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Each lettered battery (A, B, C, & D) of the battalion
had eight M-15 Al's and eight M-16's. The former is fully titled
a Combination Gun Motor Carriage, and briefly it consisted of
a half-tracked vehicle with a turret in which was a 37 millimeter
cannon and two .50 caliber heavy-barrelled machine guns, all
coaxially mounted. It carried a crew of seven men complete with
their personal equipment as well as ammunition, grenades, rations,
etc. The other weapon was the Multiple Gun Motor Carriage M-16,
which was also a half-track carrying an electric turret. On this
turret were four .50 caliber machine guns, which were bore sighted
or converged at about one thousand yards range.
Data on the equipment follows:
Gross weight:
M-15 AI: 10 tons
M-16: 9 tons
Rates of fire:
37mm (1.457") Gun Ml A2: 120 rounds per minute.
Browning machine gun caliber .50, heavy barrel, M-2: 100 to 500
rounds per gun per minute.
Ranges:
37mm High Explosive: 3,500 yards (two miles)
37mm Armor-Piercing shot, maximum horizontal range: 3,800 yards
.50 caliber machine gun, maximum range: 7,200 yards (four miles)
(Tracer burns out at 1,850 yards; maximum effective range: 1,200
yards.)
Armor Penetration:
37mm Armor Piercing Cap M-59 shot will penetrate from 1.5 to
2.2 inches of armor plate at 1000 yards at 90 degrees impact.
.50 caliber Armor Piercing: about one half inch.
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