Tank gunnery training aid.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Wayne McGee

Wow...some excellent photos in this thread. Just some observations/speculations to note.
First, the .50 Cal rifle that was slaved to the 106RR fired a modified catridge/projectile that would mimic the trajectory of the full bore and was used to confirm the lay of the sight before the full bore was fired to assure a first hit, a spotting rifle.
Next, the various rifle caliber weapons shown (speculation here), were probably used with likewise modified projectiles as a cheap alternative to the use of full bore ammunition plus you could conduct a range practice with no more templating than you would require for a conventional rifle range. A modern example would be the use of 6.5mm & 7.62mm Tracer in the Carl Gustav Sub-Cal device.
Finally, the use of a pistol caliber weapon (Thompson) could be used under even more austere conditions (25yd?-50yd?) using small paper cut-out tank tgts representitive of tanks at engagement ranges. More modern examples would be the 6.5mm & 7.62mm [U]Gallery[U] round for the Carl G, the .22Cal insert for the FN rifle etc.
Anyways, it's wonderful to see these wartime versions. Thanks for posting

Cheers

Wayne ..
I think you hit the nail on the head..
As trajectory crosses two points from the bore sight(Line of sight),the .45 round would be harmonized to the close in cross point of trajectory which would then give the second,longer range for the big gun hit point..
Clear as mud...eh??