.50 Cal SLAP Rd Explosion Video

[old tanker]

I have a different take. M903 SLAP was developed to increase the armor defeating capability of the M2 machinegun. While it was adopted in the mid-80's, it was not commonly fired in training, and perhaps it was different in the Marine Corps. No one I have talked to in the Army remembers having any issued during the Gulf War.

Policy changes concerning the disposal of surplus ammunition have gone back and forth, currently only ammunition useful to other government agencies escapes DEMIL.

Even the rules on demilitarization have changed. Folks may remember companies which pulled down ammo and reloaded it. Then DoD required the brass to be crushed.

This makes the pedigree of the ammunition he was shooting very suspect.

Was it ammo left over after training and some GI stuck a few rounds in his pocket for souvenirs?

Was it ammunition scheduled for destruction and purloined from or by a contractor? If that is the case, it is possible the ammo being destroyed was a "bad lot" meaning the Army had condemned it as unsafe.

Was it ammo reloaded using pull down components and who knows what data?

The few rounds he shot were inconsistent. One exhibited an excessive amount of flash before the accident round. My view is IF it was over pressure ammunition it's unlikely a Barrett or a Browning would have fared any better than the Serbu did.

As a tanker I fired plenty of sabot ammo through tank guns. Most of those guns, such as the US M68 105mm gun lack muzzle brakes. During WW2 the British 17 pounder and the US 90mm had accuracy problems caused by muzzle brakes interfering with the sabots coming off cleanly. (Seems like he was having similar troubles with flyers?)

It might be interesting to take a good look at the muzzle brake on the Serbu. Did the "petals" of the sabot beginning to touch the brake rather than coming off cleanly upon exit like they would on a "bare" muzzle? Is it possible that a sabot or pieces of it got caught in the slots of the muzzle brake and in effect become a bore obstruction?

Finally, SLAP was approved for use the M2 machine gun but NOT the M85, with its tulip shaped prong style flash suppressor.