Quote:
Originally Posted by cbo
Production of the gun ran out in 1943 after 3700 had been made. Production of the HEAT round continued into 1944 with more the 2,5 million being made.
In 1943 371,000 HEAT rounds were fired together with 1,123,000 HE rounds, the figures for 1944 was 592,000 and 4,105,000 respectively. I guess it shows that while the gun is often seen as an anti-tank gun, in reality it was perhaps more of an infantry gun.
About 500 guns were lost in 1942, some 650 in 1943, some 800 in 1944. By March 1945, the German Army had 122 guns left and some 700,000 rounds of HE and 630,000 rounds of HEAT.
I doubt that excessive recoil had anything to do with few AP rounds being fired. IIRC the AP round and the HE round was roughly the same weight and fired at the same velocity, so recoil forces would've been similar. And the numbers of HE rounds fired clearly suggest that the gun was up to the task.
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Help me out with these figures.
If 3,700 guns were made, and they lost about 1,150 before 1944, leaving 2,550. In 1944 they fired at least 4,697,000 rounds (592,000 HEAT plus 4,105,000 HE; not including AP)
Even if we don't consider the guns lost during 1944 (800) that's at least 1,842 rounds fired per gun in the year 1944.
Is that what these stats are saying?
I guess that's only about half a dozen rounds a day, and the barrel life may be over 10,000 rounds right?
cheers,
Cross