The REAL M1 Abrams! Chapter 3: Firepower (Part 2 of 6)

Now that you've seen in Part 1 how "powerful" and "unique" the M1's main gun is, the next question is, "What about it's ammunition"?

("What" indeed!)

Part 2 only covers 2 of the 5 types of rounds available for the M1; Sabot and HEAT.
These are the quintessential American 120mm tank rounds, which the M1 has used ever since it first entered service with a 120mm gun in 1984. So, given that NO OTHER ROUNDS were available to M1 crews for almost 15 years, could these two rounds cut it all by themselves?

Have a look...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• M1
• IPM1
• M1A1
• M1A2
• Abrams
• Main
• Battle
• Tank
• US
• Army
• Marines
• USMC
• General
• Dynamics
• Land
• Systems
• GDLS
• Rheinmettall
• L/11
• M256
• 120mm
• Smoothbore
• gun
• cannon
• M829
• M829A1
• M829A2
• M829A3
• Armor
• Peircing
• Fin
• Stabilized
• Discarding
• Sabot
• Round
• M830
• High
• Explosive
• Anti
• HEAT
• Scam
• Scandal
• Defense
• Waste
• Fraud
• Ruse
• Boondoggle
• Debacle
• MOUT
• Urban
• Warfare
• Combat
• Battlefield
• Support

[TheCatholic143]

Are hesh rounds more effective than the Sabot against tanks?

[BlacktailDefense]

@TheCatholic143 That's a good question, but there's no conclusive evidence to show which is the better armor killer. Just about every tank model ever knocked-out by an APFSDS round has also been decisively defeated by an APFSDS round.

It's also a tough choice whether to use APFSDS or HESH at a long range as well. APFSDS loses a LOT of penetration over distance while HESH doesn't lose any, but it's extremely hard to hit a moving target at 8km with HESH, relative to APFSDS.

[MarshallJukov]

@BlacktailDefense You rather should say its extremely hard to hit moving target by apfsds at 3km already, and almost impossible with HESH

[BlacktailDefense]

@MarshallJukov I don't know about "almost impossible" --- the Israelis did it on the Golan Heights with monotonous regularity, and the British did it in the Persian Gulf. In fact, the longest-ranged confirmed direct-fire tank kill in history was achieved by a Challenger 1 in 1991, with 120mm HESH at 5110m against a T-62.

An Israeli M51 Super Sherman firing 105mm HESH also scored a tank kill at 11km, though this was with *indirect*-fire.

[Dunnedainn]

I can tell from the music you use in your videos that you play a good number of computer games. XD

The track starting at 1:03 is from Total Annihilation, isn't it?

[BlacktailDefense]

@Dunnedainn That's the title. ;-)

However, I've never actually played that game (I'm mostly a console gamer) --- I just stumbled upon the soundtrack one day, and it sounded good.

[MarshallJukov]

@BlacktailDefense We both know that target of Callenger 1 and HESH was immobile.

[franknbeans4761]

@BlacktailDefense Gotcha, no problem. That would be a foolish statement to make.

He had some....interesting things to say.

[BlacktailDefense]

@franknbeans4761 Actually, that turned out to be texasrangersr1; all_comments?v=0sZUtmDck9Q

It was 7 months, dozens of videos, and hundreds of comments ago.

[franknbeans4761]

@BlacktailDefense "I still remember your lecture about how the M1 and Leopard 2 were the the product of a single joint project."

Can you refresh me on that? Maybe when I said they were forced into development due to the failure of the MBT-70? But they obviously weren't made together.