There are three modifications of grenade launcher shots. The original and already obsolete type VOG-17 with an instant fuse. The subsequent modification, VOG-17M, differs from the previous one in that the fuse is equipped with a self-destruct device. The self-liquidator mechanism is driven by overloads when fired.
For firing from automatic grenade launchers, 40x53-mm shots are used with an initial speed of grenades of more than 240 m / s. The effective range of these grenades is 2000-2200 m. An important feature of foreign ammunition for anti-personnel grenade launchers is their variety.
Great experience patriotic war 1941-1945 showed the need for mass production of cartridges. In one of his speeches, J.V. Stalin said that only in 1944. Soviet Union produced 7 billion 400 million cartridges.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of gas cartridges is carried out experimentally in order to determine the concentration of the tear substance at various distances. For this, sampling tubes of a special design are used, in which a packet of filtering and sorbing material is placed.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of traumatic cartridges is carried out according to the following methods:
- by specific kinetic energy, which should not exceed 0.5 J / mm2;
- by imprint in ballistic plasticine;
- by hydrostatic pressure, which should not exceed 50 MPa.
The enemy can use various means of protection against defeat: building structures, car bodies, personal body armor (NIB). When hitting an obstacle, the bullets are deformed.
Armor-piercing bullets provide the greatest penetration depth.
The tasks of the experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of the lethal (damaging) action of cartridges are to assess the behavior of the bullet regardless of the place of hit and the trajectory of the bullet in the body, correlating with the real results of the use of cartridges.
In the 80s. XX century National legal institute The United States has developed a mathematical model that allows using a computer to obtain the Relative Incapacitation Index (RII) for various ammunition.
The effectiveness of a cartridge is determined by the probability of incapacitation of manpower or other targets when fired from a weapon and depends on the probability of hitting the target, lethal, stopping and penetrating action of the bullet. The determination of the probability of hitting a target is described in sufficient detail in the special literature.
It is common knowledge that a shot from firearms accompanied by a loud sound, which, along with the muzzle flame, is the main unmasking factor for the sniper, indicating the direction of the shot and warning the enemy about the threat.
The system of small arms that Russia inherited from the USSR was focused on the concept of a global conflict with the use of large human and material resources. However, the experience of local wars in the second half of the 20th century showed the need to increase the range of fire of sniper weapons with the probability of hitting a target "running figure" at a distance of 1500 m. In this regard, sniper rifles were developed chambered for .50 Browning and the domestic cartridge 12.7 × 108 mm ...
The main domestic rifle cartridge is the 7.62 × 54 mm cartridge of the 1908/30 model, which was the basis for the creation of a family of sniper rifles SVD and other designs of weapons (Fig. 1). Specially for sniper rifles were developed 2 types of cartridges: "sniper" 7N1 and the so-called "with bullets with a silver nose" 57-N-323C.
The main cartridges used for sniper shooting of foreign armies and special services are: 5.56 × 45-mm NATO cartridge (.223 Remington),. 243 Winchester, 7-mm Remington Magnum, 7.5 × 54-mm, .300 Winchester Magnum, 7.62x51mm NATO, .338 Lapua Magnum, .50 Browning.
Cartridge. 243 Winchester (Fig. 1, a) is a typical hunting ammunition, which has insignificant recoil in comparison with ammunition of a larger caliber and, accordingly, provides better accuracy.
Shooting farther and more accurately is one of the priorities in the development of small arms and ammunition. As soon as one of the belligerents achieved an increase in the capabilities of one or another type of small arms, the other side immediately suffered additional losses and was forced to change the tactics of its troops.
Gas cartridges are mainly used in civilian weapons due to their sufficient effectiveness in riot control. They are equipped with irritants - substances that cause a temporary loss of a person's ability to conduct active actions due to irritation of the mucous surfaces of the eyes, upper respiratory tract, as well as moist skin.
Small-caliber pistol cartridges developed for use in PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) weapons can be distinguished into a separate group. They are characterized by a caliber of 4.4 ... 5.8 mm, a low bullet mass, an initial bullet velocity of more than 700 m / s, a bottle sleeve, and a relatively high penetration effect for pistol cartridges.
In the early 1980s. relatively light body armor of varying degrees of protection appeared. So, for example, the 1st class body armor provides protection from bullets of cartridges 57-N-181 C (for the PM pistol) and 57-N-111 (for the revolver "Nagant"), and the 2nd class of protection against bullets of the cartridge 7N7 (for the PSM pistol) and 57-11-134 C (for the TT pistol). And although the body armor covers 25-30% of the human body, it significantly increased the survival rate in combat conditions.
The 9-mm "Parabellum" cartridge, adopted by Germany on August 22, 1908, is still in service with the armies of most countries of the world. To a large extent, such a long life of the patron is due to the fact that he was constantly improving.
In 1936 the German company Gustav Genschow & Co created the 9mm Ultra cartridge for the Walther PP pistol. The 9-mm "Kurz" cartridge was adopted as a basis with an extension of the sleeve from 17 to 18.5 mm. The cartridge was produced until the end of World War II.
The "father" of modern pistol cartridges is considered to be Hugo Borchardt, chief engineer of the German arms company Ludwig Leve & Co, who in 1893 developed a cartridge 7.65 × 25 (caliber × length of the case) with a bottle sleeve for his self-loading pistol , a groove instead of a rim and a shell bullet.
The pistol was not accepted for service, and Borchard did not continue to refine his pistol and cartridge.
Bullets of pistol cartridges are subdivided into shellless (solid), shell, semi-shell (with an open nose), expansive (with a cavity in the head), and armor-piercing. In the United States and Western countries, abbreviations are used to denote design features. The most common abbreviations are shown in the table
According to the forensic requirements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the minimum energy criterion for human susceptibility is the specific kinetic energy of 0.5 J / mm².
The mass of the bullet is of great importance. The lighter the bullet, the faster it loses its kinetic energy, the more difficult it is to keep it within the limits of the permissible traumatic effect at an acceptable firing range. As a result, it is necessary to significantly overestimate the initial energy, introducing restrictions on the minimum allowable distance for the use of weapons, which is not always possible to withstand.
The predecessor of these ammunition is the 7.62 mm Reduced Velocity (US) cartridge, created in the early 60s. for use in an AKM assault rifle equipped with a silent and flameless firing device (PBS).
The SP-5 and SP-6 cartridges of 9 mm caliber were created according to the same principle in the mid-80s. Zabelin, L. Dvoryaninova and Yu.Z. Frolov at TsNIITOCHMASH on the basis of a 7.62-mm cartridge case mod. 1943 Leaving its shape, length and capsule unchanged, the designers changed the muzzle of the case - for attaching a 9-mm bullet, and a powder charge - for communicating a bullet weighing about 16 g with an initial velocity of 280-295 m / s. They are used for shooting from the 9-mm VSK-94 sniper rifle, the AK-9 Kalashnikov assault rifle, and the special "Val" assault rifle.
The first thing to understand for yourself is that traumatic weapon this is far from combat and not even service, although it can be performed on its basis. In other words, one should not expect miracles from a traumatic pistol, since when it was created, I am more than sure that the main requirement for any model was to make the probability of inflicting serious injuries that can lead to death to a minimum. Nevertheless, do not underestimate the trauma, considering it a child's toy, with which a share of self-indulgence is acceptable. This is the same weapon, it can also kill under certain conditions, not guaranteed, of course, but it can.
Often, in modern conditions, the outcome of fire contact will depend not only on the skill of the shooter, his weapon, but also on the ammunition that is used.
The purpose of the cartridge depends on the type of bullet it is loaded with. There are many bullets today different types with a wide variety of degrees damaging effect- from non-lethal to armor-piercing. The main meaning of these differences is beyond the barrier (defeat of manpower protected by armor) or stopping action (deceleration of the bullet at the target and full transfer of momentum). The stopping effect suggests an increased traumatic effect.
It was developed by B.V. Semin. When designing the cartridge, the sleeve from the TT cartridge 7.62x25 mm was taken as a basis, "cut" at the level of 18 mm from the bottom. This decision made it possible, on the one hand, to use machine tools and measuring equipment for TT cartridges, and on the other hand, excluded the possibility of using new cartridges for Soviet weapons that remained in the hands of the population after the war.
I I - the period until 1941
In December 1917, the Council of People's Commissars announced the demobilization of military factories, but by this time the production of ammunition in the country had practically ceased. By 1918, all the main stocks of weapons and ammunition left over from the World War were already exhausted. However, by the beginning of 1919, only the Tula Cartridge Plant remained operational. Lugansk cartridge in 1918 was initially captured by the Germans, then was occupied by the White Guard army of Krasnov.
For the newly created plant in Taganrog, the White Guards took from the Lugansk plant 4 machines from each development, 500 poods of gunpowder, non-ferrous metals, as well as part of the finished cartridges.
So ataman Krasnov resumed production at RUSSIAN - BALTIC plant Rus.-Balt. acc. Society of shipbuilding and mechanical plants. (Founded in 1913 in Revel, in 1915 evacuated to Taganrog, in Soviet time Taganrog Combine Plant.) And by November 1918, the productivity of this plant had increased to 300,000 rifle cartridges per day (Kakurin N. Ye. "How the Revolution Fought")
“On January 3 (1919), the Allies saw the already revived and put into operation the Russian-Baltic plant in Taganrog, where they made casings, cast bullets, inserted them into a cupronickel shell, filled the cartridges with gunpowder - in a word, the plant was already in full swing. (Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov "The Great Don Host") Krasnodar Territory and in the Urals they find shells marked D.Z.
Most likely, this marking means "Donskoy Zavod" in Taganrog
Simbirsky under construction was under the threat of capture. In the spring of 1918. the evacuation of the St. Petersburg cartridge plant to Simbirsk began. In July 1919, about 1,500 workers from Petrograd arrived in Simbirsk to establish the production of cartridges.
In 1919 the plant began to manufacture products, and in 1922 the Ulyanovsk plant was renamed into the “Plant named after Volodarsky”.
In addition, the Soviet government is building a new cartridge factory in Podolsk. Part of the shell plant located in the premises of the former Singer plant was taken under it. Remains of equipment from Petrograd were sent there. In the fall of 1919, the Podolsk plant began to rework foreign cartridges, and in November 1920, the first batch of rifle cartridges was produced.
Since 1924 the production of cartridges is carried out by the State Association "Main Directorate of the USSR Military Industry", which includes Tula, Lugansk, Podolsk, Ulyanovsk factories.
Since 1928, cartridge factories, in addition to Tula, received numbers: Ulyanovsk - 3, Podolsk - 17, Lugansk - 60. (But Ulyanovsk retained its ZV marking until 1941)
Since 1934, new shops were built to the south of Podolsk. Soon they began to be called the Novopodolsk plant, and since 1940 the Klimovsk plant № 188.
In 1939 cartridge factories were reassigned to the 3rd GU of the People's Commissariat of Armaments. It includes the following factories: Ulyanovsk # 3, Podolsk # 17, Tula # 38, Experienced patr. plant (Maryina grove, Moscow) No. 44, Kuntsevsky (Red equipment) No. 46, Lugansky No. 60 and Klimovsky No. 188.
Marking of Soviet-made cartridges remains mainly with a protruding imprint.
At the top - the number or name of the plant, at the bottom - the year of manufacture.
The patrons of the Tula plant in 1919-20. the quarter is indicated, possibly in 1923-24. only the last digit of the year of manufacture is indicated, and the Lugansk plant in 1920-1927. indicates the period (1,2,3) in which they were made. The Ulyanovsk plant in 1919-30 puts the name of the plant (C, U, ZV) at the bottom.
In 1930, the spherical bottom of the liner was replaced with a flat one with a chamfer. The replacement was caused by problems that arose when firing from the Maxim machine gun. The protruding markings are located along the edge of the case bottom. And only in the 1970s, sleeves began to be marked with an extruded impression on a flat surface closer to the center.
Marking |
Start marking |
End of marking |
||
Klimovsky plant |
||||
Kuntsevo plant |
Produced cartridges for ShKAS and with special bullets T-46, ZB-46 |
*Note. The table is not complete, there may be other options
Cases of the Lugansk plant with additional designations + are very rare. Most likely, these are technological designations and cartridges were intended only for test firing.
There is an opinion that in 1928-1936 the Penza plant produced cartridges with markings number 50, but it is more likely that this is an indistinct mark number 60
Perhaps at the end of the thirties, the release of cartridges or casings was carried out at the Moscow "Shot Foundry" No. 58, which then produced tail cartridges for mortar mines.
In 1940-41 in Novosibirsk, plant No. 179 NKB (People's Commissariat of Ammunition) produced rifle cartridges.
The sleeve for the ShKAS machine gun, in contrast to an ordinary rifle sleeve, has, in addition to the plant number and the year of manufacture, an additional stamp - the letter "Ш".
Cartridges with a ShKAS sleeve, having a red primer color, were used for firing only from synchronous aircraft machine guns.
R. Chumak K. Soloviev Cartridges for a super machine gun. Magazine "Kalashnikov" No. 1 2001
Notes:
Finland, which used the Mosin rifle, produced and also purchased from the USA and other countries, cartridges 7.62x54, which are found on the battlefield Soviet-Finnish War 1939 and the Second World War. Presumably, pre-revolutionary Russian-made cartridges were also used.
Suomen Ampuma Tarvetehdas OY (SAT), Riihimaki, Finland (1922-26) |
|
In the 1920s and 30s, the United States used Mosin rifles left over from the Russian order for training purposes and sold them for private use, releasing cartridges for this. Deliveries were made to Finland in 1940
(UMC- Union Metallic Cartridge Co.ToRemington Co.) |
|
WinchesterRepeating Arms Co., Bridgeport, CT |
|
Germany during World War I used a captured Mosin rifle to arm auxiliary and rear units.
It is possible that, initially, German cartridges were produced without marking, but there will probably be no reliable information about this. |
|
Deutsche Waffen-u. Munitionsfabriken A.-G., Fruher Lorenz, Karlsruhe, Germany |
Spain in the period civil war received a large number of various, mostly outdated, weapons from the USSR. Including the Mosin rifle. The production of cartridges was established. It is possible that in the beginning Soviet-made cartridge cases were used, which were reloaded and new markings were applied to them.
Fabrica Nacional de Toledo. Spain |
The British company Kynoch supplied cartridges to Finland and Estonia. According to the data providedGOST from "P.Labbett &F.A.Brown.Foreignrifle-caliberammunition manufactured in Britain.London, 1994., "Kynoch signed contracts for the supply of 7.62x54 cartridges:
1929 Estonia (with tracer bullet)
1932 Estonia (with a heavy bullet weighing 12.12 grams.)
1938 Estonia (with tracer bullet)
1929 Finland (with tracer bullet, armor-piercing bullet)
1939 Finland (with tracer bullet)
The cartridge 7.62x54 was produced in the 20-40s and in other countries for commercial purposes:
ARS -it is unlikely that thisA. RsAtelierdeConstuctiondeRennes, Rennes, France, since the cartridges of this company areRS, most likely equipped in Estonia with the participation of Finland |
|
FNC- (Fabrica Nacional de Cartuchos, Santa Fe), Mexico |
|
FN- (Fabrique Nationale d "Armes de Guerre, Herstal) Belgium, |
|
Pumitra Voina Anonima, Romania |
It is possible that some of the above-mentioned foreign ammunition could have ended up in Soviet warehouses in small quantities as a result of the annexation of western territories and the Finnish War, and were most likely used by parts of the "people's militia" in the initial period of the Second World War. Also, nowadays, they are often found during archaeological research of places of war of the Second World War in Soviet positions, casings and cartridges made in the USA and England by order of Russia for 1 world war... The order was not completed in full on time, and already during the Civil War it was supplied to the White Army. After the end of the civil war, the remnants of these ammunition settled in warehouses, probably used by the security units and OSOAVIAKHIM, but turned out to be in demand with the beginning of the Second World War.
Sometimes found on the battlefield casings of a 7.7mm British rifle cartridge (.303 British), which are mistaken for 7.62x54R ammunition. These cartridges were used, in particular, by the armies of the Baltic states and in 1940 were used for the Red Army. Near Leningrad there are such cartridges with the marking V- Riga plant "Vairogs" (VAIROGS, formerly Sellier & Bellot)
.
Later, such cartridges of English and Canadian production came under Lend-Lease.
I I I - period 1942-1945
In 1941, all factories, except for Ulyanovsk, were partially or completely evacuated, and the old numbers of the factories were retained in a new location. For example, the Barnaul plant, transported from Podolsk, produced its first products on November 24, 1941. Some factories were re-created. The numbering of all cartridge productions is given., since there is no exact data on the range of products they produce.
Marking with |
Plant location |
Marking with |
Plant location |
New Lyalya |
|||
Sverdlovsk |
Chelyabinsk |
||
Novosibirsk |
According to B. Davydov, rifle cartridges were produced at factories during the war. 17 ,38 (1943), 44 (1941-42),46 ,60 ,179 (1940-41),188 ,304 (1942),529 ,539 (1942-43),540 ,541 (1942-43), 543 ,544 ,545 ,710 (1942-43),711 (1942).
When restored in 1942-1944, the factories received new designations.
This stigma is probably the product manufactured by the Podolsk plant during the period when its work was resumed.
There may be other designations as well. For example, No. 10 in 1944 (found on TT cartridges), but the location of the production is unknown, perhaps it is the Perm plant or the badly read brand of the Podolsk plant.
Since 1944, it is possible to designate the month of production of the cartridge.
For example, a 1946 training cartridge has such markings.
IV - Post-war period
In the post-war years in the USSR, the factories in Klimovsk-No.711, Tula-No.539, Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) -No.270, Ulyanovsk-No.3, Yuryuzani-No.38, Novosibirsk-No.188, Barnaul-No.17 and Frunze remained in ammunition production. -№60.
Rifle cartridge markings from this period of production remain mostly with a protruding imprint. At the top - the plant number, at the bottom - the year of manufacture.
In 1952-1956, the following designations are used to indicate the year of manufacture:
D = 1952, D = 1953, E = 1954, H = 1955, K = 1956.
After the Second World War, a cartridge of 7.62 caliber was also produced in the Warsaw Pact countries, China, Iraq and Egypt, and other countries .. Possible designations
Czechoslovakia |
aymbxnzv |
Bulgaria |
|
Hungary |
|
Poland |
|
Yugoslavia |
P P U |
31 51 61 71 321 671 (usually the code is at the top, but the code 31 can be at the bottom) |
|
|
|
This cartridge is still produced at Russian factories in combat and hunting performance.
Modern names and some of the options for commercial markings on Russian cartridges since 1990
Designs, characteristics of various bullets for cartridges of 7.62 caliber are quite well represented in modern literature on weapons and therefore only color designations of bullets are given according to the "Handbook of cartridges ..." 1946.
Light bullet L model 1908 |
|
Heavy bullet D arr. 1930, the tip is painted yellow for a length of 5 mm |
|
Armor-piercing bullet B-30 mod. 1930 |
|
Armor-piercing incendiary bullet B-32 mod. 1932 the tip is painted black for a length of 5 mm with a red bordering stripe |
|
Sighting and incendiary bullet PZ arr. 1935. the tip is colored red for a length of 5 mm |
|
T-30 tracer bullet mod. 1930 and T-46 mod. 1938 The top is colored green for a length of 5 mm. |
Most of the above information is provided by the director of the Museum of History and Local Lore of the Lomonosov District of the Leningrad Region
Vladimir Andreevich Golovatyuk
, for many years dealing with the history of small arms, ammunition.
The museum has collected a lot of materials and exhibits on the history of the region, military operations on the territory of the region during the Second World War. Excursions are regularly held for schoolchildren and everyone.
T
Museum phone 8 812 423 05 66
In addition, here is the information I have on rifle cartridges of an earlier period:
Rifle cartridge for Krnka, Baranov
Produced at the St. Petersburg plant (and some workshops without designations)
Probably L is the name of the Foundry Workshop of St. Petersburg.
Probably VGO - Vasileostrovsky cartridge case department of the St. Petersburg cartridge plant.
The designation for the third of the year of manufacture appears
Petersburg plant
Unfortunately, I have no information on the designations before 1880, most likely the letter B denotes the Vasileostrovsky cartridge case department of the St. Petersburg cartridge plant, and the upper sign is the name of the brass manufacturer.
Manufactured by Keller & Co., Hirtenberg Austria, probably commissioned by Bulgaria for the Serbo-Bulgarian War.
Any beginner, or already an experienced search engine, knows how often cartridges or cartridges come across from the time of the Second World War. But in addition to casings, or cartridges, there are even more dangerous finds. This is what we will talk about and about safety in the hunt.
During my 3 years of searching activity, I dug out more than a hundred shells of various calibers. Starting from conventional cartridges, ending with 250 mm aerial bombs. In my hands have been visited, F1 grenades with pulled out rings, mortar mines that did not explode, etc. My limbs are still intact due to the fact that I know how to behave correctly with them.
Let's talk about the cartridge right away. Patron is the most frequent and widespread find, found absolutely everywhere, in any field, farm, forest, etc. A mutilated or not fired cartridge is safe as long as you do not throw it into the fire. Then it will work anyway. Therefore, this is not worth doing.
Further more dangerous finds, which are also very often found and raised by our fellow search engines. These are RGD-33, F1, M-39, M-24 grenades and more rare varieties. Of course, with such things, you need to be more careful. If the check or fuse of the grenade is intact, then you can easily pick it up and drown it in the nearest lake. If, however, the check was pulled out of the grenade and it did not work, which happens very often. And you accidentally stumbled upon such a find with a shovel, it is better to bypass it and call the Ministry of Emergencies. But, as a rule, they will ignore your challenge and say you shouldn't go to such places.
Very often mortar mines come across in the field of hostilities. They are less dangerous than grenades, but you also need to be more careful with such a find, especially if the mine did not work.
Up mine, this is her dangerous place... There is a fuse, when a mine was fired from a mortar, flying out of the barrel, it flew down with a fuse, and hitting the ground the same fuse was triggered. But, if the mine hit a swamp or very soft ground, it might not work. Therefore, if you find something similar to this projectile in the ground, be careful with the top of the mine.
Of course, you can transport it and bring it to the nearest body of water to drown it. But you need to be careful. And do not drop or hit it with a shovel.
And of course, larger shells, these are high-explosive fragmentation shells, which are better not to touch because of their size and volume of the affected area. If you can tell by the copper strap whether it's fired or not. If he is not fired, then he can be carried into the river and drowned, and if he is fired and for some reason did not work. It is better not to touch or move it.
The photo shows a 125 mm caliber projectile:
In general, the shells are not as dangerous as everyone talks about them. Observing elementary safety techniques, and those short rules that you met in this article, you will protect yourself from dangerous finds, and you can safely engage in excavations without fear of explosions.
And by the way, do not forget about the law of Art. 263 of the Criminal Code "illegal possession of ammunition and weapons", this can include even a small cartridge.
The cumulative effect of a directional explosion became known as early as the 19th century, shortly after the mass production of high explosives began. The first scientific work on this issue was published in 1915 in Great Britain.
This effect is achieved by shaping explosive charges. Usually for this purpose, charges are made with a recess in the part opposite to its detonator. When an explosion is initiated, a converging flow of detonation products is formed into a high-speed cumulative jet, and the cumulative effect increases when the recess is lined with a metal layer (1-2 mm thick). The speed of the metal jet reaches 10 km / s. Compared to the expanding detonation products of conventional charges in the converging flow of shaped charge products, the pressure and density of matter and energy are much higher, which ensures the directed action of the explosion and a high penetrating force of the shaped jet.
When the conical shell collapses, the velocities of individual parts of the jet turn out to be somewhat different; as a result, the jet is stretched in flight. Therefore, a slight increase in the gap between the charge and the target increases the penetration depth due to the elongation of the jet. The thickness of armor pierced by HEAT shells does not depend on the firing range and is approximately equal to their caliber. At significant distances between the charge and the target, the jet breaks into pieces, and the penetration effect is reduced.
In the 30s of the XX century, there was a massive saturation of troops and armored vehicles. In addition to the traditional means of dealing with them, in the pre-war period, cumulative projectiles were being developed in some countries.
It was especially tempting that the armor penetration of such ammunition did not depend on the speed of meeting the armor. This made it possible to successfully use them to destroy tanks in artillery systems that were not originally intended for this, as well as create highly effective anti-tank mines and grenades. Germany advanced the most in the creation of cumulative anti-tank ammunition; by the time of the attack on the USSR, cumulative artillery shells of 75-105-mm caliber were created and adopted there.
Unfortunately, in the Soviet Union before the war, this direction was not given due attention. In our country, the improvement of anti-tank weapons went by increasing the calibers of anti-tank guns and increasing the initial speeds of armor-piercing shells. For the sake of fairness, it should be said that in the USSR at the end of the 30s, an experimental batch of 76-mm cumulative shells was fired and tested by firing. During the tests, it turned out that cumulative projectiles equipped with standard fuses from fragmentation shells, as a rule, do not penetrate armor and give ricochets. Obviously, the matter was in the fuses, but the military, who already did not show much interest in such projectiles, after unsuccessful firing, finally abandoned them.
At the same time, a significant number of Kurchevsky's recoilless (dynamo-reactive) guns were manufactured in the USSR.
Kurchevsky's 76-mm recoilless gun mounted on a truck chassis
The advantage of such systems is their low weight and lower cost in comparison with the "classic" tools. Recoilless systems in combination with cumulative shells could quite successfully prove themselves as anti-tank shells.
With the outbreak of hostilities, reports began to arrive from the fronts that German artillery was using previously unknown so-called "armor-burning" shells that effectively hit tanks. When inspecting the destroyed tanks, they paid attention to characteristic appearance holes with melted edges. At first, a version was expressed that unknown shells used "fast-burning termite", accelerated by powder gases. However, experimentally, this assumption was soon refuted. It was found that the processes of combustion of thermite incendiary compounds and the interaction of a jet of slags with the metal of the tank's armor proceed too slowly and cannot be realized in a very short time of penetrating the armor by a projectile. At that time, samples of the "armor-burning" shells captured from the Germans were delivered from the front. It turned out that their design is based on the use of the cumulative explosion effect.
At the beginning of 1942, the designers M.Ya. Vasiliev, Z. V. Vladimirova and N.S. Zhitkikh designed a 76-mm cumulative projectile with a conical cumulative recess, lined with a steel shell. The body of an artillery shell with bottom equipment was used, the chamber of which was additionally bored into a cone at its head. A powerful explosive was used in the projectile - an alloy of TNT with RDX. The bottom hole and plug were used to install an additional detonator and a beam detonator capsule. A big problem was the lack of a suitable fuse in production. After a series of experiments, the AM-6 instantaneous aviation fuse was chosen.
Cumulative shells, which had an armor penetration of about 70-75 mm, appeared in the ammunition load of regimental guns since 1943, and were mass-produced throughout the war.
Regimental 76-mm gun mod. 1927 g.
The industry supplied the front with about 1.1 million 76-mm cumulative anti-tank shells. Unfortunately, it was forbidden to use them in tank and divisional 76-mm guns due to the unreliable operation of the fuse and the danger of an explosion in the barrel. Fuses for cumulative artillery projectiles, satisfying safety requirements when firing from long-barreled guns, were created only at the end of 1944.
In 1942, a group of designers including I.P. Dzyuba, N.P. Kazeykina, I.P. Kucherenko, V. Ya. Matyushkin and A.A. Greenberg developed cumulative anti-tank rounds for 122-mm howitzers.
The 122-mm cumulative projectile for the 1938 model howitzer had a steel cast iron body, was equipped with an effective RDX-based explosive and a powerful PETN detonator. The 122-mm cumulative projectile was completed with a V-229 instant fuse, which was developed in a very short time at TsKB-22, led by A.Ya. Karpov.
122 mm howitzer M-30 mod. 1938 g.
The shell was put into service, put into mass production at the beginning of 1943, and managed to take part in the Battle of Kursk. Until the end of the war, more than 100 thousand 122-mm HEAT shells were produced. The round pierced armor up to 150 mm thick along the normal, ensuring the defeat of the heavy German tanks "Tiger" and "Panther". However, the effective range of howitzers at maneuvering tanks was suicidal - 400 meters.
The creation of cumulative projectiles opened up great opportunities for use artillery pieces with relatively low initial velocities - 76-mm regimental guns of the samples of 1927 and 1943. and 122-mm howitzers of the 1938 model, which were in large numbers in the army. The presence of cumulative shells in the ammunition load of these guns significantly increased the effectiveness of their anti-tank fire. This significantly strengthened the anti-tank defense of the Soviet rifle divisions.
One of the main tasks of the Il-2 armored attack aircraft, which was put into service at the beginning of 1941, was the fight against armored vehicles.
However, the cannon armament available to attack aircraft made it possible to effectively hit only lightly armored vehicles.
Reactive 82-132-mm projectiles did not have the required firing accuracy. Nevertheless, cumulative RBSK-82s were developed for armament of the Il-2 in 1942.
The head of the RBSK-82 rocket consisted of a steel cylinder with a wall thickness of 8 mm. A cone of sheet iron was rolled into the front of the cylinder, creating a notch in the explosive that was poured into the cylinder of the projectile head. A tube ran along the center of the cylinder, which served "to transmit a beam of fire from the piercing cap to the TAT-1 detonator cap". The shells were tested in two versions of explosive equipment: TNT and alloy 70/30 (TNT with RDX). Shells with TNT had a point for the AM-A fuse, and shells with 70/30 alloy had an M-50 fuse. The fuses had an APUV-type blast capsule. The missile part of the RBSK-82 is standard, from the M-8 rocket shells filled with pyroxylin powder.
In total, during the tests, 40 pieces of RBSK-82 were consumed, of which 18 were fired in the air, the rest were on the ground. Trophy german tanks Pz. III, StuG III and Czech tank Pz.38 (t) with enhanced armor. Shooting in the air was carried out at the StuG III tank from a dive at an angle of 30 ° with volleys of 2-4 shells in one run. The firing distance is 200 m. The shells showed good stability on the flight path, but they did not manage to get a single fall into the tank.
The RBSK-82 cumulative-action reactive armor-piercing projectile, equipped with an alloy 70/30, penetrated 30 mm thick armor at any meeting angles, and penetrated 50 mm thick armor at a right angle, but did not penetrate at a 30 ° meeting angle. Apparently, the low armor penetration is a consequence of the delay in the detonation of the fuse "from a rebound and the cumulative jet is formed with a deformed cone."
RBSK-82 shells in TNT equipment pierced armor with a thickness of 30 mm only at meeting angles of at least 30 °, and armor of 50 mm was not pierced under any impact conditions. The holes obtained during the through penetration of the armor had a diameter of up to 35 mm. In most cases, the penetration of the armor was accompanied by the spalling of metal around the outlet.
Cumulative RSs were not adopted for service due to the lack of a clear advantage over standard missiles. There was already something new on the way, much more strong weapon- PTABs.
The priority in the development of small cumulative aerial bombs belongs to domestic scientists and designers. In the middle of 1942, the well-known developer of fuses I.A. Larionov, proposed the design of a light anti-tank bomb of cumulative action. The Air Force Command showed interest in the implementation of the proposal. TsKB-22 quickly carried out design work and tests of the new bomb began at the end of 1942. The final version was PTAB-2.5-1.5, i.e. a cumulative anti-tank aviation bomb weighing 1.5 kg in the dimensions of a 2.5-kg aviation fragmentation bomb. GKO urgently decided to adopt PTAB-2.5-1.5 and organize its mass production.
For the first PTAB-2.5-1.5, housings and riveted pinnacle-cylindrical stabilizers were made of 0.6 mm thick sheet steel. To increase the fragmentation effect, a steel 1.5-mm shirt was additionally put on the cylindrical part of the bomb. The combat charge of the PTAB consisted of a composite BB of the TGA type, equipped through a bottom goggle. To protect the AD-A fuse impeller from spontaneous folding, a special fuse was put on the bomb stabilizer from a square-shaped tin plate with a plug of two wire whiskers attached to it, passing between the blades. After dropping the PTAB from the plane, it was blown off the bomb by the oncoming air flow.
When it hit the tank's armor, a fuse was triggered, which, through a tetril detonator bombs, caused the detonation of the explosive charge. During detonation of the charge, due to the presence of a cumulative funnel and a metal cone in it, a cumulative jet was created, which, as shown by field tests, pierced armor up to 60 mm thick at an angle of meeting 30 ° with subsequent destructive action behind the armor: defeat of the tank crew, initiation of ammunition detonation , as well as ignition of fuel or its vapors.
The bomb charge of the Il-2 aircraft included up to 192 PTAB-2.5-1.5 bombs in 4 clusters of small bombs (48 pieces in each) or up to 220 pieces with their rational bulk placement in 4 bomb compartments.
The adoption of PTAB for some time was kept secret, their use without the permission of the high command was prohibited. This made it possible to use the effect of surprise and effectively use new weapons in the battle of Kursk.
The massive use of PTAB had a stunning effect of tactical surprise and had a strong moral impact on the enemy. German tankers, however, like Soviet ones, by the third year of the war were already accustomed to the relatively low effectiveness of bombing strikes. On initial stage battles, the Germans did not use dispersed marching and pre-battle formations at all, that is, on the routes of movement as part of columns, in places of concentration and at initial positions, for which they were severely punished - the flight path of PTAB blocked 2-3 tanks, separated from one another by 60 -75 m, as a result of which the latter suffered significant losses, even in the absence of the massive use of IL-2. One IL-2 from a height of 75-100 meters could cover an area of 15x75 meters, destroying all enemy equipment on it.
On average, during the war, irrecoverable losses of tanks from aviation actions did not exceed 5%; after the use of PTAB in certain sectors of the front, this figure exceeded 20%.
Having recovered from the shock, the German tankers soon switched exclusively to dispersed marching and pre-battle formations. Naturally, this greatly complicated the control of tank units and subunits, increased the time for their deployment, concentration and redeployment, and complicated interaction between them. In the parking lots, German tankers began to place their vehicles under trees, light mesh sheds and install light metal nets over the roof of the tower and hull. The effectiveness of Il-2 strikes with the use of PTAB decreased by about 4-4.5 times, nevertheless remaining, on average, 2-3 times higher than with the use of high-explosive and high-explosive bombs.
In 1944, a more powerful anti-tank bomb PTAB-10-2.5, in the dimensions of a 10-kg aerial bomb, was adopted. It provided penetration of armor up to 160 mm thick. According to the principle of operation and the purpose of the main units and elements, PTAB-10-2.5 was similar to PTAB-2.5-1.5 and differed from it only in shape and dimensions.
In service with the Red Army in the 1920s-1930s, there was a muzzle-loading "Dyakonov grenade launcher", created at the end of the First World War and subsequently modernized.
It was a 41-mm mortar, which was worn on the barrel of a rifle, fixing on the front sight with a cutout. On the eve of World War II, a grenade launcher was available in every rifle and cavalry squad. Then the question arose about giving the rifle grenade launcher "anti-tank" properties.
During the Second World War, in 1944, the VKG-40 cumulative grenade entered service with the Red Army. A grenade was fired with a special blank cartridge with 2.75 g of gunpowder of the VP or P-45 brand. The reduced charge of the blank cartridge made it possible to fire a direct-fire grenade with a stock rest on the shoulder, at a distance of up to 150 meters.
The cumulative rifle grenade is designed to combat lightly armored vehicles and mobile means of the enemy, not protected by armor, as well as firing points. The VKG-40 was used very limitedly, which is explained by the low accuracy of fire and weak armor penetration.
During the war, a significant number of hand-held anti-tank grenades were fired in the USSR. Initially, these were high-explosive grenades; as the thickness of the armor increased, the weight of anti-tank grenades also increased. However, this still did not ensure the penetration of the armor of medium tanks, so the RPG-41 grenade with an explosive weight of 1400 g could penetrate 25 mm armor.
Needless to say, what danger this anti-tank weapon posed to the one who used it.
In the middle of 1943, a fundamentally new cumulative RPG-43 grenade, developed by N.P. Belyakov. It was the first cumulative hand grenade developed in the USSR.
Hand-held cumulative grenade RPG-43 in the context
The RPG-43 had a flat-bottomed body with a conical lid, a wooden handle with a safety mechanism, a tape stabilizer and a shock-ignition mechanism with a fuse. A bursting charge with a conical shaped recess, lined with a thin layer of metal, and a cup with a safety spring and a sting fixed in its bottom are placed inside the body.
At its front end of the handle there is a metal sleeve, inside of which there are the fuse holder and the pin holding it in the extreme rear position. Outside, a spring is put on the sleeve and fabric bands are laid, which are attached to the stabilizer cap. The safety mechanism consists of a flap and a check. The flap serves to hold the stabilizer cap on the grenade handle before throwing it, preventing it from sliding or turning in place.
During the throw of the grenade, the flap is detached and releases the stabilizer cap, which, under the action of a spring, slides off the handle and pulls the ribbons behind it. The safety pin falls out under its own weight, releasing the fuse holder. Due to the presence of a stabilizer, the flight of the grenade took place with its head forward, which is necessary for optimal use of the energy of the shaped charge of the grenade. When the grenade hits the obstacle with the bottom of the case, the fuse, overcoming the resistance of the safety spring, is pricked onto the sting with a detonator cap, which causes the explosive charge to detonate. The shaped charge RPG-43 penetrated armor up to 75 mm thick.
With the appearance of German heavy tanks on the battlefield, a hand-held anti-tank grenade with greater armor penetration was required. A group of designers consisting of M.Z. Polevanova, L.B. Ioffe and N.S. Zhitkikh has developed an RPG-6 cumulative grenade. In October 1943, the grenade was adopted by the Red Army. The RPG-6 grenade is in many ways similar to the German PWM-1.
German hand-held anti-tank grenade PWM-1
The RPG-6 had a drop-shaped body with a charge and an additional detonator and a handle with an inertial fuse, a detonator cap and a ribbon stabilizer.
The fuse striker was blocked by a check. The stabilizer strips were placed in the handle and held in place by a safety bar. The safety pin was removed before throwing. After the throw, the safety bar flew off, the stabilizer pulled out, the drummer's check was pulled out - the fuse was cocked.
Thus, the protection system of the RPG-6 was three-stage (the RPG-43 had two-stage). In terms of technology, an essential feature of the RLG-6 was the absence of turned and threaded parts, the widespread use of stamping and knurling. Compared to the RPG-43, the RPG-6 was more technologically advanced in production and somewhat safer to use. RPG-43 and RPG-6 rushed about 15-20 m, after the throw, the fighter should have taken cover.
During the war years in the USSR, hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers were never created, although work in this direction was carried out. The main anti-tank weapons of the infantry were still anti-tank missiles and anti-tank hand grenades. This was partially offset by a significant increase in the second half of the war in the number of anti-tank artillery... But in an offensive, anti-tank guns could not always accompany the infantry, and in the event of a sudden appearance of enemy tanks, this often led to large and unjustified losses.
