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20 Pdr
The Ordnance QF 20 pounder (known as 20 pounder, 20 pdr or simply 20-pr) was a British 84 mm (3.307 inch) tank gun. It was introduced in 1948 and used in the Centurion main battle tank, Charioteer medium tank, and Caernarvon Mark II heavy tank. After the 20 pounder gun was found to have inadequate performance against the Soviet T-54, the gun was mostly replaced in service by the larger calibre 105 mm L7 gun. Design and development The gun was developed by the Royal Ordnance Factories. As fitted to the Charioteer, it ran through two models: * Model A without a fume extractor. * Model B with a fume extractor. The L7 105 mm tank gun was developed from the 20 pounder. In 1954, the original version of the 105 mm was made by re-boring the tube of a 20 pounder barrel. Service history The gun was fitted predominantly to the Centurion tank, first seeing action in 1950 with British Army units during the Korean War and Suez Crisis (1956). In 1956, detailed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charioteer (tank)
The Charioteer Tank, or FV4101 Tank, Medium Gun, Charioteer was a post–World War II British armoured fighting vehicle. It was produced in the 1950s to up-gun units of the Royal Armoured Corps continuing to use the Cromwell tank during the early phases of the Cold War. The vehicle itself was a modified Cromwell with a more powerful gun installed in a relatively lightly armoured two-man turret. Charioteer saw limited use with the British Army, but was used more extensively by overseas nations in Europe and the Middle East. Charioteers saw action in conflicts in the Middle-East. Development In the early Cold War during the 1950s, plans to combat a potential invasion from Soviet forces called for a Royal Armoured Corps formation to be equipped with the Cromwell tank.Charioteer, by David Fletcher, published in Wheels & Tracks magazine (published by After the Battle), Number 60, 1997 Production of Centurion Mk 3 was slower than production of 20-pounder guns, while the large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panzer 58
The Mittlerer Panzer 1958 or Panzer 58 was a medium tank of Swiss design. Twelve tanks were produced and later converted to Panzer 61s. History and development After World War II, Switzerland was only equipped with outdated fighting vehicles of foreign production such as the Hetzer. Switzerland sought to purchase new armored fighting vehicles but was unable to do so due to other nations' involvement in the Korean War. Thus, in 1953 funding was allocated for the development of a domestic medium tank. The first prototype was completed by Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette in 1957 and was designated as Panzer 58. The main armament of the first prototype was a domestic 90 mm cannon. A second prototype was equipped with a British Ordnance QF 20 pounder. Another ten tanks armed with the 105 mm cannon were manufactured from 1960 to 1961. Vehicle systems The drive unit was compact and modular and thus could be installed as a unit easily. It consisted of the motor, auxilia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shell (projectile)
A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary device, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell can hold a tracer ammunition, tracer. All explosive- and incendiary-filled projectiles, particularly for mortar (weapon), mortars, were originally called ''grenades'', derived from the French language, French word for pomegranate, so called because of the similarity of shape and that the multi-seeded fruit resembles the powder-filled, fragmentizing bomb. Words cognate with ''grenade'' are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages. Shells are usually large-caliber projectiles fired by artillery, armored fighting vehicle, armoured fighting vehicles (e.g. tanks, assault guns, and mortar carriers), warships, and autocannons. The shape is usually a cylinder (geometry), cylinder topped by an o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance. These produce a subsonic deflagration wave rather than the supersonic detonation wave produced by brisants, or high explosives. The hot gases produced by burning gunpowder or cordite generate sufficient pressure to propel a bullet or shell to its target, but not so quickly as to routinely destroy the barrel of the gun. Cordite was used initially in the .303 British, Mark I and II, standard rifle cartridge between 1891 and 1915. Shortages of cordite in World War I led to the creation of the "Devil's Porridge" munitions factory ( HM Factory, Gretna) on the English–Scottish border, which produced around 800 tonnes of cordite per week. The UK also imported some United States–developed smokeless ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid. One of its first major uses was as guncotton, a replacement for gunpowder as propellant in firearms. It was also used to replace gunpowder as a low-order explosive in mining and other applications. In the form of collodion, it was also a critical component in an early photographic emulsion, the use of which revolutionized photography in the 1860s. In the 20th century, it was adapted to automobile lacquer and adhesives. Production The process uses a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid to convert cellulose into nitrocellulose. The quality of the cellulose is important. Hemicellulose, lignin, pentosans, and mineral salts give inferior nitrocelluloses. In organic chemistry, nitrocellulose is a nitrate ester, not a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armour-piercing Discarding Sabot
Armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) is a type of Rifling, spin-stabilized kinetic energy penetrator, kinetic energy projectile for anti-armor warfare. Each projectile consists of a sub-caliber round fitted with a Sabot (firearms), sabot. The combination of a lighter sub-caliber projectile with a full-caliber propellant charge allows for an increase in muzzle velocity compared to full-caliber rounds, giving the round increased armor-penetration performance. To further enhance their armor-penetration capabilities, APDS rounds typically feature a hardened core made from tungsten or another hard, dense material. For a given caliber, APDS ammunition can effectively double the armor penetration of a gun when compared to full-caliber rounds such as Armor-piercing ammunition, AP, Armor-piercing shot and shell#Second World War, Armor-piercing Capped (APC), and APCBC, Armor piercing Capped Ballistic Cap (APCBC) projectiles. APDS-rounds were commonly used in large caliber tank guns up unt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canister Shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. It has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies, and saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various wars of the 18th and 19th century. Canister is still used today in modern artillery. Description Canister shot consists of a closed metal cylinder typically loosely filled with round lead or iron balls packed with sawdust to add more solidity and cohesion to the mass and to prevent the balls from crowding each other when the round was fired. The canister itself was usually made of tin, often dipped in a lacquer of beeswax diluted with turpentine to prevent corrosion of the metal. Iron was substituted for tin for larger-caliber guns. The ends of the canister were closed with wooden or metal disks. A cloth cartridge bag containing the round's gunpowder used to fire the canister from the gun barrel could be attached to the back of the metal canister for smaller cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An explosive charge is a measured quantity of explosive material, which may either be composed solely of one ingredient or be a mixture containing at least two substances. The potential energy stored in an explosive material may, for example, be: * chemical energy, such as nitroglycerin or grain dust * pressurized gas, such as a gas cylinder, aerosol can, or boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion * nuclear energy, such as in the fissile isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239 Explosive materials may be categorized by the speed at which they expand. Materials that detonate (the front of the chemical reaction moves faster through the material than the speed of sound) are said to be "high explosives" and materials that deflagrate are said t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armour-piercing Discarding Sabot
Armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) is a type of Rifling, spin-stabilized kinetic energy penetrator, kinetic energy projectile for anti-armor warfare. Each projectile consists of a sub-caliber round fitted with a Sabot (firearms), sabot. The combination of a lighter sub-caliber projectile with a full-caliber propellant charge allows for an increase in muzzle velocity compared to full-caliber rounds, giving the round increased armor-penetration performance. To further enhance their armor-penetration capabilities, APDS rounds typically feature a hardened core made from tungsten or another hard, dense material. For a given caliber, APDS ammunition can effectively double the armor penetration of a gun when compared to full-caliber rounds such as Armor-piercing ammunition, AP, Armor-piercing shot and shell#Second World War, Armor-piercing Capped (APC), and APCBC, Armor piercing Capped Ballistic Cap (APCBC) projectiles. APDS-rounds were commonly used in large caliber tank guns up unt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World War II, it began to fall out of use on main battle tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles intended to see front-line combat as new anti-tank weapon technologies were developed which were capable of relatively easily penetrating rolled homogeneous armour plating even of significant thickness. Today, the term is primarily used as a unit of measurement of the protection offered by armour on a vehicle (often composed of materials that may not actually contain steel, or even contain any metals) in equivalent ''millimetres of RHA'', referring to the thickness of RHA that would provide the same protection. Typically, modern composite armour can provide the same amount of protection with much thinner and lighter construction than its protective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muzzle Velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets, to more than in modern rifles with high-velocity cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition. To simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, NASA launches projectiles through light-gas guns at speeds up to . Several factors, including the type of firearm, the cartridge, and the barrel length, determine the bullet's muzzle velocity. Projectile velocity For projectiles in unpowered flight, its velocity is highest at leaving the muzzle and drops off steadily because of air resistance. Projectiles traveling less than the speed of sound (about in dry air at sea level) are ''subsonic'', while those traveling faster are ''super ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
