Mike Del Vecchio reviews AFV Club's Ammunition Crates and Containers for 105mm Howitzer.



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Thanks!

Good rundown Mike. Thanks.

Gino - You know how I like my 105mm.....Air Assualt!!....

All joking aside it is a nice kit. First time I have seen the fibers detailed with the spiral wrap and th open fibers with the metal ring at the top.

Good dunnage for light artillery!!

Rounds Complete!!

Great Review, thanks Mike! The links are great as well.

The price you indicate seems a bit high though, 36.95?? Even at a German shop that's usually quite expensive they're only 14 Euros...

Cheers!
Stefan

Stefan - Glad you liked the review. The list price is high. The street price is much lower. I bought mine on ebay for about $11 US.....that seems to be the going price.

Rounds Complete!!

Mike, I don't follow your comment/disadvantage regarding the lot number decals. Can you elaborate?

I would expect that different AICs (early two-round, late two-round, metal cans, cloverleaf bundles, crated bundles) would have different lot numbers. (That's my experience looking at Ordnance ammunition bulletins, at least.) While true that a weapon would try to have only a single lot on hand at a time, it's also unlikely that a single lot would come in the whole range of packages that come with this kit.

What should match is the lot numbers on the individual fiber tubes and the packaging it came from.

The cloverleaf bundles are a first to my knowledge and very welcome for WW II models.

KL

Ken - The lot number for the fibers does not match the lot numbers for the crates. So if you have crates and fibers in the same dio the lots are off.....

Now.....if you were to calculate how many prople would actually know to look at the lot numbers, Then how many of them could actually read them, then how many know there are two fibers per crate, then how many of them would understand that normally you try to stay with one lot......we are most likely down to a group that fits in a telephone booth and a chunk of that group is Gino and myself

I am a redleg....therefore I am anal.....reality, it is not a big deal.....I have to find some negitive!! It is a great accessory kit!!

Rounds Complete!!

dear Mike,
on page -15- of the Squadron/Signal Publication "US self propelled guns" on sees piles of cardboard packing tubes next to a French M7. Are these tubes the ones in the review?

Yes - these are the tubes. Standard packing tubes for 105mm rounds!!

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks Mike,
Thanks.
Now the next question since I tried to find an organization table of M7 batteries during WWII.
What truck was used in the battery to carry all the private gear and ammunition for each seperate gun? ( E,g. in our Dutch system each M109 battery of 6 howitsers was followed by several DAF 4 tons trucks, which carried all the gear of the crew, add ammo etc.) I want to make a ammo refill with an M7 and its truck.
Thanks in advance,

P.

I am sure nothing at that point was "by the book". Without looking at a MTOE for a unit, if it was a truck it was most likely a 5 ton.

Also remember, mosy M7 had M10 ammunition trailers to also carry ammo....See Masters Productions!!

Rounds Complete!!

WW II was different than the recent past in this regard because the US didn't have any 5-ton cargo trucks then. When thinking WW II or Korean War cargo trucks, think 2-1/2 ton CCKWs.

KL

When I was a teenager, I worked in a cardboard box factory that produced these containers for 105 shells. We had two shifts and put out somewhere around ten thousand per shift. The kit looks very realistic and I can use them but they seem a bit pricy. I don't think that I want them that bad........Al (edit) the ones we made were the tubes shown in the center bundle.

During WWII, the US did have 71/2-ton Mack NO cargo trucks that were used as prime movers for the M1 155mm Long Tom cannon, a.k.a AFV Club's M59 Long Tom.





No idea what the M7 batteries used for their gear and ammo trucks though. I do tend to think it would have been CCKWs as well. The Mack NOs were pretty much just arty prime movers for the bigger guns from what I have gathered.

Kurt - Yep, I am sure they just loaded up a duce. Also I don't think they had a tracked carrier for 105 ammo. Considering how much 105 ammo was fired in ETO....the old duce would be best.

Rounds Complete!!

Talking about 105mm ammo crates....

http://www.cckw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4126

HTH

Frenchy

Cool stuff Frenchy....damm, I sit and think how many thousands of those crates have passed my eyes!!

Rounds Complete!!