76 mm gun M1

76 mm gun M1
An M18 Hellcat armed with a 76 mm gun
Type	Tank gun
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	United States
Wars	World War II Korean War Suez Crisis Six-Day War Yom Kippur War Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Ugandan-Tanzanian War
Production history
Designer	US Ordnance Department
Specifications
Mass	1,141 lb (517.55 kg)
Barrel length	52 calibres
Shell	Fixed QF 76.2×539mm R[citation needed] (R/93mm)
Caliber	76.2 millimetres (3.00 in)

The 76 mm gun M1 was an American World War II–era tank gun developed by the U.S United States Ordnance Department in 1942 to supplement the 75 mm gun on the basic Medium tank M4. It was also used to arm the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer.

Although the gun was tested in early August 1942 and classified on 17 August 1942,^[1] it was not until August 1943^[2] that the Ordnance Department developed a mounting for the M4 tank that the tank forces would accept. It was not accepted for combat until July 1944.^[3] In January 1943, the decision was made to mount the 76 mm on the vehicle that would become the M18.^[4] By May 1944, it was being combat tested as the T70.^[5] Overall the weapon performed poorly against comparable guns of the time and was used as a stopgap until the 90mm entered service.