One of the best tank museums in the US, Museum of the American GI, is in the city where I live - College Station, TX. They decided to recreate a WWII photo showing a display of all of a Sherman tank's internal stores - including ammunition. The Museum has an adequate number of M61 projectiles, but they all had their driving bands removed. After trying many concepts to use plastic or steel look alike bands, I have adopted this technique. I cut strips of steel to fill in the driving band groove; they are 0.062 (1/16) X 0.400 X 8.75 inches. A hose clamp holds them in place while I press a 0.050 inch thick brass band over it. I got lucky and found the exact right size brass tubing on ebay for a bargain price - less than $100 for 5 feet. The brass tubing does have to be turned to the right size on a lathe. The last step is also to turn the band to the right size with the projectile on the lathe. I also had to make a die out of brass to press on these thin bands. So, this technique is not simple or cheap, and you need a lathe and shop press. However, it works and is much less expensive than having full size brass bands crimped into place.
Attachments
Last edited:
