M8C (12.7 mm)
Contents
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 (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
General info
The M8C was designed specifically as a spotting gun for cannons and is most commonly seen on the M40. For the M48A2 Spotter-Tracer (S) bullets in a 12.7x77mm case to match the ballistics of the cannon round, a smaller case with less power was produced, resulting in a 22mm shorter round than the well known .50 BMG (12.7x99mm). A semi-automatic it was meant fire 1 round per pull for the gunner to easily see where the round flies and lands, adjust aim and let loose the 106mm round. All 106 mm M40A1C guns mounted this rifle when produced, but it could easily be removed (the lower 2 on M50 tank is removed).
Available ammunition
The M8C only has access to one ammo belt consisting entirely of IAI 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 3 mm.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| S | IAI | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| S | IAI | 532 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.3 | 0 | 47° | 56° | 65° |
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 3 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 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 knock out exposed crew members (which are fairly rare at the BRs this weapon is found at).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Visible indication of ranging without use of a rangefinder
Cons:
- Not to be used as a regular MG
- 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)
- Small magazine capacity
- Enemy vehicles will be able to easily notice hits of the rounds
History
The M8C is an American 12.7 mm 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.
Media
- Images
Two M8C spotting rifles on an M50
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 |
