Description
This cartridge is designed for accurately marking the position of a man or unit located beneath moderately thick foliage for aerial observation. This cartridge has the advantage of less weight and bulk and greater accuracy over comparable existing signals. It is fired from 40mm Grenade Launchers M79 and M203 (attached to the M16 series rifle).
This cartridge is a fixed round of ammunition consisting of a projectile assembly and a cartridge case assembly. The projectile body is a hollow one-piece aluminum body with a metal rotating band. A plastic ogive is snapped into an O-ring in the front opening of the projectile cavity. The color of the ogive denotes smoke color. The cavity contains a pyrotechnic ignition candle and an aluminum canister containing white smoke composition attached to a rotating “X” type parachute. A 2-second delay ignition element is crimped into the center of the metal delay carrier.
The carrier is threaded into the projectile base. A cavity above the delay element contains an ejection charge pellet which consists of 1.2 grams of black powder. The igniter and smoke canister are seated above the ejection charge in the projectile cavity. The projectile assembly is press-fitted into the O-ring in the cartridge case opening. The case is a hollow aluminum bichambered cylinder with a metal closing plug crimped into the base of the cartridge case. The propellant cup is sealed in the bottom by the closing plug. A percussion primer is crimped into the center opening of the closing plug. The cup assembly acts as a high-pressure chamber and the cavity in the case which surrounds the cup, acts as a low-pressure chamber.
Hazardous Components
Filler - White smoke composition (59 g, 2.11 oz)
M195 cartridge case
Propellant - M9, 330 mg
Primer - M42 Percussion
See Also
Nothing else to see.
Source(s)
TM 43-0001-28, Artillery Ammunition (chg 11, 2003)
TM 9-1385-51, Ammunition (Conventional) for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (1967)
