Hi all, I'm wondering how exactly the ammunition was arranged in the M10C. In an "Inside the Chieftain's Hatch" video by Nicholas Moran he said there were a total of 6 ready rounds in two 3-round racks. The other rounds were stored in the sponsons. Wikipedia says that the total amount of ammunition carried was 50 rounds. I'm wondering how easy it was to access those sponsons and are the above details correct?
According to Armour Photogallery 14 on the Achilles that information is correct and there are photos to back it up. Turret - 2 groups of 3 rounds horizontally on the back walls pointed inwards Hull - 4 racks (2 each side) each with 11 rounds laid on their sides in the sponsons. 5/6 pointed forward and the remainder to the rear in each rack. Looks like the 2 forward racks have 6 pointed forward and 5 aft. The rear racks looks like 5 pointed forward and 6 aft. The base of each shell sat in a recess in a thick plate and there were 2 supports with holes in them along their length to keep them in place. Then there was a strap over the top of each support to keep the whole lot in place. So in each rack, to access them, you would need to undo the straps and start by taking the top two shells, then remove the top part of the supports, use the next 4 shells and then remove the next part of the supports to access the remaining 5 rounds. Depending on which way the turret pointed those shells may or may not be conveniently pointed in the right direction within each rack. Sorry I can't post any pictures but I hope that this helps.
