Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!veritas!amdcad!amdcad!military From: chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Grooves on APFSDS rounds Message-ID: <1991Mar28.033130.3555@amd.com> Date: 27 Mar 91 13:04:05 GMT References: <1991Mar27.051315.22536@amd.com> Sender: military@amd.com Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 22 Approved: military@amd.com From: Irving Chidsey >From: Michael Edelman > >I noticed in an illustration that the standard M1 sabot round has >a series of circumferential grooves over about 1/3rd of its length. >What is the purpose of these grooves? There are matching teeth in the sabot that mate into the grooves. They are used to transfer the firing impulse from the sabot to the shell. leave them off, or even reduce their extant significantly, and the powder and sabot will leave the gun without any accompanying penetrator. There are an awful lot of gees that have to be imparted to the penetrator. Most of the force comes via the sabot, because it blocks most of the bore. -- I do not have signature authority. I am not authorized to sign anything. I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government to anything, not even by implication. They do not tell me what their policy is. They may not have one. Irving L. Chidsey