October 29, 2014

Not Really Effective, but Surprisingly Good

While looking for info on the Ukranian situation I blundered into this, 
 It's an interesting post on penetration tests that the Soviets did matching their 14.5mm anti-tank rifles against captured German tanks. 

 
First is a "heavy tank". I have no idea what it is, aside from that it's German. Here are the results with a 14.5 mm AT rifle:
  • Lower front plate (45 mm at 10 degrees): does not penetrate
  • Turret rear (28-30 mm at 10 degrees): penetrates at 200 meters, 100 meters at a 30 degree angle
  • Turret platform side (28-30 mm): penetrates at over 300 meters, 100 meters at a 30 degree angle
  • Lower hull side (28-30 mm): penetrates at over 400 meters, 100 meters at a 30 degree angle

This is a bit better than I would have thought. 

The performance against what are described as medium and light tanks is correspondingly better. I would not want to face these in a Panzer2 or even some modern APCs, and certainly not in a Humvee.

The"rifles" are beasts of course, with the lighter, single shot version weighing nearly 41 pounds and being 79 inches long. I suppose if one put a bayonet on one it would be a serviceable pike. These were obsolescent later in the war, but it is apparent that they were still quite effective weapons if used well.  I knew these guns were still in use around the world as antimaterial rifles, but the linked post gives a much greater appreciation of how fearsome they can be.






 "That just ain't right!".

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:59 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 262 words, total size 3 kb.

1 They wouldn't be as effective against Chobham armor.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Oct 29 20:13:24 2014 (+rSRq)

2 Well...Yeah. Bur for irregular warfare they can still be used to some effect, and are cheaper to maintain and feed. 

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Oct 29 20:17:24 2014 (DnAJl)

3 The 14.5mm round is still in common use in vehicle machine gun KPV(T).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed Oct 29 22:38:19 2014 (RqRa5)

4 I don't know that I'd want to take the old MN 91/30 out against a tank, even if it is theoretically possible to penetrate the rear turret armor. "Don't shoot it, you'll just make it mad!"

Give me a top-attack-profile guided missile any day. Preferably one with fire-and-forget performance. Pop up, pop off the shot, hit the dirt until the booms stop...

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Oct 30 02:05:32 2014 (ZeBdf)

5 Similar anti-materiel rifles are still being made, in that caliber and 20 mm.  The main one that comes to mind is the Denel NTW-20. It is a beast.

Posted by: Mauser at Thu Oct 30 05:33:26 2014 (TJ7ih)

6 The Barrett Long Rifle has a similar capability. (It fires .50 BMG.) And it's in active use by American snipers.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Oct 30 06:26:27 2014 (+rSRq)

7 Give me a top-attack-profile guided missile any day.

Try to carry more than one.  Leastwise with the AT Rifle, you can fire more than once.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Thu Oct 30 15:16:07 2014 (jGQR+)

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