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Russian 125mm Tank Ammunition - T72 Loading HE in Ukraine

M

M8owner

Well-Known Member
I found this image on Yahoo. You do not see many photos of Russian tanks being loaded with ammunition.
 

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  • 125mm Tank HE Rounds in Ukraine.jpg
    125mm Tank HE Rounds in Ukraine.jpg
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Great photo! Totally going to save it. Thanks so much for sharing :)

Jason
 
They would seem to be 3VOF36 (3ВОФ36) rounds. So 3OF26 (3ОФ26) HE-FS projectiles and 4Zh40 (4Ж40) propelling charges. Could be 4Zh52 (4Ж52) charges, but it's not really possible to tell unless you see the markings or cut one open. I can't see the fuzes, but most likely V-429E (В-429Е), though the V-429V (В-429В) are a possibility.
 
The V-429E is the right choice of fuze for these type of rounds for smooth-bore barrels. I do not know the differences of the V-429B. The V-429E was introduced after the change to smooth bore barrels. It was found that when the old V-429 was used, prematures occured in front of the barrel. When these projectiles exited the barrel at very high velocity and the heavy fins were thrown backwards and arrested, the setback was strong enough for the fuze to function. Only 1 small part was added as an additional safety for this setback problem and termed the V-429E.
 
Bellifortis said:
The V-429E is the right choice of fuze for these type of rounds for smooth-bore barrels. I do not know the differences of the V-429B. The V-429E was introduced after the change to smooth bore barrels. It was found that when the old V-429 was used, prematures occured in front of the barrel. When these projectiles exited the barrel at very high velocity and the heavy fins were thrown backwards and arrested, the setback was strong enough for the fuze to function. Only 1 small part was added as an additional safety for this setback problem and termed the V-429E.
Click to expand...

Yes, the V-429E and V-429V (В-429В), not the V-429B (В-429Б), differ from the V-429 by the inclusion of a thin safety sleeve (tube) around the inertia firing assembly. The sleeve has a series of tabs at its top that are folded over the top of the inertia firing assembly. Prior to the addition of the sleeve, early arming before full fin deployment, which can see the fins rebound multiple times after they have moved back the first time and hence multiple deceleration pulses, could result in the inertia firing assembly moving forward enough to overcome the inertia arming sleeve spring, which also acts as a creep spring. If the sleeve moved far enough and fast enough forward it forced the stab-sensitive primer/igniter into the striker/firing pin, which initiated the primer/igniter. The inclusion of the tabbed sleeve stopped the inertia firing assembly moving forwards under the type of deceleration pulses it was likely to experience due to deployment of the fins.

The V-429V differs from the V-429E in the design of the safety cap.

The V-429E and V-429V can be used with spin-stabilised artillery shells in place of the V-429, but the latter should not be used with fin-stabilised projectiles.

The arming of the V-429, V-429E and V-429V are all aided by spin. The spin aids in the movement of ball bearings in the inertia arming sleeve and other arming components, such as the detonator rotor. The fin-stabilised projectiles used with the V-429E and V-429V nearly all have fins which causes the projectile to spin-up went in flight.
 
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Przezdzieblo said:
Some more:

burned RU tank ammo, including HE projectiles
https://youtu.be/HPFtMviWvyI

captured UA T-64BVs, with HE projectiles (3OF26, my guess, because of A-XI-2 filling)
https://youtu.be/DGlmPoxB5a4?t=46
Click to expand...

Yes, 3OF26 (3ОФ26) 125 mm HE-FS. The truncated OF26 (ОФ26) marking is on the side, so easy to ID.

3OF36 HE-FS - 1.jpg

Missed, or didn't mention the 3BK14M (3БК14М) HEAT-FS-T, which again is easy to ID due to the truncated BK14M (БК14М) marking is on the side.

3BK14M HEAT-FS-T - 1.jpg

The APFSDS-T forward projectile assembly is far harder to ID as markings cannot be seen and the nose areas of the three likely models are almost identical.

3BM9 (3BM10), 3BM15 (3BM18) or 3BM17 (3BM18) APFSDS-T - 1.jpg

I can't say any more than they may be forward projectile assemblies that contain the 3BM9 (3БМ9), 3BM15 (3БМ15) or 3BM17 (3БМ17) projectile sub-assemblies. Please note that a forwards projectile assembly is made of a forwards charge assembly and a projectile sub-assembly, which is itself made up of the sabot assembly and the finned penetrator (dart, rod, etc.).
 
Yep, I saw filling designations and missed straightly written designation...

Good catch with that APFSDS. Indeed, something very old. For now, still the most modern APFSDS spotted during the war is 3BM-42 Mango. Maybe something would be seen with more pictures of wrecks and tanks captured.
 
M8owner said:
Another Russian tank with 125mm ammunition photo.
Click to expand...


I have to ID this sort of thing every day, so what's another image?

As before more V-429E (В-429Е) fuzed 3OF26 (3ОФ26) high explosive fin stabilised (HE-FS) projectiles and their, from the look of the blurry text, 4Zh40 (4Ж40) rear propelling charges assemblies. As such they are 3VOF36 (3ВОФ36) HE-FS rounds.

Markings in the field will be truncated GRAU index codes, so ОФ26 (OF26) for the projectile and Ж40 (Zh40) for the charge. The fuze would be marked up В-429Е (V-429E), as it's pretty unlikely you'd see them marked up with their index code.
 
From projectile's nose assembly and the markings seen on the charge, he is loading a 3VOF36 (3ВОФ36) HE-FS round. So, as above, a 3OF26 (3ОФ26) HE-FS projectile and its 4Zh40 (4Ж40) rear propelling charge assembly.

M8owner said:
Here is an excellent short Youtube video showing loading 125mm HE into a T-64 autoloader in Ukraine.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8uWXl8Vdoe8
Click to expand...

There's not enough visible for me to ID the exact tank model, but it won't be the original vanilla T-64 tank. This as the base and original T-64 had the D-68 (Д-68) 115 mm smoothbore tank gun, its GRAU index code 2A21 (2А21). As far as I'm aware, the T-64A would be the first T-64 adopted variant to use a 125 mm gun, the D-81 (2A26), with later production T-64A using the D-81TM (2A46). The later Russian T-64B variants would use used the 2A46M-2 125 mm gun.

The D-68's two-part HE-FS round, which was directly equivalent to the 3VOF36, but of the smaller 115 mm diameter, would be the 3VOF38 (3ВОФ38). This used the 3OF28 (3ОФ28) HE-FS projectile and the 4Zh43 (4Ж43) rear propelling charge assembly.
 
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