Guns and Ammo of Soviet Tanks

August 20, 2005
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  37mm Gochkis 37mm B-3 45mm mod. 1932 45mm mod. 1934 76mm guns 107mm ZIS-6 152mm
M-10
PS-3 KT-28 L-10 L-11 F-32 F-34
Caliber 37 45 76.2 106.7 152.4
Barrel monoblock with free tube tied with jacket with tied tube with free tube monoblock ? with free tube
Armour-piercing, mm 1000m range perpendicular angle 10 18.5 37 37 31*1 30 40 50 50 50-60 50-60*2 100
Rate of fire, shots/min 15 15 12 12 10-12 6-7 5 3-4 4
Loading, type unitary separate
Breech-mechanism, type vertical wedge vertical wedge, half-automatic piston, horisontal wedge, half-automatic vertical wedge, half-automatic piston
Recoil brake, type hydraulic Shneider-type hydropneumatic*3 hydraulic   hydraulic
Recoil buffer*, type spring-type   spring-type   spring-type, periscope slide   hydropneumatic   hydraulic
Recoil, mm 60 200 275 245 450 500 450 450 450 390 600 860
Barrel length, calibers 22.7 37.7 46 46 20.6 16.5 23.7 30.5 31 41.5 48.5 25.2
Angles:
Elevation/ Declination

30/8

 30/10 22/6 22/6 30/8 25/5 25/3 25/1.5 27/6 32/5 21/6 12/4.5
Weight of recoil details, kg ? ? 119.4 135.5 337 300 433 437 434 538 1594 1470
Number of grooves 12 12 16 16 24 24 24 32 32 32 40 48
Steepness of grooves, calibers 6 6 25 25 progressive 20 25 25 25 25 20
Max range, m 2000 4000 4400 4400 7100 7100 5600 5600 10000 11200 ? 12390
Muzzle velocity, m/sec
Armour-piercing/ Splinter		 440/440 670/494 550/335 760/335 505/530 381/? 555/560 612/635 613/638 680/? 830/730 436/525
Shell weight, kg
Armour-piercing/ Splinter		 0.5/0.502 0.6/1 1.425/2.15 1.425/2.135 6.5/6.23 6.5/6.23 6.51/6.23 6.51/6.23 6.51/6.23 6.3/6.23 18.8/? 51.07/40
Weight of round, kg
with armour piercing shell / with splinter shell 		0.716/0.684 0.86/1.26 2.4/2.8 9.12/8.86 ? (51.07+3.95)/
(40+3.96)
Length of round, mm
with armour piercing shell / with splinter shell 		167/162 176/184 453/456 453/456 621/671 ? 746.76/609.6*4

Table cited from [1]

 

* - not sure if I correctly translated this artillery term. My dictionary gives only such variant

*1 - 500m

*2 - 1600m

*3 - compressor and burnisher in one unit.

*4 - length of shell

 

  20mm TNSh 45mm mod. 1942 F-32 F-34, ZIS-5 ZIS-S-53 D-5T-85 D-25T ZIS-4
Caliber, mm 20 45 76.2 76.2 85 85 122 57
Mounted on tanks T-60;
T-30;
T-40S 		T-70;
T-80 		KV-1 T-34-76;
KV-1S 		T-34-85;
T-44 		T-34-85;
KV-85;
IS-1		 IS-2;
IS-3		 T-34-57
Muzzle energy, ts*m ? 42 122 145 294 300 806(815) 160
Armour-piercing, mm 1000m distance, perpendicular angle, armour piercing shell 20*1 51 61 61 100 145 89
Rate of fire, rounds/min 200 7-12 5-11 5-10 5-8 6-7 3 6-10
Loading, type automat unitary separate unitary*
Barrel length, calibers 82.4 46 31.5 41.5 51.6 52 48 73
Breech-mechanism, type ? vertical wedge horisontal wedge vertical wedge
Recoil length, mm 185.5*2 230-270 320-370 280-320 270-320 490-550 305-380
Muzzle breake No Yes No*
Max range, m 6800 4800*3 10000 11200 13600 12900 13500 12500
Muzzle velocity:
APCR
Armour piercing
High-explosive splinter 		-/817/800 ?/760/335 950/662/680 -/792/785 -795/781 -/997/700
Shell weight, kg
APCR
Armour piercing
High-explosive splinter 		-/0.096/0.096 ?/1.425/2.135 3.05/6.50/6.23 -/9.20/9.54 -/25/25 -/3.14/?

Table cited from [2]

 

* - inserted by AMVAS;

*1 - up to 400 m;

*2 - moving parts;

*3 - 6000 m for T-80

upFire Maneuverability of Soviet Tanks in Comparison
Model Max. angular velocity of turret rotation, deg./sec Period of full rotation for turret, sec Gun elevation, deg. Gun descent, deg. Turret rotation mechanism
T-34-76 30 12 30 5 electromechanical
T-34-85 20 18 22 5
KV-1 12 30 25 7
IS-1 14.4 25 25 5
IS-2 12 30 19 2
IS-3 12 30 19 2
Pz. IV 10 36 22 8
"Panther" 19.5 18.5 18 8 hydraulic
"Tiger" 11.5 31 15 8
"Tiger II" 18 20 15 8
M3M 21.5 16.7 20 7 electrohydraulic
"Sherman" 22.6 15.9 25 10
Mk III "Valentine" 20 18 18 7.5 electromechanical
Mk II "Matilda" 10.3 35 ? ? hydraulic
"Comet" 24 15 19 12 electromechanical
Mk IV "Churchill" 12 30 ? ?

Table cited from [2]

upArmour Piercing of Soviet Gun Shells
Caliber, mm Type Armor inclination angle Thickness of armour piercing at a distance, m
100 300 500 1000 1500 2000
45 obtuse-type 0 70 65 61 51 42 34
30 57 53 50 41 33 27
APCR 0 88 77 66 40 - -
30 72 63 54 32 - -
57 obtuse-type BR-271, BR-271SP 0 114 108 102 89 77 66
30 93 88 83 72 63 54
sharp-type BR-271K 0 121 111 102 82 64 50
30 98 91 83 66 52 41
APCR BR-271P 0 185 165 146 105 - -
30 128 114 101 73 - -
76 obtuse-type BR-350A, BR-350B 0 75 ? 69 61 54 48
30 61 ? 53 49 44 39
APCR BR-350P 0 132 114 96 53 - -
30 109 92 79 45 - -
85 obtuse-type BR-365 0 119 115 110 100 90 80
30 97 93 90 80 75 65
sharp-type BR-365K 0 126 118 110 95 75 65
30 103 96 90 75 65 50
APCR BR-365P 0 167 152 140 110 85 -
30 124 114 100 80 60 -
122 obtuse-type BR-471B 0 165 160 155 145 135 125
30 135 131 125 120 110 100
sharp-type BR-471 0 164 157 150 130 115 100
30 134 128 120 105 95 80

Table cited from [2]

upArmour Piercing of Soviet Tank Guns
Gun Shell Thickness of armour piercing at a distance, m
500 1000 2000
45mm mod. 1942 BR-240SP 38/31* 35/28 ?
76.2mm F-34 (ZIS-5) BR-350, BR-350B 69/59 61/49 48/44
BR-350SP 92/75 60/49 ?
85mm D-5T-85, ZIS-S-53 BR-365K 110/90 90/75 65/50
BR-365 110/90 100/80 80/65
BR-365P 140/100 110/80 ?
122mm D-25T mod. 1944 BR-471B 150/122 138/113 118/96
BR-471 143/117 126/102 97/79

Table cited from [2]

* - Inclination 0 deg /30 deg.

 

upDistribution of Ammunition in Soviet Tanks
Limits of ammunition per tank ( by requiments of NKTP from Dec. 1'43)
  T-70 T-26 T-34-57 T-34-76 T-34-85 KV-1S IS-1 IS-2
High-explosive 56 78 20 65 - 74 - -
Armour piercing tracer 22 34 40 20 - 20 - -
APCR 12 8 20 5 - 15 - -
Srapnel (case-shot)* - - 10 10 - 5 - -
Actual limits of ammunition per tank (March-May 1944)
High-explosive 52 - 28 67 33 74 35 20
Armour piercing tracer 26 - 44 21 10 30 12 8
APCR 12 - 8 4 - - - -
Srapnel (case-shot)* - - 10 8 8 10 12 -

Table cited from [2]

* - Often high-explosive shells were used instead of those.

Abbreviations

APCR - Armour piercing composite rigid (or subcaliber)

NKTP-Narkomat Tyazheloi Promyslennosti (eqv. Ministry of Heavy Industry)

Literature:
  1. "Otechestvennye bronirovannye mashiny. XX vek" : nauchnoe izdanie v 4-kh tomakh/ Solyankin A.G., Pavlov M.V., Pavlov I.V., Zheltov I.G./ Tom 1.  "Otechestvennye bronirovannye mashiny. 1905-1941" , Moscow, Exprint, 2002
  2. "Otechestvennye bronirovannye mashiny. XX vek" : nauchnoe izdanie v 4-kh tomakh/ Solyankin A.G., Pavlov M.V., Pavlov I.V., Zheltov I.G./ Tom 2.  "Otechestvennye bronirovannye mashiny. 1941-1945" , Moscow, Exprint, 2005
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