Ian R -> RE: Convert pounders to mm for guns (5/15/2017 2:00:58 AM)
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ORIGINAL: wdolson quote:
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy I always thought the 17 pounder was about 90mm - based on the mounting of the gun on the Sherman chassis to create a "Firefly" tank. I know it could pierce a Tiger's frontal armour at normal battle ranges. I may be confusing the 90mm figure with later tanks that carried that bore. The 17 pounder was roughly equivalent to the 75mm on the Panther. It was a long barrel high velocity 75/76mm gun. The Super Sherman built after the war had a US 90mm and it required a larger turret to accommodate the gun. The turret of the standard Sherman could take a low velocity 105mm howitzer, but it could only take a high velocity gun of around 75mm. Bill When they put the 17 lber (76.2 mm, not exactly 3") in the Sherman they had to modify it & rotate it sideways 90 degrees, and the enlarged "high" rear turret bustle (an armoured box) acted as a counter-weight. When designing the Comet tank, they produced a modified version of the 17 lbr and named it the 77mm . Like the US army 106mm and 107mm weapons, it was not actually that caliber. It also only ever equipped that tank. Can't remember if it fired the same ammunition as the Fireflies. I think the answer is 'no', hence the 77mm moniker, even though it was also a 76.2mm caliber weapon. Eventually the first model Centurions could mount the 17 lbr right-way-up, but they soon moved on to the 20 lber OQF rifle, which was essentially an evolved 17 lbr. A decade or so later, when the T55 arrived, the 20 lbr was rebored, (it still fits the Centurion turret mountings), and turned into what became the NATO standard 105mm. So, there you have it. The majority of the western world's tank fleets used the evolved 17 lbr gun for about 50 years [;)]
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