How about your favorite gun for Allied forces?

[JasonC]

The US 90mm on the Jackson TD is the best Allied gun. It will do the anti-tank job almost as well as the 17-lb, and it has a much higher HE blast. And it is not at all rare or expensive - a Jackson is almost 30% cheaper than a Sherman Firefly, and it shows up in October (FFs get HE in September, and are expensive anti-armor only weapons before then).

The extra armor on the FF is not enough to stop most German AP rounds, and armor quality reductions account for most of the difference anyway. You are paying for a top (which does little - most arty will miss and do nothing to a Jackson) and one coaxial MGs (which is useful, but not 40% of a tank useful).

The real reason for the price difference would seem to be the larger ammo load. The Jackson's HE is limited. But the difference is less than you might expect, because you can have 3 to 2 or 4 to 3 times the number of vehicles, or afford an extra plain 75mm tank for HE work. And each round does more.

The Jackson also has a faster turret, lower ground pressure, better speed and quicker acceleration, and is a slightly smaller target. The FFs do get a gyro, though, which the Jackson does not have. The main edge of the Jackson, though, is simply that it kills tanks about as effectively as an FF, but does it for only 70% of the cost.