45 X 305 Ford Aerospace APFSDS CTA

[SG500]

I was sure I posted photos of this ages ago but can't find it so here goes and apologies for boring you folks who don't like the wierd modern stuff.

The photos show a 45mm X 305mm Ford Aerospace APFSDS CTA round. The measurements are as follows:

Case length 305mm
Case diameter 75mm
Dart length including fin 270mm (yes it goes a LONG way into the case)
Sabot diameter 45mm
Dart diameter - a bit hard to measure but about 15mm
Propellant made out of wood and painted
Case and end bits made out of aluminium

All inert etc.

If anyone has any information about these rounds i'd be interested in hearing from them.

Dave.

 

[leeski]

thats a great looking round dave thanx for showing

regards lee

 

[SG500]

Thanks Lee.
Godnoze how they make them this well, must cost a fortune!!
Dave.

 

[Weasel]

Hi Dave,
What was this round developed for ? It is a fantastic looking thing its uniform canister shape would lend itself to a high speed feed design...?
Best regards Weasel.

 

[SG500]

Hi Weasel, I'm hopeing Tony Williams can write a few words about this..........

Have a look at the link below, it gives you a bit of history on these expt CTA rounds.

http://www.janes.com/articles/Inter...CH-45MM-CANNON-CARRIES-THE-TORCH-FOR-CTA.html

A lot of countries have tried to make them work over the years. I don't know about the feed mechanism for this particular round but one round with a very high rate of fire from a similar shaped round was the nutcracker, which I understand didn't work but was a nice idea at the time!!

Dave.

 

[SG500]

Nutcracker link.

Here's the link to the nutcracker round.
Note the 30 X 334 version.
Tony Williams has an excellent article on his web site about this.
NOTE that the nutcracker development was completely different from the 45mmCTA round, I've just included it out of interest as the case is a similar shape.
Dave.

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/very-rare-nutcrackers-t40828.html?t=40828&highlight=nutcracker