Armor penetration of PTRS and PTRD.

[Peasant]

I've seen several posts on this forum speculating about exact capabilities of this important piece of soviet anti-armour defense system during WW2, I have created this thread to share my best up to date data on this topic.

The 14,5mm BS-41 AP bullet with the mass of 64g has a relatively large tungsten carbide core inside 10,9mm in diameter and about 38g mass. Using these FT for the 14,5mm KPVT heavy MG I've recalculated the terminal velocity vs distance for 1000m/s velocity.

Using Krupp curve for penetration of subcaliber cores https://www.forum.axishistory.com/viewt ... 5#p2172605
to estimate the penetration capability against 105-125 kg/mm^2 german RHA plate:
32mm/30° 855m/s (325m); 32mm/20° 788m/s (500m); 47mm/0° 917m/s (200m); 47mm/20° 977m/s (50m);

[Peasant]

This data supports the previous estimates as the high hardness armour used in these trials is significanly more resistant when under attack from undermatching projectiles such as the 14,5mm BS-41 bullet.

[Peasant]

There is some interesting information that the lower side armour of a "Panther" D tank can pierced using the PTRS. The report on a ballistic test carried out in April 1944 on Kubinka's firing range says: "AP bullet from PTRS when striking at normal incidence pierces the vertical side armour of the "Panther" tank at 75m (100% perforations)" It was also noted that even some of the shots from 100m distance perforated the armour as well.

Source: "Maxim Kolomiec, "Panther" - the first encyclopedia of the legendary tank. (2013) "