Flak 38 Part 1: Ammunition

Рет қаралды 43,599

3 жыл бұрын

This is part one of my three part series on the Flak 38 Anti-Aircraft gun. It is fairly difficult to find reliable information on this weapon so I hope you are able to learn something from this video.
All items show in this video are 100% inert and safe.
A quick technical note:
For the sake of simplicity I chose to us the the "American" designations of these ammunition types i.e. API, HE-T, etc. The full names in German are somewhat long and confusing but very descriptive. Should you wish to know the full German name for your round please consult the websites below.
Picture and Information Sources:
www.histavia21.net/amaviapag/...
212.178.67.161/avx/sites/flak2cm/start.php?main_cat=13&sub_cat=149&visitor_level=1&user_id=0&user_name=&session_id=1ac8189352db4b3d5a07f6d837bd5f53&access=view&exp_sub_cat=149
wehrmachts.kisten.free.fr/somm...

Пікірлер: 88

@geoffbenoy2052 3 жыл бұрын

In 1965 I found a whole bunch of the magazines still full of ammunition, they had been under water for almost 20 years. I took some apart. One of the detonaters I took out of the aluminium tip and started to clean it out. Almost empty, it exploded in my hand and took my fingertips away, I ended up in hospital. These are very nasty and dangerous.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

That is terrible, I am sorry you were injured by one. I have heard that the detonators are nearly impossible to inert so I was lucky to find some that were never filled. I also think that people underestimate how long ordnance can remain dangerous even when underground or underwater. I will pin your comment to show the dangers of dealing with UXO. Thank you for sharing your story.

@geoffbenoy2052 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed It happened the day before my 19th birthday, woke up in the hospital. That time I didn't know they were so dangerous, one shot can take a plane down at 500m height. We'll, I survived, 75 soon. Also the 20mm flak gun I found in the water, didn't know what it was then...

@clement9120 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed its easy to empty them, you just need to cut off the detonator fixed under the fuze. But its dangerous, make sure to take some protecting items like metal-gloves stuff like that....

@geoffbenoy2052 3 жыл бұрын

@@clement9120 the tip with the detonar can be removed easily by unscrewing it. The tip is made of soft metal, provided with 2 ramps to put a small wrench on and to unscrew it from the projectile. Then the detonator, made of aluminum (I still have some small splinters in my face), can be screwed out of the tip. You'll see the tip contains a plunger that, on impact, goes into the detonator and ignites it. The detonator contained some white stuff like chalk. That detonator was almost cleaned empty when it exploded. The removed white stuff exploded as well but didn't do damage. Fortunately the rest of the 20mm projectile was not with me...

@clement9120 3 жыл бұрын

@@geoffbenoy2052 ouch

@BIG-DIPPER-56 Жыл бұрын

Thanks 🙂😎👍

@AlcidesSalgado 7 ай бұрын

FYI: flak is from shortened German word: “fliegerabwehrkanone”. Which means ‘aircraft defense canon’. You’re welcome.

@DeetexSeraphine Жыл бұрын

Fascinating, didn't know about the powder bag.

@frederikdemoor8172 10 ай бұрын

What a really good and detailed vid!!! Really nice job! Never knew how the explosive ones worked… Grts from Belgium

@alexgustavsson5955 3 жыл бұрын

I love this video, you don't often get to see the inner workings of cannon rounds explained so thoroughly. Can't wait for Flak 38 Part 4: Test fire.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it! These are interesting little rounds. As for the test fire, maybe someday!

@ishnifusmeadle 5 ай бұрын

Awesome. Love this type of stuff. Was given a inert api "trainer" 20mm by my grandfather he got as a gift from working for lockheed decades ago, and that started my fascinating with projectiles. I began messing with my red rider shortly there after, trying to find ways to make better "ammo" for it hahaha, eventually got into reloading, casting, milling various rounds as i aged for my firearms. Its a hobby i love. I love display artillery shells for some reason, sadly i only have one, as i havent been able to justify more. I still have that lil 20 trainer, attached to my "bullet board"(cartridge display) that i love showing folks, especially the cutaways or the "exploded" dioramas, always a favorite. Its funny how a series of meaningless events shapes out obsessions. Anyways, very much enjoyed the series, well done.

@joeswarson4580 3 жыл бұрын

Criminally underrated channel

@Flak_and_Pak 28 күн бұрын

Lets see what we can do to boost those numbers!

@Flak_and_Pak 28 күн бұрын

I posted it to my Flakvierling 38 restoration page on FB. We have 3,300 members.

@ahmiv8825 3 жыл бұрын

Only 3k subscribers is crazy for this type of information and format of videos, love it!

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Honestly I am just glad anybody watches my stuff! Never expected to have anywhere near this much interest in my videos when I started out.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Hope you find this video informative. It is probably my favorite that I’ve made so far. As always let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

@saradolphin3242 Жыл бұрын

Best Simple Explanation for People who Don't No Anything Lol Like Me! What is a Flake Find?

@benjohnson2421 Жыл бұрын

Left handed threads. Guess you dont want your tracer cup spinning off half way there. Right spinning rifling? 🤔

@scottw550 Ай бұрын

I've got a dark green 1944 U.S. CR med kit from ebay with a 20 mm bullet hole clean right through the front right edge of it, with trailing threads, it missed hitting a small square glass vial of insectiside. by 1/4 inch.

@Sir.suspicious 3 жыл бұрын

Amazing channel! Lucky I found this

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@pederschultz2618 2 жыл бұрын

A realy good video. The safty mechanism in the fuze of the HE shell is remarkely simpel and cheap made compared with other safety mechanisms that are designed to be deactivated by the spin of the shell.

@jorddie772 3 жыл бұрын

i never knew about this and now im obsessed with ww2 munitions

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

There is a ton of variety to study and collect. Even just 2cm flak has so many variants!

@miserablebrian 2 жыл бұрын

Dude, I thought that thing was the size of a football until you picked it up!

@chrisabraham8793 Жыл бұрын

You are lucky to unscrew the tracer part, buggers to get our even if its a left hand thread.

@Dodo-ze5ep 3 жыл бұрын

Explained very nice!

@collectionofhistory44 2 жыл бұрын

I absolutely love this kind of video's! I subscribed! Keep it up ;)

@jhyland87 3 жыл бұрын

Those are so neat! Thanks for uploading.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

No problem! Glad you enjoyed the video.

@what_the_hell_is_even_that Жыл бұрын

Just found a buttload of them cartridges laying on the ground in a forest ! There was one high explosive et the rest was amor piercing

@dominicmauro7203 2 жыл бұрын

great vid man very informative, I appreciate you.

@CZ350tuner Жыл бұрын

During my research, back in the mid-1980's, I uncovered anti=armour range tests for the 20mm. L.55 KwK.30 & 20mm. FlaK 30, there are range tests for the PzGr. AP-I, PzGr. APHE, PzGr.39 APCBC-HE & PzGr.40 APCR.

@kimjanek646 Жыл бұрын

There was no 20mm Pzgr. 39 shell. If it was mentioned in some documents than probably due to mistakes from military personal, since most AP rounds, for AT guns, were of the Pzgr. 39 designation.

@MrRedeyedJedi Жыл бұрын

Quite clever how much is going on in the bullet head it's self, the he is interested in that they thought of a self destruct. I understand that on other cannon rounds, a timer detonation could be altered to detonate at certain altitudes.

@MilitariaReviewed Жыл бұрын

Larger AA guns had the ability to set rounds to detonate after a certain amount of time which would correspond with a particular altitude. 8.8 cm flak had a sort of mechanical computer mounted next to them that the gunner would insert the nose of the projectile into prior to firing. It would set the fuze based on the altitude, speed, range etc. of the target and automatically adjust as needed. 2 cm flak cartridges did not have that ability but as I understand many modern 20mm cartridges do.

@MrRedeyedJedi Жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed yeah, cool isn't it? The earlier ones were simply a fuse delay done mechanically but as you say, certain modern guns have the ability to do it by computer, mainly used in larger calibre cannons.

@JimMurray-jx5ze Жыл бұрын

I have a flak38 complete with trailer with two live complete guns & one deactivated gun and also a blank firing barrel kit for use with the wooden tipped blank rounds. Aparently used by the army group south and eventually ended up in Slovakia where I found it from another collector. Would be interested to know what it is worth in current market?

@MilitariaReviewed Жыл бұрын

Wow that is quite the collection! I would love to see some pictures of your flak 38s if you don't mind. Depending on where you are located I may be able to help with valuation. I know that there was a dealer in Czechia that had around a dozen or so at one time. It wouldn't surprise me if yours and his all came from the same group.

@geoffbenoy2052 Жыл бұрын

The tracer stuff was protected by a small plastic red disc. You had to remove that in order to see the tracer. Firing the amo would pulverise that disc and start the tracer.

@spidermann5000 Жыл бұрын

1:35 "modern projectiles are measured in grains" mhh at 20mm you get a mouth full of grains, no one ever used it for calibers that size and beyond and 1774,72grain is a moutj full :P

@Boerje69 3 жыл бұрын

Popular cartridge that 20x138mmB.

@foxtrot312 Жыл бұрын

So is it 20mm diameter ?

@ag2938 Жыл бұрын

Very Intressant! Munitionsarten: Panzersprenggranate, black und Sprenggranate,yellow mit und ohne Leuchspur, sowie Exerzierpatrone zum üben!

@coreymerrill3257 Жыл бұрын

They look like the CEOs got back from an African safari, and said " those belted magnums are pretty nice ,but they need to be more like the 22lr. So...belted case with heeled projectiles it is.

@grahamthebaronhesketh. 2 жыл бұрын

Hi I have a brass one I picked up years ago and it now has a clipper gas lighter in the top. My wife has been using it for years. the base is stamped HPD and 40. it has interesting trench art etched into it depicting Egyptian pyramids etc. Perhaps it was fired by the Africa Corps? I did not know it was a German round until I watched your video. Thanks for that good film.

@AnticipatedHedgehog 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting to see the changes over time through the war years. I watched a Military History Visualized video on recycling of ammunition, the markings on shells makes sense. Seems like a waste to not reload shells! Looking forward to more videos.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

The cartridges definitely got more crude as time went on. The lacquered steel also had a nasty habit of jamming up the weapon. I've seen brass casings with markings indicating 4-5 reloads though those were probably used in a training setting. Couldn't do that with the steel casings! Glad you liked the video. I hope to have the next two parts out soon.

@AnticipatedHedgehog 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed Wow 4-5 times! Those casings are probably a bit thicker than rifle cartridges thats why I'm so surprised. Not sure if you could reload rifle cartridges that many times. Can't wait!

@jasonbloho8015 3 жыл бұрын

@@AnticipatedHedgehog depending on how hot you load some people get up to 10 reloads out of brass

@zackzittel7683 Жыл бұрын

@@AnticipatedHedgehog depending on the design and pressures the reloads reached and the resizing technique you may get over a dozen reloads out of rifle cartridges. Pistol cartridges can last even longer, especially low pressure, straight walled cartridges like 38spl and .45ACP

@robertmcnamara3523 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome!

@ROOSTER333 3 жыл бұрын

Damn man. Just caught your mothball vid. New sub for certain

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked the video!

@shaggyb0i20 3 жыл бұрын

Good Shi!!! Keep it up!

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@kevinm4701 Жыл бұрын

So does the flak damage with explosion or kinetic forces based on ammo? I always imagined the footage that the flak would explode in the air and send out ball bearings to destroy the aircraft

@A.G.798 5 ай бұрын

Beides,was Sie meinen sind Splittergeschosse, aber nur bei größeren Kaliber!

@daviddavidson2357 Жыл бұрын

"Modern projectiles are measured in grains" Lol Lmao even

@hanfpeter2822 3 жыл бұрын

There was a quick Note that modern shells weights are measured in grain. Grain as a unit is most commonly used in the U.S. and nowadays. Due to the presence of american products it has spread to europe, but in europe it is also Common to use gram. (I am disregarding firearms before the metric System here) additionally, i believe that NATO uses the metric System in their Standards, and not grain.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the insight. These units of measure can be quite confusing. It would be helpful if the US standardized with the rest of the world!

@DudeInWalmart 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed I reload and use bolt units. I use grains for small stuff and grams for bigger artillery stuff. Don't know why but I find it easier to remember charges in grains.

@slt2239 Жыл бұрын

What kind of explosive was used in the HE rounds, and what was the weight of the HE payload, if you happen to know?

@MilitariaReviewed Жыл бұрын

The standard HE-T (Sprgr. mit L'spur) was filled with 6.2 grams of PETN (the Germans called it nitropenta).

@herrhaber9076 Жыл бұрын

Anywhere from 1.8 to 22 grams of HE. Germany used PETN. Other countries also used PETN but many used RDX phlegmatized with wax. Want to add an incendiary effect ? Take the same round, add a few grams of zinc powder.

@matheusgodoy42 3 жыл бұрын

Great content. By the end of 2021 you'll have 100k subscribers and you will remember this comment.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks man, maybe someday!

@curiouscat8396 Жыл бұрын

Why did they belt it? For ease of chambering/loading?

@MilitariaReviewed Жыл бұрын

The belt was to ensure proper headspacing when the cartridge was chambered.

@curiouscat8396 Жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed But why not just make it rimmed then?

@The6thMessenger 3 жыл бұрын

Hey. Can you do a 20mm Vulcan breakdown as well?

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Sure! I have quite the backlog of videos I am working on at the moment but I'll see about doing one on the 20mm Vulcan sometime in the future.

@prandomable 3 жыл бұрын

20x138mmB is used for Lahti, Solothurn and Flak 38 correct? All interchangeable between those guns...

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Sorry for the late response. You are correct, 20x138b was used in all three of those. It was specifically utilized with the Solothurn S-18/1000. The earlier S-18/100 used a shorter cartridge, 20x105b. I have an example of that round in my collection as well.

@prandomable 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed I have shot CVDS's Lahti 20mm before. However it wasn't 20x138mmB cartridges but 20x102mm Vulcan round that has been switched to percussion primed cartridge to be shot with Lahti's firing pin I believe. I'm guessing the chamber has been swapped to specifically shoot the 20x102mm. Barrel still a 20mm so no need to switch the barrel to shoot different 20mm cartridges.

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

@@prandomable That is interesting. I would be curious to know how they did the conversion to enable firing the shorter cartridge. Definitely the way to go if you want to actually shoot it. No idea where you'd go to get a large supply of 20x138b cases. I believe there is also a company making 20mm bolt actions chambered for the Vulcan round since components for it are much more available. What was shooting the Lahti like? That is one of my "grail guns" that I hope to be able to get one day.

@prandomable 3 жыл бұрын

@@MilitariaReviewed it wasn't that much different than the .50cal to be honest. Also the bolt action 20mm you are referring to. 20x102mm Anzio Ironworks. The company owner Mike Remo he makes 20x102mm Anzio bolt action rifle shooting 20x102mm cartridges that's been converted to percussion primed. All factory 20x102mm Vulcan rounds are electric primed.

@mcbrians.8508 3 жыл бұрын

Where is the Minengeschoss?

@MilitariaReviewed 3 жыл бұрын

Minengeschoss rounds were not produced for 2cm flak. As far as I am aware, minengeschoss rounds were limited to aircraft-mounted guns like the MG151/20 or MK108.

@A.G.798 5 ай бұрын

Wobei die Geschosse, ob Flugzeugwaffe MG 151/20 und Flak 38 doch gleich waren! Nur die Hülzen waren unterschiedlich groß ; 92 mm. Flugzeugwaffe und 138 mm. Flak 38 , und die Füllung mit 22 gramm Sprengstoff ist die Mienengranate, da die normale Sprenggranate mit 6,5 g. Geladen war.