Introduction

Alongside the British 17 pdr. and 20 pdr. brass ammunition sets, AFV Club has released this 6 pdr. ammo. We’re already familiar with AFV Club’s excellent 1/35th scale brass ammunition sets. This one is appropriate for the new Churchill Mk. III kit (item AF 35153). A Churchill Mk. III usually carried a total of 81 rounds of 6 pounder (57 mm) ammunition into combat during WWII.

Contents

Included are: four Armor Piercing Capped (AP-T) rounds, four Armor Piercing capped with ballistic cap (ABC, BC), four Armor Piercing with cap (APC), four Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS), and four expended shell cases. Primer cap detail is already engraved into the bottoms of the shells. Unlike the larger 17 pdr. and 20 pdr. ammo sets, these are all one-piece brass rounds with no assembly or cementing necessary.
Note: these rounds have no identification markings inscribed on the bottoms (as is the case with the other ammo sets). I can't find any pics to know whether the real things were so inscribed, but you wouldn't see it anyways on such a small area. I've shown a round from the 17 pdr. ammo set (see photo, Right) for comparison.

Conclusion

AFV Club attains the level of quality we see in all of its brass and aluminum products by sub-contracting the machining process to a manufacturer of parts for Swiss timepieces. This set is sure to make a great addition to the resin British tank crew sets recently released by Hobby Fan for the Churchill Mk. III. One will have to check references for painting the projectiles, as no painting directions or color information is included. The 6 pdr. projectiles were all black, with the ballistic caps on capped rounds being silver. The ring between the projectile and shell case of AP-T rounds was a copper color (the APDS rounds were without the ring).
Look for upcoming reviews of AFV Club's new Churchill kits on Armorama very soon!