MBT Main Gun Reload Times

[Polish_GI]

Hey, we may need to address this....  But please verify this....

Typical reload time for an American MBT is about 5 seconds.  When using a PT-76, T-55, the time to reload the Main Gun is about 15-20sec.

This could create a lopsided armor encounter should someone create one.

I briefly tried to research this topic, but came up empty.  We may want to consider a standard time for releasing the empty casing and loading up a new round.

I think about 15 seconds would be a good average for the 90-105mm range.  Obviously this speeds up when you get to the 76mm round (PT-76).

Thoughts, comments, concerns?

[.pablo.]

i vote for realistic values, even if it creates an imbalance; no one said war was supposed to be fair!

[Snake_Man]

.pablo. is right, we want to have as realistic values as possible withing game engine limitations. Meaning... I dont think we ever can have realistic daisy cutter, but we sure can have realistic re-load times for weapons for example.

[Polish_GI]

Oh I agree, do not get me wrong...  My question is focused on how accurate are the current reload times?  5 seconds is a bit fast for having a expended 90mm round casing come flying out of the feeder, and for the loader to manually insert a new round, no?  I do not believe any of the Nam era tanks had auto-loaders in them did they?  The Americans had a four man crew, and I believe the Russians made their MBTs the same until about the time the T-72 came onto the scene where they wanted to remove the loader crewman and put in an automated system, could be wrong though...

[Steel]

definitely go for realism. 15 seconds is far too long, even for manual reload. actually the modern auto loaders are at a time disadvantage when it comes to reload times. 5-7 seconds is probably about right to start with, and then as more info is uncovered it can be tweaked from there.

pablo,
have any info from WGL about reload times?

[Polish_GI]

Fair enough if that is the group's consensus!

One additional question...  would there be a reason then why the NVA tanks are much slower to reload than the American counterparts?  If we believe that 5-10 seconds is adequate time to reload a round, does that only apply to US tanks?  Did US tanks have an advantage in reloading or should we assume that both sides were relatively equal?  

[.pablo.]

definitely go for realism. 15 seconds is far too long, even for manual reload. actually the modern auto loaders are at a time disadvantage when it comes to reload times. 5-7 seconds is probably about right to start with, and then as more info is uncovered it can be tweaked from there.

pablo,
have any info from WGL about reload times?

finding rate of fire information for tanks was surprisingly difficult...here's what i have found:

here's a good website that goes over the different armored vehicles the PAVN used, and how they were used:
http://www.gruntonline.com/Order%20of%2 ... rmour1.htm

PT-76 Specs:
Rate of Fire: 6-8 rounds per minute (8-10 seconds between shots)
http://web339u1.customer.network.lu/tanks/PT76.html

T-54:
ROF: 5-7 rounds per minute (9-12 seconds between shots)
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/t54tank.htm

T-34/85:
ROF: 3-5 rounds per minute (12-20 seconds between shots)
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... nextnewest

M-60:
ROF: 7-8 rounds per minute (9-10 seconds between shots)
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... nextnewest

an interesting observation in the forum where i got the last two bits of data:

Some times ROF and shots per minute are confused . Shots/min is supposed to mean how fast you can fire the gun or how fast you can chamber a round ready for fireing. ROF usually means how fast a tank can aim and shoot at a target.

For example M-60 is said to do 7-8 ROF [aimed shots per minute] but can burst fire 3 rounds in 15 seconds. Leopard 1 is said to be 15 RPM but this is likely the shots/min or burst fire of 3 rounds in 12 seconds. So what this suggest is that while it takes 4-5 seconds to load a 105mm gun in these tanks it takes ~8 seconds to aim load and fire the gun. I have footage of a canadian LEO-1A3 doing a shot from on the move and the time between the call for the commander to shoot and the shot is 22 seconds! They are going through the full ranging process with computers etc. A T-64 tanker told us 20 seconds to shot the 125mm at 2km range....but the ROF is listed as 6-8 RPM.

[Polish_GI]

That does not surprise me! I would say that I am stronger on the WWII scene that Vietnam currently... Which is what sparked my initial question regarding reload times... WWII takes appeared to be around 15 sec to reload depending on barrel size. Some vehicles (PzKw VI JagdTiger) made the crew load an additional powder charge so the round would launch! Crazy! Apparently, modern armor has lowered that time somewhat.

Good find!