What would happen?

[Mudge]

OK...Every round fired has to land someplace. What would happen if a .50 cal. round went down the tube of an artillery piece and wedged at the point where the projectile meets the tube? Would the barrel rupture when it was fired? Does the artillery round have enough power to just push the .50 cal. round out with it? What if the .50 cal. round is AP? What would be the effect of it on the projectile and/or the tube? What if the AP round hit the projectile directly on the point where the fuse is? Would the artillery round explode? Is it armed in the tube?

These are the kind of weird-o things that keep me from falling asleep.

Mudge the only semi brain dead.

[The Inspector]

It would most likely be the equivalent of laying a penny on the tracks in front of a diesel locomotive, really wide 24 gage copper wire

[Junkyard36]

Interesting - an issue on WIX that I can actually assist with!

On modern US artillery pieces, regardless of caliber, all types of artillery rounds (HE, Illum, DPICM, etc...) have a hard plastic obturating band. When the round is rammed into the tube, the obturating band is malleable enough to engage the rifling in the barrel and form an airtight seal. Once the propellant is ignited, the round (and anything with it - including your .50 bullet) will be pushed out of the barrel.

The flight of the round may or may not be affected depending on the how the bullet is lodged in the barrel. The passing of the round and bullet through the muzzle brake should not be affected either.

There probably would be, however, some scoring to the barrel from the event that would affect the performance of the barrel in the future.

I am a former Field Artillery Officer; it's nice to talk gunnery every once in awhile!

Hope this helps!

Mike the Redleg

[Mudge]

Thanks Mike, How about the second part of the question. Is the arty. round armed in the barrel or is it armed after it's fired? What would happen if the .50 cal. round hit the arty. round on the pointy end. Would it damage the fuse or whatever is on the point of the round?

Mudge the educable

[Junkyard36]

Complex question! In short, it would depend on the fuze / setting combination.

Artillery rounds are armed before they are rammed into the barrel. Normal rounds have various fuzes that are set (if needed) and then screwed into the nose of the projectile. There are two types of fuzes for normal rounds out there - Timed and Variable Timed (VT). Timed can be set for airburst, point detonation or delayed detonation (to target bunkers or other buried targets). VT Fuzes can be set for either airburst or point detonation.

So, for "normal" artillery rounds, if the fuze was set on point detonation or delay, the impact of the bullet on the fuze would theoretically result in the round exploding in the tube. If the breech was still open, there would be significant damage to the gun carriage and crew casualties. If the bullet struck the fuze on an airburst setting, the round would still be fired as normal, but would more than likely result in a dud.

Regarding "special" artillery rounds, there are Copperhead and other experimental rounds. These rounds do not have a conventional fuze, but rather a laser seeking eye - much like an air dropped guided munition. These rounds are armed by the gun crew dialing in the laser frequency before the round is inserted into the tube. A bullet strike would at the very least render the round a dud as the eye would be rendered inoperable. As for detonating the round with a bullet, I honestly couldn't tell you with certainty that a bullet strike would detonate the round in the tube.

Over 99% of the rounds I fired were normal and not special.

Whew! Sorry for the technicalities Mudge!

Mike

[Enemy Ace]

Mudge has been reading too many old war Comics!!!!!

[Mudge]

Complex question! In short, it would depend on the fuze / setting combination.

Artillery rounds are armed before they are rammed into the barrel. Normal rounds have various fuzes that are set (if needed) and then screwed into the nose of the projectile. There are two types of fuzes for normal rounds out there - Timed and Variable Timed (VT). Timed can be set for airburst, point detonation or delayed detonation (to target bunkers or other buried targets). VT Fuzes can be set for either airburst or point detonation.

So, for "normal" artillery rounds, if the fuze was set on point detonation or delay, the impact of the bullet on the fuze would theoretically result in the round exploding in the tube. If the breech was still open, there would be significant damage to the gun carriage and crew casualties. If the bullet struck the fuze on an airburst setting, the round would still be fired as normal, but would more than likely result in a dud.

Regarding "special" artillery rounds, there are Copperhead and other experimental rounds. These rounds do not have a conventional fuze, but rather a laser seeking eye - much like an air dropped guided munition. These rounds are armed by the gun crew dialing in the laser frequency before the round is inserted into the tube. A bullet strike would at the very least render the round a dud as the eye would be rendered inoperable. As for detonating the round with a bullet, I honestly couldn't tell you with certainty that a bullet strike would detonate the round in the tube.

Over 99% of the rounds I fired were normal and not special.

Whew! Sorry for the technicalities Mudge!

Mike

No apology necessary. That kind of info is exactly what I was hoping for.
Many Mahalos

Mudge the curious