The Firearm Blog

Idiot has been reloading 20mm vulcan projectiles in 20×138b brass to fire from his Lahti cannon.

20mm vulcan projectile vs. .308!

Lahti L-39 … Idiot is one brave man

More photos here and here

The M1028 is a 120mm shotgun shell for the M1 tank. The shell holds 1100 10mm tungsten balls. They are apparently lethal up to 700m (765 yards). Here is a video of the shell being fired in slow motion. It shows the shot breaking the sound barrier and the shot pattern (H/T to Sebastian).

I tried to calculate the weight of each ball. It depends on how pure the balls are. My calculations, based on a company that makes tungsten balls that weigh 18 grams per cm3, indicate that each ball will weigh about 145 grains. That is a combined weight of 159,500 grains / 10 kilograms / 22.8 pounds!

(4/3) x pie x 0.5cm ^ 3 = 0.52 cm3
0.52 * 18 = 9.42 grams (145 grains)

Please correct me if I am wrong.

The requirements of the round were:

• Defeat >50% Advancing Squad w/ 1 Shot
• Defeat >50% Advancing Platoon w/ 2 Shots
• 200-500M (threshold)/100-700M (objective)
• Muzzle Action (i.e. No Fuze)
• No orientation of the projectile
• Vulnerability no worse than current fielded

The M1028 cross section.

Here is a before and after shot taking during the testing of the round. I am not sure of the range.

Before

Two dummies survived, the wall did not.

The concept of shot is not new. Grape shot or loose stones, metal and glass have been used for as long as cannons have.

American Revolution grapeshot

Sources of information:

M1028 - GARM Final (PDF)
Military.com
PSMVCC (PDF)
JinJu Powder Metallurgy

The Remington MasterBlaster is a big suppressed 8 Gauge kiln gun.

The MasterBlaster system is the most productive and cost-efficient way to remove virtually any type of build-ups in boilers, kilns, silos, quarries or mines. Both the gun and the ammunition provide superior power, accuracy and dependability, shot after shot, at distances up to 300 feet

“Rapid Firing” nice

It fires special remington 8 gauge slugs weighing up to 3 oz. / 1312.5. 8 gauge has a caliber of 0.835″ / 21mm.

Zinc Build-Ups With Hard Exteriors and Soft Interiors

Perfect for self defense
More info here.

This essay takes a look at early firearm development up till the 1500’s. It is a fascinating read.

Certainly, the first uses of gunpowder are psychological - loud bangs and sausage-shaped rockets snaking across the battlefield to terrify men and horses. This is the role we can see for the fire lances of 1132. It is a short step from here to the early handgonne. I believe that while the bamboo pellet throwers of 1259 did not use true gunpowder, they certainly were a first application of the principle of using burning gases to throw a projectile…

Serpentine lock firearm, 1411

More here.

The nearly 7 feet tall Anzio 20mm rifle (or cannon) is one amazing gun!

Featuring a 49″ long barrel (4 feet)

Bullet comparison of the .223 Rem (left), .338 lapua, 50BMG and 20mm Vulcan

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