2 dead after explosion inside World War II-era tank, police say

Fox News ^ | October 27, 2015 | Associated Press

[WhiskeyX]

BEND, Ore. – Authorities say two people have died in an explosion inside a World War II-era tank at a firing range in Oregon.

[amigatec]

BFLR

[Vaquero]

Remilitarizing a demilitarized gun.....say a Sherman 75mm? Weld the breech block back together ? Not much info. Wonder what actually happened

[mylife]

Now Obama will outlaw tanks.

[JRandomFreeper]

Some WW II tanks had the nickname of 'Zippo' for a reason.

/johnny

[Vaquero]

Thought it was ‘a ronson ‘

[mabarker1]

Thanks for Posting. Prayers for the Families.

Just damned Ping

[Vaquero]

the M4 Sherman:
the British nick-named them “Ronsons” after the famous cigarette lighted due to the supposed flammability of the Sherman tank. The story goes that the troops co-opted the Ronson slogan of “ lights first every time” to describe their vehicles.

The reason being the Sherman used gasoline while the German tanks ran on diesel

[Tallguy]

‘Tommy-cooker’.

[Tallguy]

‘Tommy-cooker’.

[JRandomFreeper]

That's the cool thing about FR. You get corrected if you make a mistake.

Thanks for the correction. I seem to remember 'ronson' from the documentaries now.

/johnny

[Vaquero]

Understandable. Zippos are cooler(hotter?) than ronsons

[eastforker]

Today Ronson is a trademark of Zippo.

[PLMerite]

Okay, so who has jurisdiction over civilian tanks? The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) or the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives) ?

[WKUHilltopper]

They used to do zippo raids in ‘Nam...lighting up Charlie’s grass huts.

[Vaquero]

Guess Charlie never heard the fable of the 3 little pigs.

[PIF]

It is an M-18 Hellcat, see later post for image.

[Chode]

light load flash over or old ammo???

[Tallguy]

Speculation over on AR15.COM centers on the ammo. Witnesses to similar live-fire exercises have said that the projectile is a modified 3” naval AP round as there aren’t any 76mm projectiles. They turn the round on a lathe until they achieve the proper diameter for the main gun. If not done correctly you’re looking at an over pressure to the gun that could cause a breach failure.

There was also talk of reloading problems with un-sized brass catridges.

[Chode]

damn, either one would do it...

a light reload was what i was wondering about, if the case isn't full and there's empty space along the top of the powder when the round loads it can flash over and cause heap big overpressure too