If you dont count T-14,KF-51 and similiar prototypes then yes you’re right.
Abrams is the only serial production MBT that has this feature.
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From what I’ve heard they’ve actually told crews to stop putting ammo in that hull blow out panel, apparently it only worked 50% of the time.
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I mean even if that’s not the case why would you take additional risk?
Main stowage holds more than enough rounds to deal with any kind of threat, in sticky situations hull stowage will only increase the risk of getting blow up by some lucky side rpg or tank shot.
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Oh I wouldn’t. I’d take only the blow out panel stowage
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Maybe some Russian tank expert can enlighten me.
So from what I understand Gaijin buffed the reload because in their opinion thats the times the autoloader can reload another shell.
But the carousel autoloader are far more complex than those six-shooter drum magazine style autoloaders.
For once those drum or similar autoloaders always have the same reload time because as one round is loaded another moves into the same position, ready to be reloaded.
Of course this styles severely limits the autoloaders capacity and either limits the firing time of the vehicle or requires topping off the mechanism or manual reload after some time.
The carousel autoloader are designed to eliminate the loader from the tank entirely, saving space, weight and size.
But to have most of the internal ammunition be autoloaded and select between different shell types, the system needs to rotate to select the desired shell.
So the minimum reload time can only be achived by loading the entire auto-loader with one shell type, as this means the carousel only needs to move one position every shot.
But this still changes when the turret starts to move. Because now, unless the carousel rotates with the turret, which it doesn’t, as far as I know, the gun can allign with empty spaces in the carousel, which then again requires the carousel to move a certain number of positions to bring ammunition in line with the breech.
But a far more realistic scenario is that 3-4 ammunition types are stored in the carousel and changing between ammo types always requires the carousel to rotate several position before reloading can start.
The carousel only rotates in one direction, so if you only carried a few rounds of a certain shell type (AP, HE, HEAT, ATGM), and the ammunition was on the other end of the carousel, it would basicaly spin almost 360°.
So regardless how you look at it. It’s simply unrealistic that these auto-loaders have a RoF based on the ideal circumstance for every shot.
(Also is it me or is it impossible to rotate the turret during the loading process, since the loading arm holds a cassette and needs to return it into the carousel before the turret can rotate again?)
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yep
ideally we would have every round modelled inside of the autoloader and have reload times calculated dynamically based on the carousel position and round being loaded… but thats gaijin we are talking about, they are masters of half-assing things
its possible since the whole autoloader is basically attached to the turret
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Idk, doesn’t the carousel move independently from the turret?
The turret has the rammer, case ejector and loading arm, as well it’s connected to the platform that covers the carousel that works like a turret basket.
I guess the carousel frame is also connected to the roation of the turret, because I can’t imagine that the the tank can’t move the turret to track a target while reloading, right? Would be a major design flaw.
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On the t64/80 the autoloader frame is fixed to the turrent.
For the t72 aim not completely sure, it is installed on the hull but the central hub is attached to the turret so the hole thing ratates alongside the turret
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It does.
6ЭЦ43 rotate in two directions. But yes, if shell placement far away from current, load is slower.
But it affects every autoloader type (leclerc, type90).
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So realistically, if the entire ammo pool a player takes into a battle is just one type of ammo, then the ideal reload speed that Gaijin changed it to checks out. But if they take anymore than one type of ammunition, lets say a few HEAT rounds and a few smoke rounds along with their APFSDs, then the reload time should be increased due to the rotation of the carousel aligning to bring the correct round to the loading status.
This change is making the assumption that the next round, regardless of where it is position in the carousel and what round has been selected, doesn’t affect the reload time at all?
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Yes, this is a game of assumptions.
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we have those assumptions for everything
an M1 reloading in 5 seconds flat while flying at 70 kph off a cliff
bradley reloading atgms without exposing crew and without moving its turret like an m901
its not just russians yknow
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And that isn’t even the most egregious example.
No, but they like to complain only when certain “criteria” is met.
hmm… really gets that noggin’ joggin’
yes, that has always been the case for both auto-loaders and manually loaded tanks. for example the Leo 2 has 15 rounds in the ready rack, I usually take 16 APFSDS and 3 HEAT-FS, I can reload 15 times with APFSDS or 12 time APFSDS and 3 HEAT-FS before I need to use the hull ammo because whatever round you want is just magically in the rack.
Or if I want a HE round in the PT-76-57 it’s magically already loaded and next in line. etc etc
The only exception to this is the T-80BVM with the 3BM60 that has a longer reload time as it can only be loaded into every 2nd tray… however as @AlvisWisla pointed out to me, you can still fill the carousel with 28 3BM60 rounds and still get the 2 tray cycle reload time.
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I wonder how he haven’t thought of that one before.
It’s like they go out of their way to moan about a certain nation.
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My dream would be if WT exactly simulates every single shell. And you, as player, has absolute and full controll over every single shell and shell type. Hangar screen, similar to the one for plane loadouts…and you can mouse-drag&drop every shell to any ammo rack you want. Finally save the setup. Would an awesome mechanic.
This would also silence the critics on idealized russian loading robots, as described above. And would fix some glaring issues like the Tiger I ammo order with that killswitch rack left/front, next to the driver…
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On THIS forum???
Some other examples of the top of my head would be the Begleitpanzer on Germany and Type 89 on Japan where they can instantly convert their entire ammo bins to a different type of shell. I’m sure there are many more if you looked.
That would be nice on the 4.0 Japanese tanks where Gaijin insists that the first stage ammo storage is in the hull with the commander standing on it.
It would also be cool being able to chose between having the ammo stored safely with a slower reload, or in a more vulnerable position for a faster reload…
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Manual loaders are also pretty idealized.
T series dont have.