Whoops.

www.news.navy.mil...

Doesn’t exactly inspire you with confidence, does it?






(dude, your ammo’s green!)

Umm... what is the point of this thread? To discuss the different color tips of the .50cal rounds?

I think he was talking about what looks like sea corrosion on the 50.cal ammo.

Not like it matters .50 cal machine guns are about as important to a carriers security now as those balloon things they used in WW2.

I’m sure it will fire if it has too but the corrosion is just part of the damage caused by being around salt water.

If you’re smart enough to get close enough to a carrier where a gun has to be used then you’re likely to succeed in whatever you have planned.

About the ammo tips

I know full black is Armor Piercing, Red and grey is Armor Piercing Incendiary-Tracer but what is Green and grey??

I once read in an account of the battle of Little Big Horn, that one of the problems faced by soldiers of that era was that the soft brass in use then was particularly susceptible to corrosion. This caused the cartridges to jam in the breach when fired.

At what point would the salt and verdigris build up on the ammo compromise the functioning of that weapon?

Hey Shadow it might have been originally light blue but over time it has come to look like green, light blue is an incendiary round. Here is an image showing what all the different color tips mean.



Also, that .50 cal should probably be replaced, if not then the least they can do is get a new ammo belt. I’m sure they overlook the gun when a carrier goes in for overhaul.

one question why is the weapon so rusted?
even the ammo looks like its gathering rust

one question why is the weapon so rusted?

Sea water and the air around sea water can do amazing things to metal if left alone. What you're seeing in that picture is corrosion.

Draftsman 2nd Class Chavez needs to be slapped around the face with a wet kipper. That weapon is a disgrace. I don't care what you say about sea salt corrosion, that is more than 24hrs of decay. If the weapons are corroding rapidly, the they need to be cleaned more frequently. It's that simple. If a warship isn't capable of maintaining its weapons, then what good is it?

true,

while the statelly green of a copper flashed roofing job is statelly... it's not particularly confidence inspiring on a warship's last ditch ammo.

I know copper and brass are both susceptible to this sort of greening due to exposure but man that isn't terribly confidence inspiring.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Hey Shadow it might have been originally light blue but over time it has come to look like green, light blue is an incendiary round.

Yeah thats likely what happened. I was just puzzled since I never seen a military green tip round.

Not a bad combination of rounds

Armor Piercing- Incendiary- Armor Piercing Incendiary/Tracer (repeat)

This is probably a dumb question but why are the different type of rounds grouped together?I mean why not just one belt of all armor piercing or one belt of all incendiary?I don't understand why you would want to fire one round of armor piercing,one tracer,one incendiary and so on like the belt in that picture?

Each type of round is good against a specific target, since you don’t know what you might come up against its a very good idea to have a combination or rounds, armor piercing and incendiary is not a bad combo.
Also, you always want to have tracers, preferably every three or five rounds so you can see where you’re shooting.

www.ordnance.org...

For all your color coded ammunition needs.

I was not aware non lethal irritation ammo existed.

Mustard bullets?

They will probably use up the ammo before they need it, when my gradpa was in the Army (1960ish) they had rounds that had to be used so they would'nt corrode so he and 3 frieds took a light machine gun and shot off 10000 rounds of supposed bad ammo, ammo lasts quite awhile.