Tank Turret firing range? Unable to find.

[starstreams 0]

Hi, I was looking at some tanks the other day at Cantigny Park I saw a sing the said something about the tanks range being 300 miles. My friend is telling me that’s the firing range. I’m guessing the display sign is referring to miles as it how far the tank can drive?

Or is it possible for an older (M60 or 46) I believe to fire 300 miles?

How far could the typical 1970s tank fire a sabot?

Some pictures of that day.

http://www.pyramid-of-wisdom.com/cantigny.html

Info on the park

http://www.rrmtf.org/cantigny/

[JdB 151]

Of course it is the action radius in miles and not the firing range

For destroying something 300 miles away you use a Tomahawk cruise missile, not a tank's main gun. Main guns on tanks have a maximum (usefull) range of about 2,5 miles (4km) (with modern electronic aiming equipment that is).

Typical 1970's

See it...kill it.

Don't see it...can't kill it

[jakerod 254]

Of course it is the action radius in miles and not the firing range

For destroying something 300 miles away you use a Tomahawk cruise missile, not a tank's main gun. Main guns on tanks have a maximum (usefull) range of about 2,5 miles (4km) (with modern electronic aiming equipment that is).

Typical 1970's

See it...kill it.

Don't see it...can't kill it

Never doubt the power of a lucky shot over a mountain.

@Starstreams

Are you refering to Cantigny near West Chicago in Illinois? If so I used to go there when I was younger. I remember they had a cool WWI exhibit one time where you walk through a trench and there is a tank over the top of it. I also was a big fan of the willow trees and tanks.

[JdB 151]

Never doubt the power of a lucky shot over a mountain.

I knew I should have edited my post to account for the odd bit of luck

Not really smart to start blasting away for hours hoping to hit anything and then running out of ammo and being overrun

[starstreams 0]

Of course it is the action radius in miles and not the firing range

For destroying something 300 miles away you use a Tomahawk cruise missile, not a tank's main gun. Main guns on tanks have a maximum (usefull) range of about 2,5 miles (4km) (with modern electronic aiming equipment that is).

Typical 1970's

See it...kill it.

Don't see it...can't kill it

Never doubt the power of a lucky shot over a mountain.

@Starstreams

Are you refering to Cantigny near West Chicago in Illinois? If so I used to go there when I was younger. I remember they had a cool WWI exhibit one time where you walk through a trench and there is a tank over the top of it. I also was a big fan of the willow trees and tanks.

Yep, I walked under that thing last sunday.

Good thing it didn't fall on me.

By the way, I put a link above with some picture in there.

[hellfish6 7]

When I lived in Chicago I used to love going to Cantigny. Good way to kill a summer afternoon. Excellent museum.

[blackdog~ 0]

300 mile range on a full tank of fuel.... typical for almost all military vehicles. I'm not sure if it includes 5 gallon gerry cans though, it doesn't really matter on a tank though.

[herman01 0]

I think the longest tank kill ever was about 4 or 5 miles I cant remember though. Think it was by british tank a challenger or cheiften, or so the story is told by U.S. Army Tankers but I think it is valid though could be significanlty less. Anyways 300 miles is still an impressive range for tank to travel. I think the farthes a modern sabot round could travel is maybe 30 miles depending on the elavation limit of tanks Main Gun. The tanks pictured the most modern being the sheridan and M-41 deffinelty would not have any impressive range.

[echo1 0]

Main guns on tanks have a maximum (usefull) range of about 2,5 miles (4km) (with modern electronic aiming equipment that is).

Yeah but for safety reasons they have to have much larger areas than that in firing ranges, the 'effective' distance means that distance at which the sheel is still accurate and cut through a metre of steel. Im sure a shell could still fly and cause damage or fatalities to people/objects well beyond 2.5Km. though 300 miles sounds kinda excessive

[BlackScorpion 0]

I think the farthes a modern sabot round could travel is maybe 30 miles depending on the elavation limit of tanks Main Gun. The tanks pictured the most modern being the sheridan and M-41 deffinelty would not have any impressive range.

Well, when I had a chat with an FDF Leopard (2A4) operator (apparently), I think he said that the round is able to travel about 105 km's (~62 miles) when elevated correctly. That is if I remember it correctly. Practical firing range is usually 4-5 km's max, at 4 km range the SABOT can still hit a (large) man.

[Balschoiw 0]

Ok, the Leopard 2 ammo fired from a L55 barrel has a a V0 of 1750m/s. The projectile itself is about 5 kg. Reduction of speed per 1000m´s is 55m´s. Can someone do the maths ?

Edit: Should be something like ~32km´s. The projectile would have lost it´s kinetic energy at that point.

[herman01 0]

Remember to that we talking about an much older thank than the Leopard. With a smaller round size. This is very speculative argument. There is so many variables besides the the size of the round. Whether its tungsten, titanium, or depleted uranium. Lateral winds and humidity would also play a huge role in the shells final destination.

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

Ok, the Leopard 2 ammo fired from a L55 barrel has a a V0 of 1750m/s. The projectile itself is about 5 kg. Reduction of speed per 1000m´s is 55m´s. Can someone do the maths ?

Edit: Should be something like ~32km´s. The projectile would have lost it´s kinetic energy at that point.

Yea, but at that point, the projectile will begin to fall and will (in a vacuum), hit the target at double range

[tankieboy 0]

I think the longest tank kill ever was about 4 or 5 miles I cant remember though. Think it was by british tank a challenger or cheiften, or so the story is told by U.S. Army Tankers but I think it is valid though could be significanlty less. Anyways 300 miles is still an impressive range for tank to travel. I think the farthes a modern sabot round could travel is maybe 30 miles depending on the elavation limit of tanks Main Gun. The tanks pictured the most modern being the sheridan and M-41 deffinelty would not have any impressive range.

Challenger 1

Range: 5,600m

Ammo: HESH

[herman01 0]

Thats Impressive Range. So it was closer to 3 miles. I can't Imagine though that they probably didnt hit the target with the first round. Probably used the Kentucky Windage system to dial in at that type of range. Still very amazing considering all the variables. Thanks for the info.