WW2 3.2 billion rounds of 45acp
- Thread starter Steiner
- Start date
I am trying to wrap my head around the numbers.
That 3,264,281,914 was the stuff made from June '42 to April 20, '44.
How much was in the US armoury's when they were brought into the war? stuff sold(given) the to British before that?
I was trying to do some quick and dirty math, but the hard part is knowing how much was gone through on any given day.
Over 365 days lets say there are 5000 troops engaged in combat using .45 (Pacific and Europe). Lets say that each troop fires 300 rounds a day.= 547,500,000. So there is half a billion. So in 3 years =1,642,500,000. That's half of that production.
Loose a few million to U-boats. Loose a few million that are issued but dropped, or sunk in landings. Add a few million for troops in training.
I bet they used at least 2/3 of that 3.2 billion, and stockpiled the other 1/3.
Edit: I also remember watching a documentary about the plans to invade Japan. The US command anticipated so many casualties that they ordered so many purple hearts they were still issuing them well into the first gulf war. (I forgot the numbers)
That 3,264,281,914 was the stuff made from June '42 to April 20, '44.
How much was in the US armoury's when they were brought into the war? stuff sold(given) the to British before that?
I was trying to do some quick and dirty math, but the hard part is knowing how much was gone through on any given day.
Over 365 days lets say there are 5000 troops engaged in combat using .45 (Pacific and Europe). Lets say that each troop fires 300 rounds a day.= 547,500,000. So there is half a billion. So in 3 years =1,642,500,000. That's half of that production.
Loose a few million to U-boats. Loose a few million that are issued but dropped, or sunk in landings. Add a few million for troops in training.
I bet they used at least 2/3 of that 3.2 billion, and stockpiled the other 1/3.
Edit: I also remember watching a documentary about the plans to invade Japan. The US command anticipated so many casualties that they ordered so many purple hearts they were still issuing them well into the first gulf war. (I forgot the numbers)
ipscgraz
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I had read a long long time ago that in WW2 the kill ratio was one enemy combatant to every 100, 000 rounds fired. In Vietnam this rose to 1, 000 000 rounds per enemy KIA. Also, in WW 2 the average boot size issued was 8 1/2 but in Vietnam it was 10 1/2.
Back to the original post, 3,264,281,914 rounds of 45 ACP with 230 grain bullets would have needed 53, 627.5 TONS on metal, either lead core or copper jacket, just for the bullet. If each round needed 14 grains of what ever powder was used, almost 3300 TONS of gunpowder was needed.
Wow.
Back to the original post, 3,264,281,914 rounds of 45 ACP with 230 grain bullets would have needed 53, 627.5 TONS on metal, either lead core or copper jacket, just for the bullet. If each round needed 14 grains of what ever powder was used, almost 3300 TONS of gunpowder was needed.
Wow.
a good read on the subject is "on combat" by dave grossman, in ww2, they estimate that fewer than 20% of soldiers fired their rifles, because the brain does strange things under stress.
its not that these men were cowards or that they didnt know what to do, its that the stress function of their brain was looking for the thing they shot in training, red circles. with an officer in the area this rate increased, and machine gunners were well above this average. by vietnam, training had changed,and so had weapons, the combination of full auto and crude silhouettes made for more random shooting at moving shadows.
I read in a history of the Pacific war that the analysis of all the amphibious assaults of the "island-hopping" campaign led the staff to estimate that an operation to establish a beachhead on just one of the Japanese home islands could cost in excess of 250,000 Allied casualties (dead and wounded.) The people ordering purple hearts were not told that there were atomic bombs that might preclude an invasion.
I'm aware that there was a standing order on the front line trench systems during WW1. All troops were required to fire so many shots per day on the enemy trench systems {don't recall if it was 5 or 10 for Common Wealth troops}. With concealed crack shots on both sides, I can imagine a very low percentage of these required 5 or 10 rds were "aimed" on anything but somewhere across no man's land
Multiply this same apathy (and or thirst for self preservation) with a chain fed M60 and boogy man shadow shooting with M16's I guess the Vietnam ratio's come as no surprise!?
the M1 Garand was originally to be chambered in .276 pedersen, ballistically equivalent to the 6.5 carcano or 6.5 Japanese. It was to have a 10 rd clip, this was kiboshed by Macarthur as there were around 2 Billion 30-06 rounds of M1 Ball 174 grain "Machine Gun, think Mk8 .303" stockpiled, then after starting production, it was discovered that the .30 M1 round was too hot for the Garand, and they had to make the M2 Ball with a faster powder and 150 gr bullet. If the .276 pedersen was used based upon a Billion rounds at a rough saving of 35grs/case brass, 15 grs/powder, and 10 grs/bullet figures the US would have saved approximately 1/2 million pounds brass, 214,000/powder, and and 142,000 copper/lead. Mind you hindsight is 20/20
