Sherman Tank Myths - The Misery of Having 'Facts' To Work With

Can anyone blame anyone for not being able to get the facts right. I
was researching the question of whether or not the 75-mm rounds used in
the Sherman tanks M3 cannon would chamber in the 76-mm M1 series gun. I
had only basic numbers to work with (overall length, cartridge case
length, etc.) courtesy of TM9 1901 (Artillery Ammunition) dated 29 June
1944. So I started with picture compares.
My process was to take a snap-shot from case bottom to projectile tip
from the TM9 1901 pdf. Using a scale of x100 pixels per inch I laid them
out as close as I could get, knowing Id never be perfect: the 75mm M61
APC round was 26.29 long and hence 2629 pixels long and the 76mm M62
APC round 35.59 or 3559 pixels.
The first pictures I used were misleading. They did not show the bell on
the 75-mm case. I later found pictures that clearly showed that the 75-mm
case was bottlenecked (if only slightly) while the 76mm was straightcased. (Narrowing towards the projectile; a line drawn along the side
confirmed there was no neck.)
That was a let down. Still, I wondered about the story of Shermans using
75-mm howitzer ammunition on Tarawa. It is also a bottle-necked case like
the 75mm gun case with the shoulder further down on the case. So, perhaps
the 75mm gun could fire 75mm howitzer rounds, since the worst result was
likely a blown out case, and perhaps erosion in the throat if too many
howitzer rounds were fired.
If that was true, would the 75mm case fit the 76mm breech despite the
different design? I was curious as to how different the 76mm and 75 cases
were and decided to crudely measure them using pictures.
I did some test measurements and things did not add up. It took a while
to figure out that the US Armys technical manual was wrong. Or perhaps
only miss-leading.
According to the manual: The 76mm M62 APC round is 33.8 long and has a
9.8 long shot. But, the M42 HE round is 33.3 long and has a 12.4 long
shot. How could the HE round have a projectile 2.6 inches longer than
the APC round but be a half inch shorter? The 76mm M79 AP round (no
ballistic cap) is 29.8 long with a 9.2 shot. How could the M79 be
shorter and yet have the same length of shot as the M62?
I looked at the 3-inch rounds for the M5, M6, and M7 guns (there were two
types of 3-inch guns in use in the 1940s and the T9 chosen for ground
force use in tanks and gun motor carriages was a derivative of a 1918
weapon). My brain was boggled yet again. Since the 3-inch gun used the
same projectiles as the 76mm (used them first at that), Ill list them
out in M62 APC, M79 AP, M42 HE order: overall length 35.6, 35.4, and
34 and projectile length 9.8, 8.9 and 12.4. The M79 is quoted with a
different length projectile than the 76mm M79 (BUT THE DESIGNERS USED THE
SAME PROJECTILE, DIDNT THEY!). The 34 long M42 HE round had a 12.4
long shell while the LONGER M62 and M79 AP rounds had a shorter shot.

I used my pictures and measured down from the tip of the 3-inch and 76mm
M62 projectiles and found that length of 9.8 (980 pixels) stops about
1.6 inches (160 pixels / 100 = 1.6) short of the crimp on the case. My
surmise was that either the lengths of the M62 projectiles given for the
3-inch and 76mm were totally wrong or they were measured without the
ballistic cap. It looks like the M61 APC round for the 75mm was measured
with the ballistic cap since it is quoted as being 3.2" longer than the
capped M62 projectiles. And yet they are the same weight.
I did not expect the M42 HE shell used in the 3-inch and 76mm to be as
long as the M48 HE round of the 75mm because it was lighter. And it
wasn't.
Unless I can find a different source with the dimensions broken down, I
guess Ill never know what the correct overall length of the M62 APC
projectile is.
I was working on a different project comparing shot weight to overall
length and the erratic measurements given in TM9 1901 fouled that up.
Well, to answer my curiosity about which round might fit in which cannon:
my rough measurements indicate the 76-mm base is perhaps 3.5 thick and
the 75-mm base perhaps 3.2 (the cartridge case body, not the rim/lip)
and the 75-mm howitzer base is a tad smaller although any of those
could be in error given they are based on pictures scaled using data that
could very well be inaccurate. Overlaying the 75-mm case onto the 76mm at
the base, it looks like the 75mm might have fit the 76mm chamber, though
with a good potential for jamming.
HINT: Amatuers might make the mistake of casually using the term "shell"
for the complete round. A "shell" is a projectile filled with high
explosives; a "shot" is a solid projectile (no explosive). As it is, the
AP rounds used might be referred to as either since some did have a small
explosive charge, although they were not built to be high explosive
shells.