I am not sure if there is then an issue in the test flight map, because I tried testing shooting the 2x20mm on the Lincoln bomber with limited ammo enabled, with realistic difficulty.
The 2x 20mm have a fire rate of 750 rpm, with a total of 722 rounds between them, so 361 shots before the cannons have to reload. This means, you are able to continuously fire for nearly 30 seconds, before the cannons runs out of ammunition.
When i tried shooting that cannon, I were able to fire for the around 30 seconds before i had to reload. This matches with the calculation, that you should be able to fire for 30 seconds before running out.
However I were able to continuously reload the cannons, making it possible for me to shoot for over 2,5 minutes (all of the reloads enabled me to shoot for 30 seconds). So I had shot over 3600 rounds of ammunition through the cannons that only have 722 rounds total.
I have not tested in a real game, so I am not sure if it will behave differently there.
I agree with you, thats why I tested it in Air Sim Battles.
Picked my beloved SB-2M with 3420 ammo shown in stat card and 1000 ammo in upper tail turret.
In 1 minute I had no more ammo in that turret. So it checks out, in Air SB ammo is indeed limited.
I guess when I went to Air Realistic Battles and was shooting and reloading for 25 minutes, it was just a swamp gas from a weather balloon that was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
Anyone can pick an SB-2M in simulator battles and in realistic battles and agree, that they both have limited ammo and do not reload in mid air for hours. Right?
MK 108 did not have an AP-I round, and the HE is already HEI (the explosive filler used in these rounds has aluminium powder which enhances incendiary capabilities).
Edit: It’s the round you find in the default MK 108 belts in WarThunder.
It also looks to be that all defensive armaments works as if they had one long continuous belt.
The MG 15 defensive machinegun on the Ju 87 B-2, is a machinegun that has a fire rate of 1000rpm. It has a ammo capacity of 900 rounds, which means that it should be able to fire for 54 seconds total.
In real life it uses a double drum magazine with a capacity of 75 rounds. This means it should be able to fire for around 4,5 seconds before having to reload.
This reload would be relatively quick, since it is removing the drum from the top, and replacing it with an new drum, which is next to you.
Compared of having to feed multiple belts through belts chutes, like you would have to if you wanted to reload the rear turret of a Lancaster.
When testing it, I were able to fire for the 54 seconds before it had to reload. Which means that its ammo works as one large pool, instead of it having individual drums that needs to be changed for it to reload.
The drums of a MG 15 on a Ju 87 B-2, where they have been designed not to be fed from a large continuous belt located somewhere else in the aircraft is where it makes sense for the defensive armament to be able to reload, since the gunner physically had to reload the armament while in the air.
However the rear turret of a Lancaster bomber, were designed to have a large ammunition pool that made it so that they didn’t need to reload the defensive armament, and therefore didn’t have extra ammunition to reload those machine guns while in the air. Those types of turret doesn’t make sense for them to be able to reload.
In SB battles, I was flying with my SB-2M that has 1000 rounds on upper tail turret and 1800 rounds per minute rate of fire. I was firing with stops to cool down for less than 2 minutes, which checks out, so I used 1000 rounds on said turret.
There was no reload afterwards, so, in Simulator, there is a limited ammo.
Then when I went to RB battles, I was shooting with the same tail turret for 25 minutes with 16 reloads.
I guess, the ammo in RB is limited, but there is 20x more of it then than in SB? I still was not able to use it up, tho, the 25-minute battle times ran out.
It does. I said so in my comment. The actual incendiary round is just better at it because it’s almost entirely incendiary filler.
Edit: Additionally, the HE round will explode shortly after contacting airplane skin, while as far as I know the fuse of the incendiary round triggers when hitting actual fuel.
I’m convinced that removing infinite ammo would balance things out significantly.
With only 500 rounds per gun, this guy shouldn’t be able to start harassment with saturation fire from 2 km away without any penalty.
If there were a real threat of running out of ammo, engagement distances would naturally shorten, and the fighter would have more breathing room to maneuver around, searching for the optimal attack angle.
Also, Il-2 has 150 ammo in his turret, lol, then I would want to have a button to turn off AI gunners, cuz they will spare all my ammo in a short burst!
Good thing we don’t force drums to be reloaded on guns that don’t use belt feed. The P1Y/G4M with 30/60-round drums, that’s a very short burst In one go
