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Subject: AS90 Inbore
ArtyEngineer    6/14/2006 3:04:18 PM
Just heard an AS90 had an inbore at Eskmeals test range in the UK, thankfully it was an unmanned firing so no injurys. I wonder what ammunition/fuse/charges were being tested. Could be something developmental or just lot acceptance.
 
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Carl S    RE:AS90 Inbore   6/14/2006 4:55:14 PM
The USMC had one of those back in the early 1980s or late 1970s. From the photo I could not tell if it was a eight inch, or a 175mm. The barrel was blossomed over the drivers station. One of the unlabled photos had a section of Marines clusterd on the engine deck with large grins. Perhaps they were the crew. There was also in that file a photo of what may have been a M109 SP with the barrel burst. But there was nothing to help guess the place or date.
 
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neutralizer    RE:AS90 Inbore   6/15/2006 4:39:10 AM
At a range like that it's unlikely to have involved 'operator error'. Obviously a shell/fze failure. A routine proof firing is always possible. However, the most likely cause of a shell premature is a fault in the filling, eg cracked or gap somewhere. I had understood that the UK Xrayed all L15 for just this reason. I'd also understood that electronic fzes have a lot of built-in safety, and hadn't heard of a previous problem, and new fze types are tested elsewhere with inert shells before going anywhere near a live one shell. Odd, because I did't think new ammo was tested with service guns until a fairly late stage.
 
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