The saboted light armor penetrator (SLAP) family of
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other we ...
is designed to penetrate
armor more efficiently than standard
armor-piercing
Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour.
From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...
ammunition. In the US it was developed by the
Marine Corps during the mid/late 1980s and was approved for service use in 1990 during Operation Desert Storm. It uses a reduced caliber, heavy metal (tungsten) .30 inch diameter penetrator wrapped in a plastic
sabot of .50 inch diameter, and the .308 SLAP round was a .223 inch diameter penetrator core within the .308 inch plastic sabot.
Design and use
The SLAP design incorporates a
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
sabot, which allows for the use of a
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
penetrator projectile of a lesser diameter than the original
bore. By using the casing of a large
cartridge with a lightweight projectile, the velocity of the projectile is greatly increased and the
sectional density
Sectional density (often abbreviated SD) is the ratio of an object's mass to its cross sectional area with respect to a given axis. It conveys how well an object's mass is distributed (by its shape) to overcome resistance along that axis.
Secti ...
is improved without requiring a (potentially dangerous) increase in
chamber pressure
Within firearms, chamber pressure is the pressure exerted by a cartridge case's outside walls on the inside of a firearm's chamber when the cartridge is fired. The SI unit for chamber pressure is the megapascal (MPa), while the American SAAMI use ...
.
SLAP rounds have been designed for use against lightly
armored vehicles and
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
.
Saboted ammunition should not be used in firearms with
muzzle brakes unless the muzzle brake has been
specifically designed for such use.
50 SLAP ammunition is completely interoperable with M2 machine guns with
stellite liner.
Types of SLAP ammunition
Production
US SLAP ammunition is produced by the
Winchester Cartridge Company and
Olin Manufacturing. The team began production of the ammunition in 1985. The sabot that contains the sub-caliber is manufactured by Cytec Industries.
See also
*
Armour-piercing discarding sabot – the equivalent class of ordnance caliber ammunition.
References
{{reflist
Ammunition