30mmx165 Honeywell Experimental Durable Dummy Cartridge.

[Falschirmjager]

This interesting cartridge purchased at Malvern Military Convention in March this year was a most welcome find Its a US 30mmx165 honeywell manufactured durable dumy cartridge-as used in the 30mm Philco Ford rival to the GAU-8/A Avenger cannon. The weapon lost out in the competition to the General Electric GAU-/8A due to numerous technical problems mainly associated with the ammunition and the Philco-Ford 30mm gun never got past the experimental stages. These Durable Dummy rounds were used in the actual weapon cycling tests where cartridge rigidity was important. The projectile is a genuine Target Practice type with broad polyurethane driving band and case is aluminium material. There is a steel rod which runs from the primer pocket and screws into the projectile base to prevent it from being pushed back into the case under repeated use. In total about a 100,000 rounds were produced by the time the project was cancelled and quite a few were retained as souvenirs afterwards. You dont see these that often in the UK and price of £65.00 is steep but was worth it as i had never expected to get one of these.

[Steve T]

Very nice cartridge and interesting story.

Thanks for sharing

Steve T

[Slick Rick]

Lots of details there I wasn't aware of. Am babysitting this example, long story. Anyway, was reluctant to disassemble as it wasn't mine. Was very curious what was on the other end of that allen head "primer". I'd say your approx. $100 was well spent.

[Falschirmjager]

Lots of details there I wasn't aware of. Am babysitting this example, long story. Anyway, was reluctant to disassemble as it wasn't mine. Was very curious what was on the other end of that allen head "primer". I'd say your approx. $100 was well spent.

These are interesting rounds and there were a few different variations on the Durable Dummies. During the experimental phase where service 30x165 rounds were fired there were persistent problems with the polyurethane driving bands which often tore away from the projectile before it left the bore of the weapon. Another problem was that of case seperations where the shoulder of the case would tear away from the main cartridge body. The Philco-Ford weapon could not fire a full compliment of ammunition without a stoppage. The barrels were smooth bore but the first ten inches had a rifled insert and these failed on two consecutive occassions. In the end the Philco-Ford Phase One GAU-8/A was cancelled in favour of the General Electric GAU-8/A. Both weapons were very similar in design and had same muzzle velocity of around 3,000 ft/sec. The cartridges are quite scarce but are obviously more easily found in the USA. It would be extremely lucky to find an inert service version of this round as many were disposed after the project folded. The remaining Durable Dummies were taken as souvenirs but a fair few were thrown into skips, some of them still sealed in their Honeywell packaging. These experimental cannon rounds are most interesting and mine was a very lucky find and i didnt mind paying the £65.00 as they are one of the more scarcer of the 30-mm calibre rounds. Regards, Tim.