M551 Sheridan

[roughneck06]

I had some parts left over from a Stryker MGS  ( 1/285 scale- GHQ )and mounted the EGT to a M551 Sheridan Chassis- looks good! Question- would it be feasible to take an M551 type chassis and successfully mount a Stryker MGS 105mmm EGT on it? Might prove useful for RC Seperate Light Infantry Brigades- say 1 CO per and 1 CO per ABN INF BDE.

[frank2056]

Why not? The turret and gun are smaller than the M551's 152mm. It would look interesting.

[Just call me Ray]

Why not?

IIRC, the 152mm was a pretty low-pressure gun, so while it would technically fit, there might be problems with recoil. Also the turret from the Stryker MGS is pretty high, though I don't think CG issues would be as great.

[GTX]

Speaking of M551s, Australia actually looked at them in the late '60s - here are some photos from the trials:





regards,

Greg

[jcf]

IIRC, the 152mm was a pretty low-pressure gun, so while it would technically fit, there might be problems with recoil. Also the turret from the Stryker MGS is pretty high, though I don't think CG issues would be as great.

Actually, from all accounts, the recoil of the 152mm gun/launcher was horrendous, it tended to lift the front end up to eighteen inches while shoving the whole vehicle backwards two to three feet. The severe shock could injure unbraced crew and regularly loosened fasteners.

[Weaver]

IIRC, the 152mm was a pretty low-pressure gun, so while it would technically fit, there might be problems with recoil. Also the turret from the Stryker MGS is pretty high, though I don't think CG issues would be as great.

Actually, from all accounts, the recoil of the 152mm gun/launcher was horrendous, it tended to lift the front end up to eighteen inches while shoving the whole vehicle backwards two to three feet. The severe shock could injure unbraced crew and regularly loosened fasteners.

They used to say that you could tell a rookie gunner by the black bruise around his eyes. Rookies tended to flinch back before firing, and then get hit by the scope as the whole vehicle lept backwards faster than they did. They quickly learned to jam their face hard into the scope hood before firing, so they and the tank went backwards at the same time.

[rickshaw]

Interestingly, despite the Australian Army having rejected the Sheridan, it was featured as "standard equipment" in the Training Pamphlet "The Division in Battle".  If they had armed it with a 76mm gun, as trialed on one prototype, it would have been a good light tank.  Armed with the 152mm gun/launcher, it was simply too much gun for too light tank.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I had some parts left over from a Stryker MGS  ( 1/285 scale- GHQ )and mounted the EGT to a M551 Sheridan Chassis- looks good! Question- would it be feasible to take an M551 type chassis and successfully mount a Stryker MGS 105mmm EGT on it? Might prove useful for RC Seperate Light Infantry Brigades- say 1 CO per and 1 CO per ABN INF BDE.

I found a very high quality 3D Centauro file and a poor quality 3D M551 Sheridan file available for downloading from the 3D Warehouse on Google's SketchUp site.  It may not be a Stryker but it sure looks good when you combine the Centauro turret with the Sheridan hull.  I took advantage of the Centauro and added a few parts to the Sheridan hull to make it look a bit more presentable.  I also enlarged the rear of the hull and added some hatches over the engine compartment since the 3D Sheridan had nothing to offer in that department.  

[MAD]

Speaking of M551s, Australia actually looked at them in the late '60s - here are some photos from the trials:





regards,

Greg

Never knew that Greg
Thanks for that bit of insight and history!
Do you know of the results of the trials? or what the Australian Armoured Corp thought of them?
I am at Puka this week for weapons trial - I will endeavour to ask this question at the School of Armour or the Tank Museum!!!!

M.A.D

[ChernayaAkula]

That Centauro/Sheridan-combo does look great, Jeffry!

[GTX]

Do you know of the results of the trials? or what the Australian Armoured Corp thought of them?
I am at Puka this week for weapons trial - I will endeavour to ask this question at the School of Armour or the Tank Museum!!!!

From the article (which I have just emailed you) it appears as though they were unimpressed with the 152mm weapon system - the article mentions a number of problems discovered during trials.  Interestingly, the article mentions that the M113A1 Fire Support Vehicle (FSV - see pic below) program was accelerated after these trials, so perhaps we can imagine a whiff AAR M551 in Vietnam if things had gone differently.



regards,

Greg

[John1964]

I seem to recall reading that there was a proposal in the late 70's early eighties to rearm the Sheridan with the Cockerill 90mm gun and then sell them to the S Koreans?

I also remember watching a biography of Golda Meir staring Ingrid Bergman, and during the rush to get US equipment during the Yom Kippur war she was telling a US representative that they didn't want the Sheridan
because the gun was too powerful for the tank and kept knocking out the fire control system.  I don't know how factually correct that was?

[Cybermax]

That Centauro/Sheridan-combo does look great, Jeffry!

Second that!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I also remember watching a biography of Golda Meir staring Ingrid Bergman, and during the rush to get US equipment during the Yom Kippur war she was telling a US representative that they didn't want the Sheridan because the gun was too powerful for the tank and kept knocking out the fire control system.  I don't know how factually correct that was?

What has been said in previous comments regarding severity of the recoil when firing conventional ammunition is correct.  Fring conventional ammunition (HEAT, HEAT-DP, HE, APERS etc.) created the severe recoil experiences for the gunner and the missile guidance electronics.  Recoil was no where near as excessive when firing the Shillelagh missile since it required less energy to launch and had an integral rocket motor to boost velocity after leaving the muzzle. 

Thank you for the kind words regarding the WHIF concept of the Centauro turret mounted on the Sheridan.  It looks good, certainly cheaper to cobble together a WHIF concept in pixels in lieu of spending close to $150.00 on model kits and materials to build it and then discover it won't work at planned.  If I can locate a 3D model of the Stryker I will try to do the same with that turret. 

The 3D Warehouse on SketchUp has plenty of contemporary military vehicle and equipment subjects to pick from and opens up many new possibilities to add a graphic representation to a comment to further enrich and express in fewer words what you are trying to explain when sharing ideas.  There is a nice M1 Abrams 3D model that I just downloaded which will be getting a 152mm or 155mm main gun to explore my idea of a Combat Engineer Vehicle based on the Abrams.  If that works it will be added to the discussion on the M1 Abrams some time in the near future.

[Just call me Ray]

Well, my dad was a platoon leader for these things, I guess I should ask him some questions.