old tanker
Member
I have a different take. M903 SLAP was developed to increase the armor defeating capability of the M2 machinegun. While it was adopted in the mid-80's, it was not commonly fired in training, and perhaps it was different in the Marine Corps. No one I have talked to in the Army remembers having any issued during the Gulf War.
Policy changes concerning the disposal of surplus ammunition have gone back and forth, currently only ammunition useful to other government agencies escapes DEMIL.
Even the rules on demilitarization have changed. Folks may remember companies which pulled down ammo and reloaded it. Then DoD required the brass to be crushed.
This makes the pedigree of the ammunition he was shooting very suspect.
Was it ammo left over after training and some GI stuck a few rounds in his pocket for souvenirs?
Was it ammunition scheduled for destruction and purloined by a contractor? If that is the case, it is possible the ammo being destroyed was a "bad lot" meaning the Army had condemned it as unsafe.
Was it ammo reloaded using pull down components and who knows what data?
The few rounds he shot were inconsistent. One exhibited an excessive amount of flash before the accident round. My view is it was over pressure ammunition that caused the event. I don't suspect a Barrett or a Browning would have fared any better than the Serbu did.
Policy changes concerning the disposal of surplus ammunition have gone back and forth, currently only ammunition useful to other government agencies escapes DEMIL.
Even the rules on demilitarization have changed. Folks may remember companies which pulled down ammo and reloaded it. Then DoD required the brass to be crushed.
This makes the pedigree of the ammunition he was shooting very suspect.
Was it ammo left over after training and some GI stuck a few rounds in his pocket for souvenirs?
Was it ammunition scheduled for destruction and purloined by a contractor? If that is the case, it is possible the ammo being destroyed was a "bad lot" meaning the Army had condemned it as unsafe.
Was it ammo reloaded using pull down components and who knows what data?
The few rounds he shot were inconsistent. One exhibited an excessive amount of flash before the accident round. My view is it was over pressure ammunition that caused the event. I don't suspect a Barrett or a Browning would have fared any better than the Serbu did.
) sabot knowledge & experience,
