The M50 Ontos is an American tank destroyer, which very interestingly features six 106 mm recoilless rifles, capable of annihilating anything around its rank with ease. Aside from six recoilless rifles, the M50 features four targeting .50 caliber rifles, but they sadly do not have access to armor-piercing ammo, making them all but useless. The M50 can be thrilling to play, with its unique playstyle, but it does take some getting used to. This article aims to explain its strengths and weaknesses, to hopefully help you play it more effectively.
Important: All of the information in this article pertains to Ground Realistic Battles (GRB) and the information may differ in other modes, such as Arcade.
| Pros | Cons |
| Amazing firepower | Absolutely no armor |
| Great agility | Turret does not rotate 360 degrees |
| Very small, easy to hide | Slow turret traverse |
| Rifles have bad ballistics and are hard to aim |
Armament
Main Armament
Easily the most important and unique feature of the M50 is the six 106 mm recoilless rifles (which interestingly enough, are actually 105 mm). These recoilless rifles have the ability to fire all six loaded rounds in quick succession, giving the player six tries to wipe out the enemy before having to reload. After firing all six rounds, the M50 takes 16.9 seconds to reload (13 seconds when aced). The M50 can carry a total of 18 shells, allowing you to empty all six rounds three times before being forced to reload your ammo pool. This can be done simply with an ammo crate, which the M50 is equipped with, or by sitting in a captured zone. Note that the HEAT round has poor post-penetration damage, so try to aim for ammo, crew, or other important modules. The six recoilless rifles can be very effective when used properly.
The difference between a recoilless rifle and a Bazooka is how the round is propelled. A recoilless rifle fires a solid round (like HEAT or HESH), which is only propelled by gunpowder that is ignited when the round is fired. Like a recoilless rifle, a Bazooka fires a rocket or missile with a small gunpowder charge, but once that round leaves the barrel of the Bazooka, it ignites some form of self-propulsion mid-air and flies by itself. A recoilless rifle is basically just a normal cannon that vents the gases produced by the explosion through the back of the breech instead of out the barrel, negating the need for a recoil.
The M50 is lacking in its turret traverse and elevation speeds. The turret rotates at only 12.6 degrees a second (18 degrees a second when aced) and elevates at only 2.4 degrees a second (4 degrees a second when aced). To worsen the situation, the turret can only rotate 40 degrees in both directions, meaning that if you are immobilized, the enemy has 280 degrees around you where they can safely attack you. On the plus side, it does get 10 degrees of gun depression, a standard for American tanks, and 20 degrees of gun elevation.
Main Gun Ammunition
The M50 gets access to two types of shells:
| Ammo Name | Ammo Type | Max Penetration | Notes |
| M344A1 | HEAT | 433mm | The only shell I would advise taking, with amazing penetration values for this rank, and the explosive nature makes it great for lightly armored and heavier armored fighting vehicles. |
| M361A1 | HESH | 152mm | Really good for annihilating light tanks with a single round, but not so good for heavier tanks. |
Recommended Loadout
I advise simply making all 18 available rounds HEAT. They perform well against both light tanks and heavy tanks. You could try experimenting with the HESH and see how well it works for you. Remember, both rounds are stopped dead by anything in their path, trees, bushes, fences, walls, etc., so try to knock down anything that may get in your way or aim around them.
Secondary Armament
The M50 also features four .50 caliber rifles that sadly lack any kind of armor-piercing ammunition. Their only purpose is to help the gunner aim the recoilless rifles, with one .50 cal. above each of the four columns of cannons. Aside from the .50 cals, the M50 also has a roof-mounted 7.62 mm light machine gun, which is really only good for knocking out exposed crew of enemy tanks and marking enemies on the mini map. Additionally, the machine guns can be used to clear objects in the path of the shells, to ensure that they hit their targets. This includes objects like fences, trees, bushes, walls, etc.
Armor and Survivability
In terms of armor and survivability, well, there is none. The armor is only really good enough to stop light machine guns. To make matters worse, there are only two crew members, making a one-shot death extremely easy. The only upside is that the armor is so thin that over penetrating rounds through the rear are common. This only happens through the rear though, because the engine in the front is enough to make an APCBC explode or turn into shrapnel.
At least the ammo is neatly tucked away in the back, so it is rarely ignited by penetrating shells.
The M50 is completely wrapped in armor that is just 13 mm of rolled homogeneous steel. This makes it vulnerable to even HMGs, and especially planes. The tracks are 15 mm thick. When playing the M50, try to focus on using its small size to hide from enemy fire.
Mobility
The other area where the M50 really shines is in its mobility. The M50 features a 145 horsepower engine and weighs only 8.3 tons, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 17.5 hp/t, which propels it to a top speed of 29 mph (48 km/h). This may not seem like much, but the M50's acceleration is great, it can turn fast, and it can climb hills well. The M50 features a reverse speed of 9 mph (16 km/h).
Playstyle
The M50 performs best when played like a rat. Be sneaky, don’t be seen, and bite hard when you get the chance. Use its small size to always stay hidden and its speed to be on the constant move. Never stay in one place too long, or enemies will remember where you are and come looking for you.
Sniping is an option. The recoilless rifles have poor ballistics, but six loaded rounds means you have six tries to guess the range. Alternatively, if you didn’t want to waste ammo guessing, you could range find. Either way, once you fire your rounds, whether you hit your target or not, you must quickly hide. If you’re hull-down on a hill, this means backing down quickly.
Tips
- Always stay out of the way of enemy fire, your armor should never be relied upon.
- If you attack and destroy someone, and you used, let’s say, five of your six loaded rounds, then before reengaging, fire your last round so your recoilless rifles can reload, so you have all six rounds ready to go for the next unlucky fellow.
- Be sure and aim for important modules inside of the tanks you attack, such as crew, ammo, and weaponry, because the post-penetration for the HEAT round isn’t very good.
- Before going into a match, try firing the recoilless rifles at the tanks in the test drive to get used to how much the rounds fall once they leave the barrel.
- When researching the modifications, focus on the ones that help your M50's acceleration and agility, and unless you play arcade, completely skip the crew replenishment modification, since your tank only has two crew members.
- Memorize the order that the recoilless rifles fire, which will help with aiming at close range.
Thank you for reading this article on the M50 Ontos, and I hope it has helped you to understand it a bit better. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
A big thanks to Bomberpilot1784 for his fantastic screenshots on War Thunder Live!
