Jump to content

British 6 pdr APCR Use in Afrika


rexford

Recommended Posts

Did the British ever shoot 6 pdr APCR in Africa or anywhere during the war?

John Salt's compilation of penetration stats shows an April '43 Ministry of Supply memo with penetration data for 6 and 17 pdr APCR ammo at 30 degrees from vertical.

I have never seen any reference to British APCR outside of the John Salt find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm gonna lose grog points here, but ... what is the 'other' term for APCR?

I have a copy of No. 2 ORS Report No.17, Analysis of German Tank Casualties in France 6 June to 31 August 1944 here that talks about 6-pdr DS, 6-pdr APCBC, and 17-pdr APCBC (more report details available on request, naturally).

Hope that helps.

Regards

JonS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by rexford:

Did the British ever shoot 6 pdr APCR in Africa or anywhere during the war?

John Salt's compilation of penetration stats shows an April '43 Ministry of Supply memo with penetration data for 6 and 17 pdr APCR ammo at 30 degrees from vertical.

I have never seen any reference to British APCR outside of the John Salt find.

AFAIK APCR was never standardised for any gun in British service.

You'll also find lurking in my collection of PRO-thieved penetration stats figures for the 8-pounder gun, but that never saw service either; nor did the 32-pounder; pretty much likewise for the 3-inch 20 cwt in the AT role, although that may have got a couple of shots off in anger (I believe a few were issued in NA on 17-pdr carriages).

All the best,

John.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the responses.

APCR for 6 pdr would have called:

Armor Piercing Composite Non-Rigid (APCNR)

APCR and HVAP contain a tungsten core penetrator in a lightweight carrier, and the whole thing travels to the target.

APDS is Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot, where the tungsten core penetrator travels to the target but the light weight carrier falls off just after the round exits the gun barrel.

The problem with APDS may be due to the discarding sabot, where it is supposed to fall off in three pieces (?) but if one lags a little it throws off the inflight stabiity by introducing a wicked yaw (projectile nose is pointing away from the direction of travel).

In British and American tests with 17 pdr APDS it would penetrate at a given impact velocity and then fail at a much higher velocity, which could be due to inflight instability (or could be due to tungsten shatter gap).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by rexford:

Thanks for all the responses.

APCR for 6 pdr would have called:

Armor Piercing Composite Non-Rigid (APCNR)

[snips]

Errh, no it wouldn't.

APCR (Armour Piercing Composite Rigid) is fired from parallel-bore guns.

APCNR (Armour Piercing Composite Non-Rigid) is fired from tapered-bore guns, such as the Gerlich series or those fitted with a Littlejohn adaptor.

The "non-rigid" part of the desigation refers to the fact that the outer part of the composite round is swaged down to the emergent calibre as it passes along the bore.

All the best,

John.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...