Can someone explain to me, -please keep it simple, - what the terms 'range arc' and 'template area' refer to with respect to tank gunnery?

Regards Dave

I think if GK19 or Turrettoad see this thread, they can really give you a good answer. Let me PM them to make them aware of this thread.

Hi Kiwi , let me see what i can do for ya . The " Range Arc " is the fan shape that the projectiles fired by a tank travel after they are fired . Since most modern tank ranges consist of multiple targets the impact zone is large .This impact zone would be the "template area" There are range fans that the tank is not allowed to shoot out side of , to also give the tank crew a refference as to where not to point the 120mm cannon . Range controll , the team that is in charge of all the firing ranges on a military post is in charge of making shure that these zones are well known to all . On most ranges that i have fired on , the maxuim target range is 2500 meters with a impact area extending out another 5000 meters . Hope I wasn't too boring .

In my service at Graf in the army,there were red and white"barber poles" on either edge of a ranges'fan'.Woe be the crew that shot outside the limits.Also as exciting was a dum M-60 orA1 gunner who indexed Hep into the ballistic computer,and fired a sabot round.With all the extra superelevation,you can imagine how far the sabot round would travel.

Yep Tank Carl I forgot about that , rounds can end up in some strange places when that happens . It seems that the C-21 tank this past gunnery forgot to pull up into the hull down firing position, so they shot a SABOT point blank into the berm when the gunner pulled the trigger . Don't know what it is about those LT. tank commanders #:-) but they seem to do the dumbest things on the range .

Oh yea always blame it on the LT. Hey my tank shot number one in a two tank battalion brigade. That was with a busted mainspring in my 50 and on the final engagement the lock pin for the breech block sheared. Thank God I had "king Kong" for a loader. He held a round in one hand and pulled down the breech lever with the other. 3 killls in 11 seconds Not bad for an LT's tank. An M-60 A-1 Why do you think I am called Master Blaster?