I am going to try this poll thing one more time.

What do you think is the best gun in WW2, as far as armour penetration, velocity, reliable, accuracy, etc. goes?

The 88mm L/71 - this might spark some debate.

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Why no German 128mm on the list? If you want penetrating power its gotta be the JagdTiger!

Failing that the old 88mm does it for me! But only cos I have an 88mm L56 shell casing from Normandy next to me as I type...

[ 03. August 2004, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: TheRedBaron ]

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

The 128mm was never used in a tank (Maus doesn't count), I am strictly talking tanks, I didn't take any Jagdpanzers, StuGs, etc. into consideration. If I did considered such weapons, it would take me a little be longer, considering all the Pak guns I would have to take into consideration.

I was just intending to make this a discussion about tanks.

Gee sorry! Calm down! [img]tongue.gif[/img]


But seeing as German SPGs accounted for more and more kills as the war continued aint it worth considering them? Think how many kills StuG IIIs had and Hetzers. Specially as most used the same weapon as fitted to a tank.

The 128mm was the only weapon fitted to a SPG and not too a tank. Unless you want to count the StugIII 105mmm...

But if its ONLY tanks, then my statement still stands,

The 88mm L56...

And why cant we count the MAus? Its still a tank...

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

What, no Stug III's?? [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]

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The 128/55 is a poor choice. Seperate ammunition slows the firing rate. It also had problems in terms of weight of round and was nothing special in accuracy and reliability.
The German 70 caliber guns (both the 75 and 88) suffer from poor (relatively speaking)accuracy due to barrel vibration and short barrel life. Both also suffer from poor recoil systems that take up alot of space. Sure, both had good penetration but at a fairly high cost in other desirable properties.
Personally, I would choose the Soviet 100/60. This is a gun with excellent penetration, good reliability and, reasonable weight. It was successful enough that it is still in service today. In this sense it out lived the US 90mm which was only an average performer as far as penetration goes.
The Soviet 85 and 76 have mediocre penetration performance for their size and neither is a particularly outstanding gun while the 122 suffers from the same problems as the German 128; it's just too big to be useful.
The British 17pdr also suffers from excessive barrel wear and has poor accuracy compared to the US 76mm for example. It's short post war life demonstrates this quite clearly.
So, my vote goes to the Soviet 100/60.

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TA GArdner

But aint that gun only in the SU-100 TA? I got told off for choosing a gun not in a tank... Good point on the 128 though. TA you may know the answer to this... What was the 42mm taper like as an A/T gun? My sources are not very conclusive and I am having trouble finding data for its combat use in Africa and Italy. I now it was also issued to some Fj units.

Framart,

Still not over your Stug Fetish I see...

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

I don't see where in the original question or poll the word "tank" was mentioned. I did assume that only AFV / anti-tank guns were being considered from those listed in the poll as opposed to various types of artillery pieces.....

On the 2.8cm sPzB 41:

It is one of three designs that used a taper bore system. The other two are the 4.2cm le. PaK 41 using the same Gerlich system (this gun looks like a longer barrelled 3.7cm PaK 36) and the 7.5cm PaK 41 by Krupp (also on the Gerlich principle).
The last mentioned was a truly impressive gun. It penetrated 171mm at 30 degrees obliquity at 500 yards. This puts it on par with the 88/71 in penetration.
But, back to the 2.8cm: Two versions were produced: The aforementioned sPzB 41 and the le Feldlafette 41 version for parachute use.
Performance-wise this gun penetrated about 68mm at 400 yards giving it about double the performance of a 20/55 as fitted on the Pz II or about 1/3 better performance than a 3.7cm AT gun.
As for the 4.2cm, a handful saw service in Africa and Italy. I have seen at least one photo of one in use with Panzer Division Hermann Göring in Central Italy.
This gun penetrated about 88mm at 500 yards. The gun was manufactured from early 1941 until very early in 1942 but, I don't have an exact production figure. It is likely that many ended up in units forming about that time or shortly thereafter. It is also hard to spot in photographs as the only noticable difference in it and the 3.7cm is the length of the barrel.
The round fired went from 4.2cm to 2.94cm at the muzzle, weighed .336kg (11.75 oz) and had a muzzle velocity of 1265 m/s (4149 fps).

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Thanks TA.

I have a pic of the 42mm in use with a DAK unit.

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

I hate to be pedantic but the word 'tank' is mentioned in the thread heading.....

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No not really, its an excellent tank gun, its only drawback is that its large and heavy.
My vote however would go to the British ( me biased, never ) 17 pdr which for its size(76.2) is a deadly tank gun, better than any other gun of similar caliber.
Penetration of each at 1,000 yards, striking at 30 degrees from the optimum, was as follows:

76mm(US): 89mm (134mm with HVAP ammo)
17 pdr: 118mm (170mm with APDS ammo)
85mm: 84mm
88mm L/56: 101mm
88mm L/71: 167mm

Thanks to Tony Williams for the data

[ 04. August 2004, 08:31 AM: Message edited by: redcoat ]

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if in doubt....Panic!!!!

The 17 pdr was only less accurate than the US 76mm when firing the early APDS ammo. The early APDS ammo SABOT casings caused problems with accuracy, which the British later cured. The short post war life is more to do with the British up gunning their tanks with the heavier 20pdr and 105mm guns in order to deal with the heavy Soviet tanks then coming into service, than any fault with the 17pdr.
The British had made the mistake of not up-gunning their tanks quickly enough in WW2, they weren't going to make the same mistake again

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if in doubt....Panic!!!!

I don't see where in the original question or poll the word "tank" was mentioned. </font>[/quote]The word was in the original title

I never said that...

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

Sorry, it was TA Gardner's post, I tried to erase the majority of the quote he made, I ended up screwing with the quote function, and screwed it up.

No worries, only kidding around!

Does anyone have any date on the US 90mm in the Pershing?

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

[quote]Originally posted by redcoat:

Quote:

The 17 pdr was only less accurate than the US 76mm when firing the early APDS ammo. The early APDS ammo SABOT casings caused problems with accuracy, which the British later cured. The short post war life is more to do with the British up gunning their tanks with the heavier 20pdr and 105mm guns in order to deal with the heavy Soviet tanks then coming into service, than any fault with the 17pdr. The British had made the mistake of not up-gunning their tanks quickly enough in WW2, they weren't going to make the same mistake again

Actually, the US carried out extensive tests on the 17pdr and 76mm. The 76 was found more accurate in all tests. This was likely due to less barrel vibration and the lower intital velocity of the 76mm round but not cited directly. The 76 also was found to have far less barrel wear per shot than the 17pdr.
Note how even the British went to the 77mm (a cut down 17 pdr) late in the war (used first in the Comet). This was done in large part to rectify the above problems with the 17pdr.
As a tank weapon, the British were also really strapped to shoe horn this gun into their tanks (including the Sherman). In the Challenger a large slab sided turret had to be used on a stretched Cromwell chassis. In the Sherman the gun had to be put in sideways and the radio equipment moved to an armored box added to the turret bustle which was cut out to allow recoil area. This arrangement slowed engagement time as loading was awkward.
Yes, the 17pdr had good penetration performance but at a cost of short barrel life and reduced accuracy (just like the German 70 caliber guns suffered). Of course, this is sort of sour apples to US tank crews saddled with the 76mm which actually could have been a better gun except the ordinance department stressed accuracy and gun life over better penetration. On the other hand one field fix that US ordinance battalions did in Europe was add more powder to 76mm rounds to increase the velocity. Yes, the US ordinancemen really did do this and it was more than an occasional thing.

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To be a bit lawyerly, I only stated it wasn't mentioned in the original question or poll . The title wasn't mentioned....
In any case how is a "tank" to be defined? Turretted? What about US tank destroyers? Only vehicles deemed by the various nations "tanks?" I think the term AFV is a better choice. This includes any armored combat vehicle, wheeled or tracked.

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T.A. - your people will be hearing from my people.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Ok Martin; have your people call my people and they can do lunch and argue about it followed by giving both of us inflated billable hours for the whole thing.....

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

Not in performance terms - the 17 pdr would have been preferred but it just wouldn't fit in the Comet, so the smaller anmd less powerful 77mm had to be used instead.

The lower barrel life goes with the high velocity which you need to get good penetration. And the reduced 'bench-rest' accuracy would in real life have been compensated for by the shorter flight time and flatter trajectory, reducing the effect of aiming errors.

The 17 pdr was the best Allied tank gun IMO, although if you could afford a bigger tank then a bigger calibre would get you more effective HE shells as well as greater destructiveness after penetration.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website