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A meme is not a "reply", but many .45 guys select it for proven performance, availability, a flexibility to load up to 1,100 fps with 185g bullets and the familiarity that comes with over 50 years of personal experience, military & civilian, using the chambering. I don't know any .45 ACP users...

If one is using the handgun for military or LE applications, the mag capacity MIGHT mean something...in DGU scenarios it is meaningless. Almost all examples of DGU are limited to 2-3 rounds. If I felt I might actually need more magazine capacity (like on a road trip), I carry a second mag. If I...

The .45ACP in a strong, M1911* format can be safely handloaded with 185g bullets to velocities within ~200 fps of the 10mm (in .45ACP, 1,050-1,100 fps. That is close enough with a still-heavy bullet to make the 10mm leap one not worth taking. I've verified by a Doppler chronometer that the...

The claim of Israeli Shermans with the 105 being the most powerful is correct only in that it specifies "to have seen action". Numerous "Fireflies" were later purchased by Argentina and seriously up-gunned, up-armored and up-engined to create the "Repotenciados" with license-built 105mm guns...

I believe the point Cedric is trying to make is that there were two distinct "families" of 88mm in German service. The "original" capacity Flak 18/36/37 as seen on the first gen Tiger. The later 8.8 Flak 43 as installed in the Tiger II, Nashorn, and others is a completely different chambering...

About 40 years ago I learned to handload for various reasons and later took up .44 Mag for slow-fire precision-50' when .38Spl from a long Dan Wesson became too tame to keep my interest. Using published (but decidedly hot) loads from my built Super B'Hawk with a 5.5" barrel it makes itself known...

I did not crew that vehicle. I was a Cav Scout up North at the time and just happened to catch it parked at Phu Bai one afternoon. I was trained as a Tanker & had an M551 Sheridan endorsement on my MOS but any AFV is of interest. With genuine affection, I think of Guntruckers as frustrated...

I contributed a shot* to his first book. He has assembled the best collections of photos and background of the subject available. *"The Rebel"

That was the old M1919 derivative. Fired the .30 cal round and complicated the logistical train by adding another ammo type that was deliberately left behind due to pressure to conform to NATO.

Yeah, very fast softballs. In better resolution (which I've limited here), you can easily make out the "wobbling spiral" of the bullet after it struck the ground. G/2/11th ACR. My photo.

We did not have the TTS, but I was on the Hughes LASER Rangefinder Test Project at the Armor Board. My first test there after Vietnam, 1972. Test on the M551 and also used on the M60A2 (which I also tested). I was appalled to find that it took until the late '70's to get into service on M551's...

My office. I'm fussy about my ammo. And keep your HS/T gauge close at hand.

These were built largely upon M551 Sheridan components. Woe to the crew that tried to use the spade to entrench. These saw a lot of use in Northern "I" Corps. Mutually supporting hilltop FSB's, or with the M110 8" gun, which is the same vehicle, simply re-tubed. I recall securing movement of a...

I used to frequent that stretch of road & loved being overflown by the ones on short final just over the interstate. I happened to be in town on business in Grand Junction, Colorado once when one landed, I think it was unscheduled and made an overnight stay or two. The takeoff was announced for...

That was my life in the Rockies as well. In states where the speeds are elevated (including esp. California) a full face is a must for hard riding. June bugs aren't the worst thing you can hit with your face. Most of the rock I found on the roads was deposited during snow season and waiting to...

I don't know about him, but I was a road warrior for years in the Rocky Mtn. states and went through a lot of windshields and headlights. Those states generally used crushed stone/dirt on snowy roads, not salt. When the snows melt & at end of season there is a lot of this stuff to be thrown up...

Halftracks were at the top of the list of alternatives to full-tracked vehicles to be axed. The entire creation of the APC class of vehicles owes itself to the inadequacies of the halftrack, esp. crew exposure. They still found some use in Korea but they were already condemned. The Army had been...

Three of the five vehicles you mention are wheeled (and two of them essentially the same vehicle with different armament). Considerable effort was given to a conversion from wheels to tracks in the post-WWII environment due to mobility issues cross-country. Everything pretty much went to tracks...

FYI, the two most influential "reports" in the post-war history of American Armor was the ARCOVE report (1958) and the document it spawned, "Mobility, Firepower & Protection"1959 (hereafter "MFP"). ARCOVE was the final report of the Ad Hoc Commitee on Armament for Future Combat Vehicles. It was...

A dear, late friend of mine was on the team that completely restored the M50 then at Ft. Knox, Patton Museum, completed in 2006. It resided there until the Armor Center got BRAC'ed to Ft. Benning/Moore. It is in the historical Cavalry and Armor Collection to this day. He left me a trove of...