M8C (12.7 mm)

Description

The M8C (erroneously referred to as M80 in game) is an American 12.7mm spotting rifle, fitted to the predominantly to M40 recoilless rifle, and some recoilless rifles of other nations. In game the weapon is fitted to American and Italian recoilless rifles, while the Japanese Type 60 SPRG (C) uses the Type 60 (B) (12.7 mm) spotting rifle. Being only designed as a spotting rifle the weapon has low rate of fire, very low penetration, low velocity and a small magazine capacity.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• M50 Ontos
• T114

• FIAT 6614
• R3 T106 FA

General info

Available shells

The M8C only has access to one ammo belt consisting entirely of M48A2 Spotter-Tracer (S) bullets. As these bullets are designed to be visible on impact, for use in ranging the main gun, rather than to penetrate armour they have extremely poor ballistic performance, with a maximum penetration of 2 mm.

Note: On the in game interface penetration is erroneously listed as 3 mm at all ranges and angles.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration in mm @ 90°
	10m	100m	500m	1,000m	1,450m	1,500m
S	2	2	1.5	1	0.5	0

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
							0%	50%	100%
S	532	0.0113	N/A	N/A	N/A	??°	??°	??°	??°

Comparison with analogues

Unlike most other tank-mounted machine guns, which are designed primary for anti-infantry, anti-aircraft, or general purpose use; the M8C is specifically designed as a "spotting rifle". The bullets follow the same trajectory as the rounds from the M40 recoilless rifle the weapon is affixed to. The rounds are designed to be visible during flight and upon impact, instead of penetrating armour, and so the the rounds have much worse ballistic performance than other .50 cal rounds. Even compared to another ranging weapon, the L21A1 (12.7 mm), the ballistic performance is extremely poor, with the M8C having a maximum penetration of 2 mm (compared to 7 mm) and a lower muzzle velocity of 532 m/s (compared to 793 m/s). The M8C does however get a larger magazine than the L21A1, at 5 rounds.

Usage in the battles

The M8C should be used only for ranging the recoilless rifle it is fixed to. The rounds from the M8C follow about the same trajectory as the rounds from the recoilless rifle, so the M8C can be used to correctly aim the main gun before firing. The extremely poor penetration means that it cannot penetrate any armour, although you may be able to kill exposed crew members (which are fairly rare at the BRs this weapon is found at).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Can be used to help aim the main weapon of tanks it is fitted to.

Cons:

• Extremely bad penetration makes the weapon near useless for engaging enemy tanks
• Very low rate of fire
• Bad performance even compared to other ranging guns (L21A1)

Historical part

The M8C is an American 12.7mm spotting rifle designed for use with the M40 recoilless rifle. The US army's previous recoilless rifle, the M27 recoilless rifle, lacked a spotting rifle which significantly limited the range at which the weapon could be accurately used. While the M40 was being designed, Remington were tasked with producing a spotting rifle which would be fitted on top of the M40's barrel in order to allow it to be aimed accurately at range.

The Resulting weapon was the Remington M8C. It chambered the 12.7x77 mm .50 BAT round (instead of the much more common 12.7×99 mm .50 BMG round). The weapon was a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle (as opposed to a machine gun), with ammo being fed in from a 10 or 20 round magazine mounted on the left hand side of the gun, and ejected to the right. The bullets it fired were designed to explode on impact and produce a puff of white smoke, in order to allow their impact point to be clearly seen.

The M8C was fitted to the M40 106 mm recoilless rifle, as well as other recoilless rifles such as the British 120mm WOMBAT.

Historical Inaccuracies in game

The M8C has various historical inaccuracies in it's current in game implementation. Firstly in game the weapon is incorrectly referred to as the "M80". The weapon in game is also fully-automatic (firing repeatedly as long as the trigger is held); in reality the M8C was a semi-automatic weapon, firing only once each time the trigger is pulled. Finally in game the weapon has only a 5 round magazine, while in reality the weapon was fitted with either a 10 or 20 round magazine.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

• M40A1C (106 mm) (the weapon this gun is usually fitted to)
• Cannone da 106 s.r.M40A1 (106 mm) (the Italian version of the M40A1C)
• Type 60 (B) (12.7 mm) (the Japanese designation for this weapon)
• L21A1 (12.7 mm) (another ranging gun)

External links

• Wikipedia - Spotting Rifle
• Wikipedia - M40 recoilless rifle
• Defense Technical Information Center: US Army - ENGINEERING DESIGN HANDBOOK: RECOILLESS RIFLE WEAPON SYSTEMS

Tank machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	M37 · M60D · M73 · M240 · M1919A4 · Mk.52
12.7 mm	FN M3P · M2HB · M80 · M85
Germany
5.56 mm	MG4
7.62 mm	C6 · MG3A1
7.92 mm	MG13 Dreyse · MG34 · MG37(t) · MG42
12.7 mm	S.MG.50
USSR
7.62 mm	DT · PKMB · PKT · PKTM · RP-46 · SGMT
12.7 mm	DK · DShK · 6P49 · NSVT
14.5 mm	KPVT
Britain
7.62 mm	Browning MG4 · L3A1 · L8A1 · L8A2 · L37A1 · L37A2 · L94A1
7.7 mm	Vickers
7.92 mm	BESA
12.7 mm	L21A1
Japan
6.5 mm	Type 91
7.62 mm	Type 74
7.7 mm	Type 97
12.7 mm	Type 60 (B)
China
5.8 mm	QJT
7.62 mm	Type 55 · Type 59 · Type 86
12.7 mm	QJC88A · Type 54
14.5 mm	QJG02
Italy
7.62 mm	Beretta MG42/59 · FN MAG 60-40
8 mm	34/40M · Breda Mod. 38
13.2 mm	Breda Model 31
France
7.5 mm	AAT-52 · MAC 31
7.62 mm	A-A-F1N
8 mm	Hotchkiss Mle 1914
Sweden
6.5 mm	ksp m/14-29
7.62 mm	ksp 39 C · ksp 58 · ksp 94
8 mm	ksp m/36 · ksp m/39B
12.7 mm	ksp 88