Ho-103 (12.7 mm)

Description

The Ho-103 is a variant of the Japanese Type 1 short-recoil operated heavy machine gun. The design was based on the M1921 Browning and chambered for the Italian 12.7x81SR cartridge. Compared to contemporaries such as the M2 Browning, the Ho-103 weighed less but had significantly lower muzzle velocity and projectile mass.

General info

The Ho-103 is the variant of the Type 1 machine gun intended for fixed mounting. It is directly related to the Ho-104; the Ho-104 being intended for flexible mounting.

Rate of fire	900 RPM
Weapon mass	23 kg
Muzzle velocity	780 m/s
Cartridge	12.7x81SR Breda

Available ammunition

• Default: AP-T · AP · HEF
• Universal: AP-T · AP · HEI
• Air targets: AP-T · HEI · HEF · HEI
• Tracers: AP-T · AP · AP-T
• Stealth: AP · HEI · HEF · HEI

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Default	21	19	13	7	4	3
Universal	21	19	13	7	4	3
Air targets	21	19	13	7	4	3
Tracers	21	19	13	7	4	3
Stealth	21	19	13	7	4	3

Comparison with analogues

The Ho-103 is one of the weakest aircraft HMGs in War Thunder.

Projectile mass (and thus explosive/incendiary payload) is lower than both the American .50 BMG and the German 13x64B cartridges. Muzzle velocity is slightly higher than the German MG 131, but over 100 m/s lower than the American M2. The low mass and low velocity reduce the effective range of the weapon and increase the necessary angle for bullet drop compensation.

Usage in battles

• Due to the low velocity, it is often impractical to use the Ho-103 at anything other than close range
• The typically low ammunition count of Japanese aircraft using the Ho-103 means that ammunition must be conserved judiciously.
• The Default and Tracer belts should not be used if possible. The lack of explosive incendiary bullets greatly reduces damage dealt.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• The weapon itself is fairly light
• The fired 12.7 mm rounds consistently do more damage than 7.7 mm

Cons:

• Low muzzle velocity
• The available shells have comparatively weak payloads

History

The Type 1 machine gun, more commonly known as the Ho-103 or Ho-104, is a Japanese copy of the M2 Browning. However, despite the M2's design inspiration, the cartridge choosen for the gun was the Italian 12.7×81mmSR Breda (as used in the 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT), as ammunition was initially supplied from Italy before Japan began domestic ammunition production. Since the 12.7×81mmSR Breda cartridge is shorter (and thus lighter) than the 12.7×99mm Browning cartridge used in the original M2 Browning design, the Ho-103 design achieves a slightly higher rate of fire compared to its progenitor, as the bolt needs less power and travel time to extract and chamber ammunition, but at the cost of range and muzzle velocity due to the smaller propellant charge. To compensate, the Ho-103 was mostly loaded with High-Explosive Incendiary ammunition. The Type 1 came in two varieties: the Ho-103 is primarily used to refer to the fixed mounted version while the Ho-104 is considered the flexible mounted variant.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

• "Ki-43 Oscar Aces of World War 2" - 2010 Edition Paperback – January 1, 2009 by Hiroshi Ichimura | Jim Laurier (Author). ISBN-13: 978-1846034084