As a tanker I understand coincidence range finders, and lazer range finders. I own a range finder from a T55. I'm guessing it

The M67 range finder is just a redical with a horizontal and vertical adjustment and you estimate the range. That idea seem sloppy to me. Could they have adjusted the coincidence range finder to work from 100 to 600 meters.? Because of the limited ammo supply it would seem important to be accurate with each burst.

I'm sure one of our readers know.

Are you talking about a rangefinder that was standardized as the M67, a rangefinder or sight on the M67 tank, or the sight on the M67 recoilless rifle?

KL

This is actually explained by characters in the first episode of Girls und Panzer. Quite simply without going into geometry, right triangles and stadia.

It's called the worm formula. If you know the approximate real size of the side or front of the observed target (like a T-55 is 3.15 meters wide) from its width in mils in the sight (milliradians. The Germans called it a stch which is similar to saying tick mark) you can estimate range.

To use a 105D telescope in a M48A5/M60 series tank, you had to do range estimation and I was taught the wrm formula as a gunner. Later I got a chance to examine the FM-17-12-1 from 1946 which was all estimation and wrm formula for M4, M26 and M24 series tanks. In the late 1980s the training was phased out because it was all lasers and range estimation became football fields.

Try telling an M1 gunner about the gunners quadrant, rate tachometer and doing a range card. I saw that go away too.

I salvaged both pieces from a junked M60 and sold them on Ebay.

Thank you all. The confusion was caused by being in a hurry.

Thank you Gino. I misspelled it twice and just avoided it being in a hurry.

I was referring to the sight on the M67a1 tank. The rangefinder was removed to accommodate the flame equipment. I do not know what the gunner's sight reticle looked like. The M67 carried enough fuel for about 60 seconds before it had to retire for refueling. That being said it would make sense to me that the more accurate you were, the less fuel you used, the more targets you could engage. The fuel stream would have quite a drop over distance and if you had to walk the fuel stream onto the target, the number of targets you could engage would be fewer.
An accurate range finder would reduce fuel loss.
I realize that the 105D sabot and heat reticle is designed with the height of the Russian tank in mind.
The M67 I'm sure had something else as it's basis. A standing person is a thought but I can't imagine you see many standing people 150 meters in front of a flame tank.
I was also curious as to how they zeroed the weapon. Do you hit something at a designated distance with the stream and then move the reticle? Was Battle sights at 100 meters?
Just some thoughts based on the different ballistics of a fuel stream.

As an aside, I knew someone years ago in the army who crewed on one and he said he was always nervous around the tank when it was loaded. It always smelled of fuel and I guess the psycological impact of a flame weapon affected the user as well as the enemy.

I read that the M67 flame tanks retained the HEP reticle which at the time was also used for the coax. They would probably have used the helmet front measurement that is common for snipers for range estimation.

Or you go with how many foot ball fields it is and walk it in. Or use the coax for ranging then the torch.

Ranging with the coax makes the most sense. Did they move the coax to the gunner's side? The loaders station was filled with flame equipment.

According to Hunnicutt's "Patton" book, on the early M67 model, "The gunner aimed both the flame gun and the .30 caliber coaxial machine-gun using the T39 periscopic sight. This was a unity power instrument with a wide angle field of view designed as the primary sighting device for the flame thrower tank. It was later standardized as the periscopic sight M21."



The M67A1 was fitted with the XM30 periscopic sight for the gunner. This sight has a magnification of 1.5x with a 48 degre field of view.



H.P.