Talk:M163 VADS

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[edit] Sabot Rounds??

Does anyone have a source for this claim: "M163 PIVADS (1984)... and the ability to utilize armor-piercing discarding sabot ammunition." I crewed a Vulcan for 4 years and spent many more years at Ft. Bliss training Vulcan crews and have never heard of Vulcan using sabot rounds. We had TP (target practice, hardball), TPT (target practice tracer), HE (high explosive impact), HEP (high explosive proximity), and for armor piercing we used DP (depleted uranium), but no sabot rounds. Anyone???L0b0t 14:36, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Almost all DU round are of APFSDS type. In fact most rounds with penetrators are. This is to assist in getting the penetrator up to the requisite speed. According to Global Security, the DU was changed to Tungsten in the round in 1988. I've removed the whole mess because I really don't see how these type of rounds couldn't be used in the system prior to the PIVAD improvements. It was just that they were developed at the same time. [1]

I think I still have allmy manuals and range cards and the like in a duffle bag in the attic. I'll do some looking for the card that lists all 20mm ammo types we used in late '80s early '90s. If I find it is that the sort of thing I can upload to commons? it is a U.S. Army training aid that is no longer used. L0b0t 15:08, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

If you can scan it in, you can definitly upload it to the commons. Its a work of the government, and a training aid, so if its more or less approved for unlimited release (or isn't otherwise restricted or something), I don't see how there could be copyright issues. -- Thatguy96 15:43, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

I think I put that in waaayyyy back. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M163_VADS&diff=20679803&oldid=18589965 based on either Jane's or a net source - scraping around I found http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6783&page=3 (scroll down a bit). The PIVADS system had the ability to fire APDS, however that doesn't mean that they actually deployed (or even purchased) any APDS ammo. The Phalanx uses tungsten core APDS [2] which is actually better than DU - but it's more expensive. Megapixie 02:16, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Wow, thanks Megapixie. Ya learn something new every day. We certainly never had any sabot rounds when I was in. We most often went for a mix of HEIT (High Explosive Incendiary Tracer) and HE rounds. We would also drop acid at Ft. Hunter Ligget and write our names in the sky during live-fires, but that's another tale for anther time. Anyway, thanks again for running down that source. L0b0t 02:47, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Heh. It wouldn't make much sense to mix HE/HEI with APDS anyway, the trajectory would differ by too much. Secondary reason is that the crunchies a dozen kilometers downrange might not take too kindly to hundreds of tungsten slugs raining down on them. Megapixie 06:29, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

We emplaced once behind a couple of infantry squads and their colonel came by to look at our range cards. He freaked out when he saw we did not use firing stakes to mask his troops positions from our fire. We showed him the radial pin safety system Vulcan used and he went away awestruck at the power and glory that is the Vulcan. Man, I miss that gun.L0b0t 10:37, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Speed is listed as "64". 64 what? mph? km/h? something else?