See how easy it is to burn through ammo? And these guys weren’t even in combat. No wonder the U.S. Army needs lots and lots of .50 caliber SLAP ammo for its M2 Heavy Machine guns. Not SLAP in the Three Stooges sense of the word (nyuck nyuck nyuck). SLAP as in Saboted Light Armor Penetrator. Winchester: “It uses a reduced caliber, heavy metal (tungsten) .30 inch diameter penetrator wrapped in a ‘plastic’ sabot of .50 inch diameter, which is much lighter in weight than normal ball .50 caliber ammunition. The velocity of SLAP ammunition can also be increased in an original M2 Machine Gun to construct a very fast round with a flat trajectory to enhance impact on the target.” fas.org gives us the inside dope on the round’s genesis . . .
The .50 caliber effort was very successful and extends the light armor capability of the M2 Heavy Machine Gun significantly. The 7.62mm effort was not successful in the M60 and caused catastrophic barrel failures due to in-bore break-up of the sabot and the penetrator puncturing the side of the barrel. Also, its increase in penetration was not on the same order of magnitude as the .50 caliber SLAP’s.
So SLAP it is, then. fas reckons the round runs $7.50 a go. If so, Winchester’s recently announced $43.4m contract with the U.S. Army for .50 caliber SLAP ammunition will require 5,773,333.33 bullets. FYI: I shot 200 rounds of .32 last night. That was fun, too.
