C-grunt
Member
Hmmmm. I thought they were shape charges like we had in the Bradley's. I would think that HE shape charges would work better on aircraft and I know from experience they work better on light skinned vehicles.
20MM API round...what is this thing?!
- Thread starter jcmathis
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MachIVshooter
Member
Shape charge (like RPG) aren't necessary for thin skinned stuff. That 20mm round will still penetrate just about anything short of a tank, is much safer from a storage perspective and, most importantly, far less expensive to manufacture.
API rounds are meant to ignite the fuel after penetration; an HE round won't be any more effective in this role.
wleoff
Member
C-grunt
Member
I disagree that an API is just as effective against soft skin vehicles. When we invaded Iraq our Brads shot up a lot of stuff with the HE rounds. Shots that hit non vital parts of the vehicles, such as the bed of a pickup truck, with the HE rounds still killed occupants of the vehicle because of the explosives in the round. A straight penetrator probably wouldn't have caused enemy casualties unless they were directly hit by the projectile. The penetrators like our DU rounds worked well against armored vehicles like T55s and BMPs.
Texan Scott
Member
OP, mk 13 mod 0 and flt make me think that was designated ammo for twin barrel usn shipboard low altitude anti-air guns.
Detritus
Member
Depends on the system they were fred through, and possibly the age of the original cases.
Most of the regular M61 family are electrically fired, But I think the "Self Powered" GAU-4/M130 version (gas driven off of 3 of the barrels) having no external power supply has use non-electric initiation.
anyone know what level of voltage etc the firing system uses? just an off the top of my head, un-informed theory but the indentations may be not impact marks but something akin to an arc mark from a badly adjusted contact
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