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.50 Spotter Round

spotter

spotter

UBIQUE
Staff member
Premium Member
Can anyone tell me anything about this .50 spotter round i have ,, its internal construction is different to those i have documentation on. It has a large AP core within a copper jacket with the flash composition in a cavity in the tip and the tracer is within the AP core .
The cartridge headstamp is L C 7 8

thanks for looking
allan
 

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Hello Allan, I'm guessing it's a later version of the M48 rather than the M48A1, for which I have a poor quality diagram and it's not exactly like your cutaway. The cap and attached flash tube look to be the same as used in the M48A1 spotter tracer round. I'm only aware of an M48A2 after that but my info is now 20 years old, so perhaps there is an M48A3 or later version too. I'm guessing then that your cutaway is an M48A2 or later version.
 
I think the answer is more simple than that. I think it is an M48A1 case with flash tube into which someone has stuck an M20 APIT proj. from a .50 Browning.

Regards
TonyE

Edit: I should have looked at the second picture with the red and yellow tip so ignore the comment about an M20 proj! Mea culpa.
 
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Thanks for the replies,, your answers set me off searching through different documents i have and i have found it
Its a .50 Observing round bullet.
The document i have is quite old 2004 but it shows two types of bullet, both consist of a core ,incendiary composition, and tracer.
They are the L11 and L13 the differences are .The L11 has a steel core and the L13 has a core made from heavy tungsten and nickel/copper alloy with a slightly deeper cavity for the tracer composition.
 

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Just thought I would add a couple of points. I have a 20 round mag for the 50 spotter rifle, no gun of course.

A gunsmith friend of mine built a "short" bolt action reciver to handle the 50 spotter, then necked it down to 338. He managed to get 3800 ft/sec on a 250 gr bullet. It should be noted that the flash to is very critical. He loaded a round converted from a 50 BMG (and hence NO flash tube) and got 4300 ft/sec. Unfortunately the case was destroyed, complete head separation and the barrel had to be removed to open the bolt.
 
Alan - Either way you have a mismatched bullet and case. The L11A1, L11A2 and the L13A1 were British loads for the .50 Browning ranging gun, not the .50 Spotter, especially in American Lake City cases. I should have looked at your second picture which shows the red and yellow tip which identifies it!

Kynoch made a lot of experimental .50 Spotter rounds for the BAT but in the end none of them entered service and we used American supplied M48 rounds. A couple of these Kynoch experimental rounds had a red and yellow bullet tip but the bullets were longer than the one you have,

The L11A1 and A2 were the ranging rounds for the 105mm tank gun and the L13A1 for the 120mm.

Regards
TonyE
 
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Tony - I noted from your previous post that it was in the wrong cartridge, i may at a later date failing finding the correct cartridge put it into one of my spare .50 cartridges just to show how it should look but for now its sat quite happily without a cartridge in the cabinet, The tip had small remnants of the original yellow and red which i copied onto the bullet
 
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You should have no problem about finding an L11A1 or A2 headstamped case, Alan. There were plenty around at Beltring last year.

Cheers
TonyE
 
Hi Allan

I have a .50 BMG case - K 99 L11A2, with red primer annulus if that would suit.

Cheers

Switch
 
Here are some of the Kynoch made .50 Spotter experimentals. Some have the open nose and "primer" of the American M48 series and others a normal spitzer point.

The empty case has a flash tube and screw-in primer (shown on the right in the headstamp picture)

Regards
TonyE
 

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"Kynoch made a lot of experimental .50 Spotter rounds for the BAT but in the end none of them entered service and we used American supplied M48 rounds. A couple of these Kynoch experimental rounds had a red and yellow bullet tip but the bullets were longer than the one you have,"


I think some of these experimental BAT spotter rounds may have been entered into service or used up in service as the fired projectile in the photo was found on a Anti Tank range.

Cheers
Tony

P2030001.jpg
 
Thanks Tony, that is very interesting. I would think it was fired during the trials rather than issued for service, but anything is possible.

The early .50 Browning ranging tracers that led to the adoption of the L11A1 were also tipped blue and red as incendiary tracers and the packet labels referred to them in the same way.

Cheers
TonyE
 

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many thanks TonyE,
the early Browning incendiary tracer would make more sense considering the A/T range it was found on(mainly tank on tank roll),are the BAT and BMG ranging projectiles the same length?

Cheers
Tony
 
Tony - Some are but some BAT are longer IIRC. I will try to look out any drawings I have.

Cheers
TonyE
 
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