Does any one have a picture of the rear of a Sherman turret with the 30 cal in it storage rack?

As you know, the rear storage arms on the turret could hold the pintle and then a bracket for the barrel. Obviously, a .30cal browning is shorter than the .50 HB Browning. That said, it was theoretically possible for the .30cal to be plugged into the bracket which had a pintle tube -- however, .30cal MGs weren't that common as a turret roof weapon to begin with. That, plus their relatively small size, would surely mean photos of their being stowed on the bustle rear-- to be very rare. Having pored over 1000s of pics with Shermans, I can't recall any with a .30cal on the rear of the bustle.

Alex;

Huh! What a cool coincidence, this thread! Just this past Sat PM, I was in discussion about that rack for the Sherman turret .50 HB gun at our local club build... One of us (fellow name of Alex, BTW!) had commenced to build a Tamiya Sherman following a recent build article in FineScale, and we did some Web searching about those rack-pieces behind the bustle...

The two rack bits left and right on the bustle are specifically for hanging the HB barrel- each rack-end has a spring-clip to hold a barrel-end within (looks to be, in some recent "walk-around" turret shots, to be made up of welded angle-iron with a sheet-steel spring clamp mounted inside). The third rack-piece with the pintle-post mount would mount the receiver unit. There was also a clamp-piece (4th component on top-left-backside of bustle) which had a circular or ring-clamp to go around the barrel-mount end of the receiver unit (probably fits around that perforated barrel-jacket, which would have remained on the receiver when the barrel was pulled out for stowing).

All of these rack bits are (were) specifically sized for "Ma-deuce" in its ca 1940 turret-mount configuration. From exam of a couple current Dragon shermies which sport these bits, the scale HB barrel would be a good fit, as would that receiver and pintle- for the extant turret racks.

From all of this- I would say that there would be no real chance of ever seeing a .30 cal Browning mounted in those clamps. It simply would not fit. The .30 barrel alone is too short to span the racks, and the spring clips in the racks would only likely fit a barrel-end, and not clamp onto the receiver-end nor handle (pistol-grip) assembly of that .30 Browning - thus the whole gun, which would be a little too long anyway, would not fit or properly clamp in to these racks.

I have no idea whatsoever as to whether or not .30 guns were ever used on Sherman turrets, but I actually assumed that you (Alex) are speaking of the .50 cal HB commonly seen on shermies, and not of the .30 cal gun often seen on M3 Stewarts! Both Browning guns but one much larger than the other!

While no sort of fan nor expert of any sort- certes not on shermies- the idea of kitting in a disassembled HB onto those racks has me thinking I should get just one shermie for my collection!

Bob

Howdy,

Thought I read somewhere that some British Sherman III's used carried a .30, but I could be wrong.

Brian Riedel.

In that case, make sure it's a Tasca - they supply the M2 in pieces complete with spare barrel.

Ken;

Not to coop Alex's thread nor his query - but I know nothing about what's out there in Sherman-kit land...

I have read a couple of lauds on the Tasca shermies as being right up there in quality. Do they make a version which has these turret-bustle racks for the .50 -together with the separated gun? That could be just the thing! Any recommendations for what kit?

Bob

.30 cal Browning on Sherman turret. Pacific. But doesn't look like they were using the rack to store it there...

Alex Z.;

OK! Certainly settles whether or not folks placed or used .30 Browning MG on top of the Sherman turret! Seems reasonable that folks could do so, seeing as the .30 was a standard-issue US infantry light MG and vehicle mounting kits were available.

The pictured tank lacks the bustle racks under discussion, so lends help on fitting guns into racks. From what pics I've seen, many versions of the shermie did not sport those racks- this one appears to be a "not" version. I would guess that one would want to be pretty careful in modelling a version specific to a -TO or unit and time-of-use to keep accurate on the "racks or not" issue!

Bob