armor-piercing rounds. annealing is the opposite of hardening -- it increases the ductility and reduces the hardness of a material.
It's done to increase toughness isn't it? I seem to recall that annealing is done very carefully with strict control over the temperature and time spent to increase toughness while minimising the reduction in hardness of the metal. I think there's also differential hardening (or whatever it's called) which might be done using a mould which has one end water-cooled to rapidly chill the tip of the projectile for maximum hardness, while letting the rest of the round cool more slowly so that it's softer and tougher.
You are both right. It reduces brittleness
Very well presented.
Awsome info thanks
This host... is workin out... Thank you for good content
this is so good 😮 thanks
I never knew how much I needed this video in my military-geek life :D
Very interesting, great job
Great Video, thank you for your work. Greetings from Germany.
I was very comfortable with the level of complexity provided by this video. I found it very clarifying. I've seen all of the "Tank Chat" videos, so it's very educational to watch an episode that draws together a lot of the information about the ammunition. Still, I'm left wondering: What does SABO stand for, if anything?
I believe it originates from an old French word 'Sabot' which was a wooden shoe, then in the 1800s they used a wooden block on naval guns to wedge in the round and apparently it looked a bit like sabot and so the name stuck.
For years I have not been able to find an explanation as to why the 88mm was so effective at long ranges in the tanks.. the explanation given about the 6 pounder brought everything into focus.. the 17 pounder was probably the best to against heavy armour.. but the American 75 mm with advancements in AP rounds actually was a more versatile and valuable gun.
Easy higher musle velocity and more weight.
Going from memory but I think 80% of US tank rounds fired were HE. The 75mm provided more blast effect than higher velocity rounds. The Big cats were pretty rare on the western front so the Sherman was a good fit for "all" tank missions aside from dueling the Panther and Tiger. An old joke from the Germans, a Tiger could take on five Shermans at once...but there was always a sixth Sherman.
@scottw5315 Panthers were the most prevalent German tank after Normandy. More Panthers than Panzer IVs were built in 1944 and 1945. There were 650 Panthers in Normandy alone. There were more Panthers than Panzer IVs in the Westwall battles and the Ardennes etc.
@@lyndoncmp5751Watch the Tank Chat: Reloaded on Panther. Almost none of the Western Front Panthers were able to engage in battle, they were almost all destroyed by their own crews without fighting.
Another great Video from Bovington museum! The quality if these films is getting better than the BBC. Keep it up! Cheers from Washington!
11/10. Every time, thank you.
Very informative.
Great video, love this presenter. Please make a video discussing rifled Vs. smoothbore barrels! See you at the Tankfest!
Great video
"If you haven't had the opportunity to handle tank ammunition, you may not know what all the bits are and what they do." quite right. Much appreciate your insight thank you.
Excellent
Outstanding
yes indeed. this needs a sequel. Also I'd love a video about "delousing".