M551 (76) should get a higher ammunition count

Machinery of War Discussion Ground Vehicle
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The M551 Sheridan at 8.3, at the time of writing, with a 152mm gun that shoots, obviously, 152mm ammo, can carry 30 rounds total, with a max of 10 missiles, for which I will be not counting for this comparison as they are significantly longer than the next handful of ammo types I will mention. This can be any amount of HEAT or HE, but cannot exceed 30 rounds. The M551 (76), however, which is at 6.7 at the time of writing as things can change, can only carry 23 rounds total. That’s APDS, AP, HE, or smoke shells, in any combination, TOTAL. The weird part about this is that 76 x 2 = 152, in this case 76mm x 2 = 152mm.

So why exactly can a tank with ammunition with a larger diameter (the length of the 152mm ammo and the 76mm ammo is roughly the same) carry more total ammo than the exact same hull, chassis and turret, but with a smaller gun that fires ammo half the diameter? To me this simply makes no sense for vehicle balance.

On top of this, 23 rounds out of a 76mm gun can go very quickly. Using the M41 Bulldog as a reference point (as it has the same gun and ammo) the reload for a max level Expert crew is about 6.1 seconds, and Acing it brings that down to 5.9 or so. In city environments, or even just wherever one may find themselves brawling, 23 rounds can disappear in a few minutes, moreso if things are hectic and you need to focus on multiple targets at once, micromanaging your reloads and positioning. Even tanks with the same caliber in a smaller frame can carry more ammo than 23 rounds (M18 Hellcat, any 76mm Sherman, T92, etc.).

Now I’m not saying “give the 76 Sheridan 80 rounds of ammo!,” that would be silly. Obviously, giving it a higher count but not too much is the goal, something that is more realisitc for the size of the vehicle in relation to the caliber, and something that would prevent players from having to go resupply after a handful of shots but not too much so you can just hide in the back the entire game. If I had to say, 35-40 rounds would be close to perfect for the 76 Sheridan.

TL;DR, the 76mm Sheridan shouldn’t have such a low ammo count, simply because it makes no sense, in terms of vehicle balance, to have it that low.

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Because it was a thrown together prototype testbed and not a production tank. It probably only had a rack taken from a Bulldog or something bolted in to hold the rounds used for the test firing.

Besides, why would you want to carry more than 23 rounds in a light tank?

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Just because a tank is labeled with a certain class doesn’t mean it HAS to play like that class is expected to. Light tanks do not need to sit 40km away from the battlefield, just spotting things for their team. More often than not, smart light tank players are usually right up in the action with the team, flanking usually. Carrying more ammo than usual isn’t uncommon for light tanks as most of them are glass cannons; powerful if you can use it properly but if you get hit, you’re pretty much dead regardless of how much ammo you can carry.

In this case, it’s more about maximizing how much potential you have in a match while accepting that if you get hit you’re basically dead. Tanks like these excel at shoot-n-scoot tactics, and if it takes, lets just say for example, the average player 2-4 shots to kill a tank regardless of class, shooting the kind of ammo the 76 Sheridan offers, that 23 rounds will disappear very quickly, especially if they find more than one tank in an area, which happens almost every game if you position yourself correctly.

Yeah sure, this was a testbed and didn’t get past production, I understand that. Even with that in mind, it still makes sense logically for a tank with a smaller diameter gun to carry at LEAST the same amount if not more ammo than the tank it came from which had a larger gun and ammo. I’m simply suggesting an increase of ammo to make it less annoying to play, I sure don’t want to go to a cap and resupply just because all my ammo is gone after barely 5 minutes of fighting.

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Maybe the M551 should get a Laser Ranger Finder since it had one IRL. Also it fired XM578 APFSDS rounds but we dont see that in the load out in game as It was armed with the technically advanced M81/M81 Modified/M81E1 152 mm gun/launcher, which fired both conventional ammunition and the guided anti-tank missile.

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That’s the M551A1.

XM578 was never fired from M551, and your own source that discusses XM578… Well, it doesn’t agree with you.

“From 1965 to 1972, the US Army conducted a parallel development program for the 152mm XM578 cartridge, which was co-developed with the prototype MBT-70 Tank.”

There’s nothing saying the M551 is capable of firing XM578, and the 152mm M81 was only used for limited testing of the XM157 combustible cartridge case.

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I’m a little confused, this doesn’t mention the ammunition count for the M32?

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you seem REALLY confused about it but its all right there for you just read

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My man, there is no mention whatsoever of the M551, the M81, or anything other and the MBT-70 program and its XM150.

Posting random screenshots of .org websites without any context whatsoever doesn’t do anything

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152mm cannon what else do you need to understand the cannon M81 could fire a 152 mm cannon tank cartridges and in the first global security says this exactly "The program INCLUDES the M551 Sheridan vehicle its in the first paragraph along with the M60A1 and MBT-70 ???

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not gonna argue with you, you obviously can’t understand where the information even comes from. But you’re REALLY joking Right??? Do you even know what Global Security does, funny funny good luck kid…

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Ah, yes, sorry. Let me go inform C10, TM 9-2350-230-12 sec. 7-3 @ p200 of how wrong it is, and that it forgot to include XM578 as a munition.

Or maybe you can accept that XM578 was developed explicitly for the XM150, and that the 152mm M81 was incapable of firing it.

My brother in christ, it is literally saying that it is listing all munitions used by these vehicles. It does not mean one of these vehicles can fire every round, but that those are a culmination of rounds from many different vehicles.

Yeah, it’s a .org site that you’re egregiously misinterpreting.

You do know that what you’re doing has a definition, right?

It’s called the association fallacy.

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only thing is the 76mm M551 did only hold that many rounds. Probably would be nice to get more of them but gaijin seems to go by the information they receive from documents. But 26 might be enough if you stay alive long just gonna have to go to a cap and reload I guess.

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guy im not gonna do your homework for you look the information up yourself your a big boy/girl I’m sure you can figure it out. the XM578 can be shot from the 152mm barrel that’s what the rounds that are listed on the page are all the cartridges that can be used/fired from the 152mm that’s why it says the program included the M551 look up the tank read the stuff and you will see the M551 was designed to fire many different type of ammunition G’day G’night

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I already have, and I’ve cited it. No mention of XM578 whatsoever, as well as your own website you used as a source saying that it was developed specifically for the MBT-70 and XM150.

Your only source is “b-but they’re both 152mm!!1!”

What you are going to do is substantiated your claims. Show me one singular source that claims the M551 could fire XM578.

Jesus fuck you’re stupid.

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Nowhere does it say that the M551 was included, only the MBT-70.

I already have dug into it, and send you an open use datasheet for the M551’s conventional ammunition types.

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lol I also wouldn’t call Global Security a very reliable source. I’ve seen enough of their naval information be wrong to not trust them anymore. They also don’t seem to ever cite sources.

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It worked for them in the M1 spall liners thread(s)…

I did find it amusing to picture a Sheridan trying to fire sabot, when even lobbing HEAT wrecked its fire control.

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The M1 spall liner threads takes images of in-service and production Abrams models, tech manuals, and commissioned orders to determine where spall liners are.

They did not screenshot .org websites that had nothing to do with the Abrams.

Even when the MBT-70 struggled, I imagine the M551 being a little brother that wants to live up to it.

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For 6.7 laser range finder would be pretty busted, considering what it would be fighting, and considering what other light tanks are like there.