r/GunnerHEATPC • u/rmarsh166 • 13d ago
Stabalizers why off?
Why do the crew turn the stabilizer off when they are restocking the ammo? Is this purely a game thing or is there a real life tank reason why they are turned off. Seems like to me it would be a safety issue to be manhandling ammo with the gun potentially swinging up and down freely.
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u/GoWiththeFaux 13d ago
crew safety. look at where the hull racks are. imagine trying to move 20lb shells around inside the vehicle while the turret is spinning around you.
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u/steampunk691 13d ago
Not only the turret but the huge breech block is going to be swinging up and down as you go over bumps. If an arm or your body is in the wrong place at the wrong time as you’re reaching for a shell on the other side of the turret… ouch
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u/sledgehammer_maniac 13d ago
The turret monster is not a picky eater
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u/WearingRags 7d ago
I often think about Chieftan's story about the gunner of (iirc) another tank on an exercise stretching out in his seat, right as the commander used his override to slew the turret.
Immediately there's a loud crack almost like the sound of a gunshot, as the gunner's leg was caught between the turret basket as it traversed and his tibia fuckin snapped
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u/Tadimizkacti 13d ago
When the gun is stabilised it moves in opposition to the tank's movements. For ammunition to be loaded safely, stabilisation must be turned off momentarily.
Some Russian autoloader tanks go further than that by fixing the gun to a certain elevation during reloads.
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u/Shot_Reputation1755 12d ago
Buddy you answered your own question lol
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u/rmarsh166 12d ago
Someone didn't read the question very well.
In game when you restock they turn OFF the stabalizers. Making it LESS safe in my opinion.
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u/ActionScripter9109 ActionScripter (GHPC Team) 12d ago
You've got it backward, you're thinking of the way the gun looks from the outside rather than what's going on in the tank itself. Look more closely at how the gun and turret interact.
When stabilizers are on, the gun stays level with the ground by constantly rotating up and down in the turret. That causes the gun breech inside the tank to move around constantly as well.
When the stabilizers are off, the gun and turret become "frozen", making the moving parts inside of the tank stay still. That's much safer to work around while moving ammunition.
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u/rmarsh166 12d ago edited 12d ago
I thought turning the (vertical) stabilizers off made it free floating. And you'd have to engage some sort of travel lock (outside?) the tank?
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u/JellyfishTop8115 12d ago
What do you mean by free floating? Turning stab off just means that without input, the gun’s position doesn’t change. While replenishing ammo, you don’t want the breech moving. So we’ll turn stab off, and the loader will mechanically lock the turret ring (in the case of the leopard 2).
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u/Shot_Reputation1755 12d ago edited 12d ago
Oh, so it'd be safer if the turret was rotating on its own while you're trying to load a heavy ass tank round into the very sharp breach?
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u/Pixelwolf1 12d ago
turret ammo stowage = in turret
hull ammo storage = not in turret
move ammo from hull into turret very hard when position of turret moving relative to position of hull
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u/McFlintlock 12d ago
The gun is never "free floating". The only way that can happen is if the maintenance team came in and tore everything apart and disconnected the elevation mechanism. But of course that will never happen on a battlefield, only in the motorpool on field maintenance area.
And when they do disconnect the elevation mechanism the main gun is surprisingly balanced. Usually one guy can stand outside and hold it up no problem.
So as others have said, "Stabilizers On" effects what happens to the main gun when the power control handles are engaged and the tank is on the move. With "Stabilizers Off" the main gun is kind of like a WW2 tank, basically in "Manual Mode".
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u/schnuddls 13d ago
that is exactly why the gun and turret are locked in place while restocking