Anti-tank rifle

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An anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks. The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks to the Second World War during which vehicle armour passed beyond the point at which a projectile fired by a weapon that could be carried by a single soldier was of any use.

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History

Image:Anti-tank rifle Boys.jpg Image:PTRS 41.jpg Image:AT rifle Type 97 1.JPG The tug of war between armour and projectiles had been developing for a long while among naval vessels - since the advent of the Ironclad. It wasn't until soldiers met armoured vehicles on land that the conflict of infantry firearms and armour began. The advent of armoured cars and tanks resulted in the development of the first anti-tank weapons. Among the weapons used against the early armoured vehicles were high powered rifles.

High powered rifles had appeared in the 1800s, in particular for the hunting of big game. The anti-tank rifle would follow the same route - a large bullet with a high velocity and the ability to penetrate armor.

The first tanks, the British Mark I, launched against the German trenches in World War I were not impregnable to ordinary rifle fire. Bullets could find their way through weak spots, turning into liquid lead as they hit and seeping through the joints, spraying hot metal over the crew and adding to the generally already hellish conditions inside. The Germans developed ways to improve the penetrating power of their rifles. The first attempt was the so-called 'reversed bullet'. These used the same cartridge and bullet as the regular round, but the bullet was reversed and an increased propelling charge was used.

The next development was a special armour-piercing bullet, the K bullet (in German Patrone SmK Kurz 7.92 mm). Again this could be fired from the regular infantry rifle. It had an increased propelling charge and a steel cored bullet. This had about a 30 percent chance of penetrating the 8 mm armour of current tanks if striking perpendicularly. The K bullet round was more expensive to produce, and was generally only issued to snipers, and more advanced marksmen where its value would be greater. The ordinary infantryman had to make do with the reversed bullets which were far less effective and had to be used closer to the target. Other anti-tank weapons such as grenades, mortars, or cannon were preferred. Both types of round damaged the rifles. In the first place there was shortened life through high barrel wear. Secondly, the higher pressure created in the chamber would jam the bolt and only hammering at the stuck bolt would open it. This could lead to the extractor claw failing to extract the cartridge, only breaking off the cartridge rim and leaving it stuck in the gun. The strain of firing the increased charge could also burst the chamber of weaker and older rifles, at best destroying the rifle, at worst injuring or killing the rifleman. For these reasons, the K-bullet and reversed bullet were not popular with the troops. Nevertheless, it gave the infantry a chance to stop a tank in an emergency, or at least injure or kill some of the crew if a bullet penetrated.

Even as the rounds were introduced, tanks were being designed and built with thicker armour rendering these rounds largely ineffective, though they remained in use against the older designs and armoured cars. The first purpose designed anti-tank rifle was designed by Germany. This large-calibre rifle was capable of penetrating the armour of these new generations of tanks and allowed a chance at stopping them. Other techniques were still preferred. The high recoil of the rifle was very hard on the firer, sometimes breaking the collar bone or dislocating the shoulder. Although the rifle was unique to its role, it was a development of what had gone before; Mauser rifles and high-powered British sporting rifles. The calibre of roughly 12-13 mm was not unusual either, some 0.5 inch guns having been fielded in land warfare.

During WW 1, a half-inch high velocity round was being developed in the US at the same time for use against aircraft. It would be used with the Browning-designed .50 calibre machine gun. This round was based on current US .30 calibre infantry ammunition. When word of the German anti-tank shell spread, there was some debate as to if it should be copied and used as a base for the new machine gun cartridge. However, after some analysis it was ruled out, as the performance was inferior to their round. The Browning M2 .50 cal machine gun would, however, go on to function as an anti-armour machine gun.

At the start of the Second World War, most nations had an anti-tank rifle based on a high velocity large calibre round (eg the British Boys Anti-tank Rifle). These were effective at the start of the war against the early tank designs (light tanks like the German Panzer I and Panzer II). As armour became thicker on the newer models, the effectiveness of a manportable rifle lessened. At first small cannons up to 20 mm calibre were used but the anti-tank role soon required more powerful weapons which were based on the application of chemical energy in the form of the shaped charge anti-tank rifle grenade. To these were added rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades such as the Bazooka and Panzerfaust. Some anti-tank rifles, like the Finnish L-39, were still used by snipers to annoy and sabotage enemy actions, like firing phosporous bullets at tanks' open hatches, or to smoke an enemy sniper out of his position.

The weapon is the conceptual forbear to modern anti-tank weapons wielded by modern infantry, and both large-calibre sniper rifles and anti-materiel rifles owe some part of their design heritage to it.

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