1944 M18 Hellcat

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two men killed by an explosion inside a World War II-era tank at an Oregon firing range were participating in a video shoot in a military vehicle owned by one of the victims, a collector who had been filmed for shows on the Discovery Channel, the Smithsonian Channel and a video game commercial.

A crew was filming the tank firing rounds when the blast occurred Tuesday east of the city of Bend, killing vehicle owner Steven Todd Preston, 51, and Austin Tyler Lee, 22, Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson said.



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WOOW... I've seen these guys already!

That's awful....

7 sec+ is that a live round!!!! Setting it on it's primer cap end!?! The shells are a solid round -could drop'em on their nose without issues, but the primer side .

I seen this tank in like 3 videos with different guests in the gunner position...the latest one I saw was "The weapon hunter" when he was looking for "Sherman brakes" on a tank restoration (Achilles) he was helping with. The/this M18 owner (cigar-in-mouth-cool-dude) had some.

Sad to hear.

Also, sounds like there is breach issues being discussed.  Meaning there maybe multi-loading and unloading of a live round?

That's a terrible accident. I just don't understand how it could be possible to use the real shell?

lockie... I just don't understand how it could be possible to use the real shell?

This is definitely a tragedy for the reenactment community over here. A long time family friend has been on a French Indian War and Revolutionary War Artillery Unit reenactment group for more than 30 years and he travels around the country.  Most of the live shoots he attends are in New York state.

But here are a few articles concerning the subject.  

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"I've owned (the tank destroyer) for about 12 years, but it was just recently that I made the gun live on it, so I actually have an operating cannon on it," Preston said at the time. "Chuck is an explosives expert friend of mine, so he's going to help me load it up."

The two men, whose love for military collectibles started at a young age, said they had filled out plenty of paperwork with the ATF to be able to do the tank firings. They said the hobby was relaxing, even therapeutic.

Preston said, "I think it's fun, just being able to load a live round into the chamber of that and pull the trigger."

Hegele, who puts on annual public cannon shoots twice a year, said, "How many countries can you run a live tank around, a full military tank? I'm privileged to live in a country like that."

So how are we allowed to own a tank and beable to fire off some live rounds??? Answer is simple, as many have stated before... "Only in America, land of opportunity!"  

One other article that has some info concerning owning a tank over here in the states...

Want to buy a tank?

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A private collection of armor that was auctioned off this year in California.

The auction will feature upward of 80 tanks, although exactly how far upward, even Bill Boller, who has overseen the collection for the past five years, isn't sure. "There are more" tanks, he says, "than I ever bothered to count."

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This below link might take a bit to load.  

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Jacques Littlefield is the former owner of the collection. Sounds like he had one of those good German names ( Kleinfeld) translated literally into English...Sad to think he died at 59.That's my age.....

What a beautiful collection! Any idea who bought it?I hope museums rather than individuals!

frinik... Any idea who bought it? I hope museums rather than individuals

Some of the collection was purchased by the Collings Foundation headquarters.  

On July 11 and 12th 2014, 160 vehicles of the Littlefield Collection were auctioned off to fund creation of a new museum to display the collection at the Collings Foundation headquarters in Stow, Massachusetts

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Here is some information of the auctioned vehicles.

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The Panther was a Panther Ausf. A.

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lockie wrote:That's a terrible accident. I just don't understand how it could be possible to use the real shell?

From the newspaper article: "Preston was licensed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to fire live ammunition from the tank."

I didn't suppose to see that it's possible to shoot with a live shell. But since it is a legal action then this tragic event became a real sorrow accident. And perhaps a shooting with a live shell should be limited.

Another look at a live round firing of the M-18 Hellcat.



And one more look at a live fire M-18 shoot.

Lockie, did you notice the down in the information read... "Still looking for volunteer production crew at these machine-gun shoots." So the question is... when are you coming over??? LoL