Monday 18 July 2016

45 mm APCR

"To the Chair of the Committee of Defense, comrade I.V. Stalin

I provide you with the proving grounds results of 45 mm subcaliber armour piercing ammunition designed by Military Engineer 1st Grade Burmistrov.

The best results were obtained with shells using a heavy and hard tungsten alloy core. These shells can achieve the objective of penetrating 60 mm of armour with a coefficient of resistance of at least K=2400 at an angle of 30 degrees from a range of 300-500 meters and effectively improve the power of the 45 mm mod. 1932/37 anti-tank gun.


Shell
Muzzle velocity
Range
Impact angle
Thick-ness
Armour coefficient
Notes
Variant #1
937
500
35
50
2580
All shells penetrated fully.
Variant #2
1016
500
35
50
2580
Penetrations, some hits gave deep dents.
Stock AP
760
500
35
50
2580
Shallow dents.
Variant #1
937
300
34
60
2500
All shells penetrated fully.
Variant #2
1016
300
34
60
2500
Penetrations, some hits gave deep dents.
Stock AP
760
300
34
60
2500
Shallow dents.
Variant #1
937
150
0
90
2300
All shells penetrated fully.
Variant #2
1016
150
0
90
2300
All shells penetrated fully.
Stock AP
760
150
0
90
2300
Shallow dents.

Stock and experimental 45 mm AP shells were also fired at a captured German tank.

Shell
Muzzle velocity
Range
Impact angle
Thick-ness
Armour component
Notes
Variant #1
937
500
10
60
Lower front plate
Complete penetrations. The brake bar behind the armour is destroyed.
Variant #2
1016
500
10
60
Lower front plate
Two complete penetrations, one shell resulted in a deep dent.
Stock
760
500
10
60
Lower front plate
Shallow dent.
15
50
Upper front plate
Shallow dent.
10
30
Turret side
Complete penetration.
The best penetration and effectiveness is achieved by experimental shells of the first variant. Drawbacks of these shells include slightly reduced precision and use of a lot of tungsten in production. Experimental shells of the second variant are less effective than the first type, but have better precision and use half as much tungsten.

Based on the obtained results, I consider it reasonable to put both variants into production and produce 25-30 thousand units of both types in April, and begin mass production in May. Mass production shells should be tested on proving grounds and in battle in order to fully evaluate them.

The decree draft is attached.

Chief of the Red Army GAU, Colonel-General of Artillery, Yakovlev
Military Commissar of the Red Army GAU, Divisonal Commissar Novikov"

3 comments:

  1. Yes it was a copy of the german heat round weapon fitted to the german 37 mm antitank gun. It had a large warhead which made it very effective but was a short range weapon. As usual the Russian's copied german technology such as this and later the panzerfaust and rocket propelled heat round designs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You couldn't even manage to put this comment in the right post. Well played, sir. Well played.

      Delete
    2. "As usual the Russians copied German technology"
      And I guess the G43, 120 mm Granatwerfer, VK3002, etc. never existed eh? Everyone was copying everyone else the moment that foreign technology fell into their hands.

      Also I have an article about the Panzerfaust "copy". It doesn't resemble the Panzerfaust at all, to the point of having a traditional stock and trigger.

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