Introduction

The 20 pounder tank gun was based on the successful design of the 17 pdr tank gun, and was the main tank gun of the Centurion and the Charioteer. This set by AFV Club offers four types of ammo for the gun plus some empty shell casings providing twenty rounds in all. The Centurion carried 65 rounds of ammo.

The Set

The set is similar to the 17 pdr set from AFV club in that it provides 4 each of 4 different types of ammo which the 20 pounder used. The four types are:

Armor piercing discarding sabot APDS Mk1
High explosive
Armor piercing discarding sabot APDS Mk3
Anti personnel

4 empty shell casings are provided as well.


Each shell consists of two pieces -the solid brass shell and an etched brass base plate. There are no instructions beyond a diagram showing what type of round each piece represents. When I eventually put these together I plan on using CA Glue but I suppose careful soldering would also work. The base plates have small attachment points to the PE fret and will require some careful clean up. Care should be taken to match the proper base plate to the correct round if both ends are going to be on show.
The spent shell casings are hollow to a depth of approximately 5mm. I don’t have any reference other than Barry Beldam’s excellent Armoured Acorn site, but the set matches the specifications found there for the rounds.

No painting instructions are provided but again the Armoured Acorn site comes to the rescue: http://www.armouredacorn.com/Reference/Ammo/20 Pounder.pdf

Conclusion

A good accessory set for the AFV club Centurion and the Accurate Armour Charioteer. Being clueless about modern tanks I’m not sure how long the 20 pdr remained in service and I’m not sure if any AFV other than the Charioteer and the Centurion used the 20 pdr, but the Charioteer was in service in Finland until 1979 and was also used in Lebanon by the PLO in 1978.