Great job on the Stuart! I love the weathering.
The A9 is also on my wish list, gonna have to grab it soon. It’s such a wacky design, I can’t imagine how cramped it was with 6 guys in there
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It’s kind of an apples and oranges comparison. You tend to put a lot more rounds through a Mg, rifle or pistol at one time compared to a tank. Unless of course the tank is being used as artillery. Also what happens on the inside of the barrel is one thing while what happens on the outside is another. Of course you get carbon build up on the inside, that’s why the crews clean the guns. My point was that you get much less if any discoloration on the outside of the muzzle or muzzle brake due to powder build up with the newer type of gunpowder. I’ve shot black powder guns for a number of years and you’d better be prepared to clean them after about ten rounds or you get a lot of nasty build up. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying the discoloration you see is less likely to be caused by carbon build and more likely to be caused by heat.
Regards,Bob
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Thank you all for responding to my question about barrel discoloration. I can’t say that I see it in the B/W photos of the time. I kinda like the idea of slightly distressing the paint at the muzzle rather than dusting with black pigment.
Yes and no. Machine guns obviously go thru a lot of ammo during trigger time. But just doing basic GI zeroing and qualification with rifle tends to use a lot less rounds. 40 rounds for qualification scoring plus however many three shot groups needed to zero was standard US Army procedure. And even on such a minimal amount of shooting, there was plenty of carbon to clean off the weapon.
I remember watching tankers do their main gun qualification tables or firing during live fire exercises where each tank was putting a similar number of rounds down range.
Interesting and I won’t argue one way the other about your experience. The main thing I object to is the heavy black weathering on the muzzle and or muzzle brake of some models. Pictures don’t support that type of weathering and whatever the reason for some discoloration there, it is usually very light. Thanks for your comments Stikpusher and for sharing your experiences with us.
Regards,Bob
Well, there is always “artistic license”. 