M50

M50

M56

T95

M50

M56

T95

USA

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.7	6.7	6.7

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:63 000

Purchase:200 000

Description

The M50 "Ontos" ('Thing' in Greek) was a self-propelled anti-tank vehicle developed in 1951 and fielded by the US Marines from 1956 to 1969, seeing combat in the Vietnam War to great effect. The vehicle was equipped with six 105mm M40 recoilless rifles (designated as 106mm to avoid confusion in ammunition supply with the 105mm M27 recoilless rifles it replaced, despite being the same calibre), as well as a single 7.62mm machine gun for self-defence and 4 12.7mm MGs mounted above the M40 RRs to assist in rangefinding. Originally developed for the US Army, the Army cancelled the project in 1955 after working prototypes were built and tested, but as the Marines were quite desperate for AT vehicles the Ontos made it into production with 297 units produced in total. The vehicle had its fair share of shortcomings, such as a very tall profile for a vehicle of its size, the inability to reload its guns from inside the crew compartment, a limited load of shells carried by the vehicle and a very powerful backblast when firing all six guns at once (at Aberdeen the vehicle managed to shatter windows and knock bricks off buildings during testing!), but despite this during the Vietnam War saw quite effective use by the Marines. The vehicle's ability to fire all 6 guns at once at a position meant all but the strongest fortified structures fell apart when struck quite easily, and as the guns were recoilless rifles a quick getaway after firing was also possible, leading to low loss rates. Its light weight (9 tons) and much less constrained urban combat abilities meant it saw great success during the war, although the vehicles were almost all used up during the war and were mostly sold off for scrap or repurposed as construction vehicles after 1969, with 14 still remaining in various museums.

Introduced in Update 1.71 "New E.R.A.", the M50 "Ontos" is quite a peculiar vehicle, with its nickname (meaning 'Thing' in Greek) describing it very well; and what a thing it is indeed! Equipped with 6 M40 106mm Recoilless Rifles on a turret that can rotate 40 degrees in either direction, the Ontos offers a compact, lethal package of HEAT or HESH warheads that can be fired in quick succession at an unsuspecting target. The M50's game plan revolves around not being seen, flanking/ambushing enemies and then punishing them with overwhelming firepower, all things the vehicle excels at due to its high mobility and good gun angles (most notably its -10 degrees of gun depression). However, the vehicle lacks any semblance of armour and aside from autocannon HE shells or low penetrating guns of much lower BRs your armour will not stop any enemy fire, making the Ontos very much a glass cannon in line with the M56 that comes before it. Your ability to fire multiple shots before reloading can also enable firing on the move if you're particularly bold or in a rush, as one miss isn't as impactful as on other vehicles, although it is still more desirable to ambush your enemies rather than rushing them down. All-in-all, the M50 is a highly versatile vehicle with above average mobility, excellent firepower (albeit with a slightly long reload once you expend all 6 shells in a clip) and very thin armour, and excels when played like a light tank or when facing vehicles of a higher BR that have very thick armour from the front.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull13 / 13 / 13

Turret0 / 0 / 0

Crew2 people

Visibility72 %

The M50's armour is nothing worth writing home about; armour all-around is very thin, and is penetrated easily by almost any contemporary weapon it faces. Some exceptions are lower calibre autocannons, such as the Marder A1-'s 20mm autocannon, which can be deflected in some spots when aimed at specific parts of the upper plate, but in general is not worth relying on. Any hit you take to the hull is likely to be fatal due to the low crew count of 2, but as your turret is unmanned so long as you hide the hull the M50 can be surprisingly survivable.

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	10-13 (70°) Front glacis 13 mm (45-66°) Lower glacis	13 mm (43°) Top 13 mm Bottom	13 mm (36°) Top 13 mm Bottom	13 mm
Cupola	13 mm	13 mm	13 mm	13 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and torsion bars are 20 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB53 / 18 km/h

RB and SB49 / 17 km/h

Number of gears4 forward

1 back

Weight8.3 t

Engine power

AB277 hp

RB and SB145 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB33.4 hp/t

RB and SB17.5 hp/t

The M50 is a quite nimble vehicle, with a HP/ton value of slightly over 17 in RB once spaded. While the top speed of the vehicle leaves something to be desired with only a 49 km/h top speed limit, due to the high HP/t the vehicle accelerates up to this speed very quickly, which as a result means you'll be cruising in the high 30s to the max 49 km/h top speed during most of your journey, letting you get around without much issue. The reverse gear is also fairly decent with a -17 km/h reverse, allowing the M50 to reposition itself easily with minimal time wasted.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	53	18	8.3	206	277	24.82	33.37
Realistic	49	17		128	145	15.42	17.47

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB3 571 → 4 674

RB4 060 → 5 314

SB5 802 → 7 594

Total cost of modifications52 800

90 700

Talisman cost1 700

Crew training57 000

Experts200 000

Aces800

Research Aces520 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

120 / 200 / 240 %

172 / 172 / 172 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 3 500 Cost: 6 000 175 Suspension Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 120 Brake System Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 120 Filters Research: 4 400 Cost: 7 600 220 Transmission Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 800 280 Engine Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 800 280	Improved Parts Research: 3 500 Cost: 6 000 175 Improved FPE Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 120 Crew Replenishment Research: 4 400 Cost: 7 600 220	Horizontal Drive Research: 3 500 Cost: 6 000 175 Adjustment of Fire Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 120 Airstrike Research: 2 400 Cost: 4 100 120 Elevation Mechanism Research: 4 400 Cost: 7 600 220 Improved optics Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 800 280

Armaments

Main armament

106 mm Recoilless Rifle M40A1C

Ammunition18 rounds

Belt capacity6 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

16.9 → 13.0 s

Fire rate120 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 20°

Horizontal guidance-40° / 40°

The M40 Recoilless Rifle is a somewhat common sight at this BR on specialist vehicles, such as the Japanese Type 60 SPRG (C), American T114 or German SPz 12-3 LGS, and has very peculiar ballistics. While hard to master, with noticeable drop and a somewhat slow muzzle velocity, the shells do fairly good damage on impact and the HEAT shells penetrate a fair bit of armour, making them effective against even tanks such as the IS-4M or Maus, tanks that would normally be quite tough to crack open with conventional ammunition in comparison. With practice, the shells can even be 'lobbed' slightly over obstacles, and can also be fired in proximity of open-top vehicles to overpressure them for an easy kill. The M50 carries 6 M40A1 RRs that fire in sequence from left to right, necessitating some aim correction for each shell you fire.

The turret displacement is limited without being a huge handicap as it allows to cover a wide area (±40°) without having to reposition the hull. As the hull has great acceleration and handling, slightly turning the tank in the case of your turret hitting its limit isn't a big deal and can be done quite quickly. An important aspect to consider is the offset of the guns from the central target sight: at close range its impact is minimal (but still very much should be accounted for when aiming for crew), but becomes noticeable when firing at targets further away. Using the ranging 12.7mm MGs on the Ontos can help you roughly gauge your range to the target as the ballistics on the two guns are roughly similar, but you risk giving yourself away by doing so. This can be remedied through practice, as once your aim is good enough you won't have to use the ranging MGs at all to land your shells, even at longer ranges. Given the 6-gun layout of the Ontos, it is recommended to fire by salvos of 3 shells to guarantee a good balance between rate of fire and accuracy. Like an SPAA belt, you have to fire all 6 rifles before being allowed to start the reloading process. Your ammo capacity of 18 shells total (or 3 belts of 6) is fairly limited in practice, which will impact your combat performance somewhat as you're very likely to have to disengage in order to restock your ammo mid-firefight.

106 mm M40A1C (x6)					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	18	-10°/+20°	±40°	N/A	15.9	21.9	26.6	29.5	31.3	16.90	14.95	13.78	13.00
Realistic					10.7	12.6	15.3	16.9	18.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
M344A1	HEAT	433	433	433	433	433	433
M361A1	HESH	152	152	152	152	152	152

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
M344A1	HEAT	503	7.96	0	0.01	1.65	65°	72°	77°
M361A1	HESH	498	7.95	0.1	4	5.04	73°	77°	80°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M50

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
18	14 (+4)	0 (+18)	No

Note:

• Individual tube reload is not possible. You have to empty all 6 rifles first in order to reload 6 new projectiles.

Additional armament

4 x 12.7 mm M8C machine gun

Ammunition480 rounds

Belt capacity20 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

3.2 → 2.5 s

Fire rate300 shots/min

12.7 mm M80
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	120 (5)	300	N/A	N/A
Coaxial	120 (5)	300	N/A	N/A
Coaxial	120 (5)	300	N/A	N/A
Coaxial	120 (5)	300	N/A	N/A

Machine guns

7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun

Ammunition1 000 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate500 shots/min

The 7.62mm MG on the Ontos was in real life meant to serve as an anti-infantry weapon for self defense; however, as War Thunder is absent of any infantry, against enemy armour the machine gun has lackluster effectiveness. It alongside with the ranging MGs can be used to knock down small bushes or fences to get rid of obstacles for your chemical rounds, and can be used to shoot at exposed crew members on certain vehicles and against enemy aircraft that get too close for comfort, but otherwise lack any real functionality as a means of dealing damage.

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	1,000 (250)	500	-5°/+50°	±70°

Usage in battles

M50 Ontos at the National Museum of the Marine Corps

The M50 is a staple alongside the M56 as well as heavier vehicles such as the T34 and for good reason. While unorthodox in some respects, like its 6-shot gun, it's ultimately still in many ways just a slightly different take on the light tank formula and performs best when played as such, with a few deviations to fit the M50's unique design choices. The first and most obvious difference is again, its 6-shot style gun(s), and the challenges and fun moments that come with this different armament.

The M40A1 RR is not an easy gun to master, and requires a bit of practice compared to other guns. However, its high rate of fire on the M50 enables one or two shells to be expended as ranging shots if need be; if you get lucky or if your aim is true, the first shot will hit, and if not you have 5 more left in the other barrels anyways, after all. You can effectively roleplay as a shotgun with this armament, shooting multiple shells at an enemy before they even have any time to react. However, this much firepower comes at a cost, in the form of the gun's damage model and reload rate. When you fire all six shells from the guns, you have to then spend between 17 and 13 seconds reloading all of your guns again, a hefty period of time during which you are completely vulnerable to enemies. Divided by 6, this adds up to 2-3 seconds of reloading per shell, which is certainly a very good deal, but as you cannot fire until the reload is over if you are on 3 or less shells in a clip it is advised to exercise some caution (or dump your rounds into a nearby rock to start the reload early, but only if you're certain there's nobody nearby, of course!). The other downside is the damage model of the barrels themselves - while the guns rarely if ever cause ammoracking when hit, unlike on other vehicles such as the Japanese Type 60 SPRG (C) the M50's 6 barrels are modelled as a single gun, and if hit will all be knocked out at the same time. This means even a shot that hits the barrel at the very end of either side can completely disable your ability to fire back at an enemy, which in some cases can be a death sentence. It does mean you can survive shots to the barrels themselves if your hull is hidden, but it is still very much worth remembering and make sure to avoid showing your guns if possible at all times to prevent this from happening to begin with.

It is advised to use the HEAT rounds on the M50, as the HESH rounds lack consistency and have no noticeable upsides over the HEAT rounds whatsoever.

Mobility-wise the M50 fares quite well, much like the M56 that precedes it. With a 17+ HP/t ratio in RB once spaded, while the Ontos won't win any speed contests its high HP/t means it gets up to its top speed of 49 km/h fairly quickly and stays there for the majority of your time spent moving around, meaning in practice the vehicle handily outpaces many other vehicles with higher top speeds but poorer acceleration. The reverse is also quite good, at -17 km/h, letting you turn your hull to move your gun or reverse out of a sticky situation quite easily. The M50 can generally expect to be one of the first vehicles (albeit perhaps not the first, given vehicles like the M18 GMC or wheeled light tanks may outpace you on certain maps) to reach advantageous positions, meaning you can lay ambushes effectively before enemy vehicles get into position.

Positioning-wise you want to find a gentle slope, preferably one you can ascend to bear your guns on target without having to expose much of the hull, and hide behind it waiting for an enemy. Of course, you should do more than just camping a corner, actively moving around flank routes and hiding behind hills or rocks and only peeking out once you see that they're looking the other way or are preoccupied. You have more than enough gun depression (-10 degrees, in fact, which is quite good) to use most of the terrain features in the game, so abuse them as much as possible to gain an even greater advantage in battle. Your armour is very poor and you only have two crew members, and as your gun takes a while to stabilise (although firing before it's fully aimed is definitely still an option in emergencies) as long as you avoid direct front-on confrontations with enemies you'll generally fare fine.

The M50's niche is similar to the M56, but is tailored more towards closer range engagements and more survivability against overpressure attacks due to the enclosed hull. While the M56 excels at long range with its M82 APHE round and M431 HEATFS rounds that fly swift and do lethal damage, its lack of any armour, exposed crew and heavy recoil means it's a good sniper but a poor brawler, easily being machine-gunned by enemies when spotted. The Ontos flips this on its head, being noticeably better at short to medium range (up to ~1.2km on the high end, but in general up to 800-1000 meters or so in max engagement range) engagements with its fast-firing guns, turreted design and ability to resist artillery/low-yield rocket fire as it zips between buildings and hills to devastate the enemy flanks in rapid succession. While facing off head-on against enemy vehicles isn't advised, the M50 still handily chews through enemies even in these encounters as it can unload multiple rounds into an enemy and quickly disable or kill them before your enemy even has a chance to react, making it quite fun and also quite effective. It packs a strong punch in a small platform, while being nimble and allows the user to compensate for minor mistakes in aim with its rapid shell unloading times, which gives it a solid spot as a vehicle capable of handling even the harshest uptiers without much hassle and in one of the most common engagement scenarios in the game.

In summary, the M50 is a glass cannon at its prime, with thin armour that stops the bare minimum (overpressure from indirect artillery hits), firepower that can overwhelm even groups of opponents and high general mobility due to its good acceleration characteristics. Not an easy vehicle to master due to its unique playstyle, clip-based ammunition mechanics and peculiar gun ballistics, but it earns its place in the lineup if you need a vehicle that can brawl, deal with uptiers, scout and also be uniquely fun while doing so.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• The vehicle is equipped with no less than six (6) 106mm recoilless rifles!
  • The guns can be fired within 0.5 seconds of each other, allowing quick follow-up shots
  • All shell types available stock
• Highly mobile due to good acceleration
• Highly resistant to uptiers due to its chemical ammunition; versatile at any BR against any vehicle
• Excels in urban combat or flanking due to its numerous guns

Cons:

• Bare minimum protection; Vulnerable to almost any enemy fire
  • Has only 2 crew members - any penetrating shot is most likely fatal
• Surprisingly limited ammunition count - has to reload shells quite often, and requires good marksmanship
  • Somewhat long reload for the clip, and requires all 6 shells to be fired to reload said clip
• Gun ballistics are unintuitive and require a fair bit of practice to get used to
• All 6 guns are disabled if even one gun is hit, unlike its contemporaries
• High skill ceiling - requires good map and game knowledge to use it to its full potential

History

It was such a strange "tank" the only word the US Army could think of for this strange thing was, well, "Thing", except someone was clever and used the Greek word, ὄντος (really, truly [exists]). Due to mountainous and difficult terrain of Korea brought the US Army revisited the idea of a light tank. It was quite an ingenious design made very quickly. The prototype was based on an M56 Scorpion ATG chassis, used a common truck engine, and mounted six very powerful M40A1C recoilless rifle guns and be light enough for air transport. The prototype was finished in 1952 and by 1955 completed its testing where it fulfilled its design requirements, but the Army simply did not like this monstrosity and decided against it. The US Marines on the other hand was not as picky and loved this highly mobile light tank with a huge punch, so ordered 297 in 1955. The design was reworked with a new chassis, new running gear with wide thread (ditching the M56 design), better internal layout, and other minor improvements that made the Ontos a unique one off design. While it had a few flaws, it was reliable enough to accomplish its mission.

The key to the M50's offensive power is the 106 mm M40A1C recoilless rifle firing devastating HEAT or HESH (later an anti-infantry "beehive") rounds with its integrated M8C .50 cal spotting rifle using a 10 or 20 round magazine. It should be noted the M8C is a shorter round (12.7x77 mm, M48A2 Spotter-Tracer (S) bullets only) that the better known .50 AN/M2 BMG (12.7x99 mm). Every M40 produced had the M8C, but on the M50 the lowest 2 barrels have this spotting rifle removed leaving an empty mounting post. If wanted (but not recommended) all 6 guns can be fired at once delivering far more destructive offensive load than any tank then or today. The nature of recoilless rifles is a powerful blow back, during a test firing all 6 simultaneously it knocked bricks out of a building and shattered a few car windows. In between is mounted a single pintle-mounted .30 calibre M1919A4 machine gun for anti-infantry use.

The first combat use of the Ontos occurred in 1964 Dominican Republic Civil War where it reported destroyed an AMX-13 and an old Swedish L-60 (the only time it was used for purpose built, destroying tanks). But it was the following year when it was deployed to Vietnam did it shine.

Vietnam was extremely hostile to tanks not due to enemies but the environment. Jungle, swamp, rice fields, mountains, rivers, a limited road network with small bridges; it was a nightmare for regular tanks but the Ontos could glide over them with ease. Enemy Vietnamese troops rarely used tanks and few anti-tank guns so there was little threat from them, the paper thin armour was more than enough to resist small arms and heavy MG fire most often encountered. The significant vulnerability of reloading the 6 guns was largely moot as the fearsome reputation of this 6 shooter beast often cleared out enemy positions soon after it started shooting. Unfortunately its age was its greatest enemy. Over 10 years old and long out of production breakdowns became more frequent, some were cannibalized for parts and the turrets where mounted to fixed positions as point defence. Despite its unprecedented success in Vietnam its limited numbers, scattered deployment, breakdowns, and frequent rotation, it did not gain as much fame as it could have. More of footnote today, this unusual tank was the perfect vehicle for very difficult conflict.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the M50 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

Most unusual vehicles discusses the M50 at 2:38 - War Thunder Official Channel

Airmobile tanks discusses the M50 at 4:44 - War Thunder Official Channel

See also

Other vehicles of similar configuration and role

• T114
• Type 60 SPRG (C)
• FIAT 6614
• R3 T106 FA

External links

• [Devblog] M50 Ontos - Something Out of The Ordinary

Allis-Chalmers
Tank destroyers	M50 Ontos

USA tank destroyers
M10	M10 GMC
M36	M36 GMC · M36B2
T95	T28 · T95
M109	M109A1
ATGM	LOSAT · M901
Wheeled	M3 GMC · T55E1
Other	M8 HMC · M50 · M56
China	▃LVT(A)(4) (ZIS-2)