OK, hopefully someone has some information on this cartridge. It is a steel cased US Navy 3 inch/50. The puzzle is that it is an APFSDS loading. A friend of mine at one of the Naval proving grounds said he could find no record of an APFSDS loading in 3inch/50. On the overall view you can see four screw heads flush with the case surface. There are four more 180 degrees out on the other side of the case. These hold two rails inside the case for the fins to ride on for stabilization. The penetrator is 40mm in diameter and 275mm long forward from the 4-piece steel sabot. Anyone know of this round or have a similar one? There is no headstamp or any other markings on any of the components.
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Navy APFSDS Loading?
- Thread starter EODGUY
- Start date
They used to have a couple of similar examples at Picatinny (museum), but I never knew the background. Most of Picatinny's stuff was supposed to go to Aberdeen when they shut down, if it hasn't been looted you might find the history there.
The penetrator is solid as far as I can tell. No brakes or joints visible above the sabot. I don't remember seeing something like this at Picatinny, but I obviously missed them. Of course, APG museum is in the midst of moving to Ft. Lee and as far as I know they hadn't even opened anything from Picatinny yet. They will never get a building large enough to display everything from both museums, but it would sure be a superb ammunition display if they did.
As I recall it was in the storage area, they had many items covered in plastic tarps due to roof leakage. We were uncovering CW stuff and came across them. I may have them, at least in the background, in some photos - I'll try to dig a little once I'm more settled in.