SOLD - U.S. Army M735 Smoothbore Tank Projectile

Description

10/26/23 - This is an original U.S. Army M735 training round for the 120mm Smoothbore Tank Gun or APFSDS (Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) round. The training round is designed to simulate a depleted Uranium or Tungsten Carbide round and is denoted with a blue coloring of the round. The projectile is enclosed in a Sabot that is made from a plastic material which creates a seal as it is fired. The Sabot separates from the projectile as soon as it leaves the barrel, which enables the finned projectile to stabilize on its way to the target. Because the sabot is a slick low-friction material, velocities up to 5,500 feet per second are achieved, and this is what makes the APFSDS so lethal. Instead of using explosives to defeat the new reactive armor in tanks, the APFSDS relies on the high length to diameter (L/D) ratio and Kinetic Energy of the projectile. This L/D ratio gives the round the required momentum to penetrate the tank's armor. The combination of momentum and velocity causes the surrounding metal to actually melt and spray inside the tank, cooking and burning everything within. Note that this listing includes the internal projectile only, and not the sabot.