Anti-tank rifle PTRS (Simonov): characteristics, caliber

Anti-tank rifle PTRS (Simonov) was adopted in the summer of 1941. It was intended to attack medium and light tanks, aircraft, as well as armored cars at a distance of up to 500 meters. In addition, it was possible to withstand the DOTs, bunkers and enemy firing points, covered with armor, from a distance of up to 800 meters from the rifle. The gun played an important role on the battlefield of World War II. The article will consider the history of its creation and application, as well as tactical and technical characteristics.

Historical reference

Anti-tank rifles (PTR) are called hand-held firearms capable of resisting enemy armored vehicles. Also, PTR is used to attack fortifications and low-flying air targets. Thanks to a powerful cartridge and a long trunk, a high muzzle energy of the bullet is obtained, which allows to hit the armor. The PTRs of the Second World War were able to penetrate armor up to 30 mm thick and were very effective means of fighting tanks. Some models had a large mass and were, in fact, small-caliber weapons.

At Germans the first prototypes of the PTR appeared already at the end of the First World War. Lack of efficiency, they compensated for high mobility, convenience of camouflage and low cost. The Second World War was for the PTR a real starry hour, because absolutely all participants in the conflict used this type of weapon.

The Second World War was the first large-scale conflict in the history of mankind, which can be best described as the "war of motors". The tanks and other types of armored vehicles became the basis of the strike force. It was the tank wedges that became the determining factor in the implementation of the Nazi tactics "Blitzkrieg".

After catastrophic defeats at the beginning of the war, Soviet troops were in dire need of the means to combat enemy armored vehicles. They needed a simple and maneuverable means, capable of resisting heavy machines. This was the anti-tank rifle. In 1941, two types of such weapons were introduced into service: Degtyarev's rifle and Simonov's rifle. With PTRD, the general public is much better acquainted. Tom contributed to movies and books. But PTRS-41 is much worse, and it was not produced in such volumes. Still, it would be unfair to belittle the merits of this gun.

The first attempt to introduce MOT

In the Soviet Union, the creation of an anti-tank rifle actively worked since the 40s of the last century. Specially for the prospective model of PTR, a powerful cartridge with a caliber of 14.5 mm was developed. In 1939, several samples of PTR were tested at once from Soviet engineers. The anti-tank rifle of the Rukavishnikov system won the competition, but its production was never established. The Soviet military leadership believed that in the future armored vehicles would be protected by at least 50 mm armor, and the use of anti-tank rifles would be impractical.

Development of the PTNS

The assumption of the leadership turned out to be completely wrong: all kinds of armored vehicles used by the Wehrmacht at the outset of the war could be hit from anti-tank rifles, even when firing in the front projection. On July 8, 1941, the military leadership decided to establish a serial production of the PTR. The model of Rukavishnikov was recognized as complex and too expensive for the conditions of that time. A new competition was announced for the creation of a suitable MFA, in which two engineers took part: Vasily Degtyarev and Sergei Simonov. Literally 22 days later the designers presented prototypes of their guns. Stalin liked both samples, and soon they were put into the series.

Exploitation

Already in October 1941, an anti-tank rifle PTRS (Simonov) began to arrive at the troops. At the first use cases, it demonstrated its high efficiency. In 1941, the Nazis did not have such armored vehicles that could resist the fire of the Simonov gun. The weapon was very simple to use and did not need a high level of training for the fighter. Convenient sighting devices made it possible to confidently hit the enemy in the most uncomfortable conditions. At the same time, it was noted that the 14.5-mm cartridges had a weak zabornevoe action: some enemy vehicles, podbityh of PTR, had more than a dozen holes.

German generals have repeatedly noted the effectiveness of PTRS-41. According to them, Soviet anti-tank guns largely surpassed German counterparts. When the Germans managed to get the PTRC as a trophy, they were willing to use it in their attacks.

After the Battle of Stalingrad, the value of PTR as the main means for fighting tanks began to decrease. However, even in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, the armor piercers have glorified this weapon more than once.

Decline in production

Since it was more difficult and more expensive to produce an anti-tank self-loading gun of the Simonov system than the Degtyarev PTR, it was produced in much smaller quantities. By 1943 the Germans began to strengthen the armor protection of their equipment, and the effectiveness of anti-tank rifles began to decline sharply. Proceeding from this, their production began to decrease sharply, and soon it stopped altogether. Attempts to modernize the gun and increase its armor penetration were made by various talented designers in 1942-1943, but all of them were unsuccessful. Modifications created by S. Rashkov, S. Ermolaev, M. Blum and V. Slukhotsky, better penetrated armor, but were less mobile and larger than the regular PTRS and PTRD. In 1945 it became absolutely clear that as a means of fighting tanks, the anti-tank self-loading rifle had exhausted itself.

In the last years of the Second World War, when it was already pointless to attack tanks with PTR, the armor pusher began to use them to defeat armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery systems, long-term firing points and low-flying air targets.

In 1941, 77 copies of the PTRS were produced, and next year - 63.3 thousand. By the end of the Second World War, about 190 thousand rifles came off the assembly line. Some of them found application in the Korean War.

Features of use

From a distance of 100 meters anti-tank rifle PTRS (Simonov) could penetrate 50-mm armor, and from a distance of 300 meters - 40-millimeter. At the same time the gun had a good accuracy of shooting. But he also had a weak place - a low zabornevoe action. So in military practice, the effectiveness of the bullet is known after penetration of armor. To get into the tank and break it in most cases was not enough, it was required to hit the tanker or some important knot of the machine.

The effectiveness of the operation of the PRTS and PTSD significantly decreased when the Germans began to increase the armor protection of their equipment. As a result, it was almost impossible to hit it with guns. To do this, the shooters had to work at short distances, which is extremely difficult primarily from a psychological point of view. When an anti-tank rifle was fired, large clouds of dust rose up around it, issuing the firing position of the rifleman. Enemy machine gunners, snipers and infantry, accompanying the tank, led the fighters, armed with PTRs, a real hunt. It often happened that after the repulse of the tank offensive, no surviving fighter remained in the armor-piercing company.

Design

Automation of the gun provides for partial removal of powder gases from the barrel. To control this process, a three-way regulator is installed, dosing the amount of gases that are released to the piston, depending on the conditions of use. The channel of the trunk was blocked due to the skewing of the shutter. Just above the trunk was a gas piston.

The trigger and trigger mechanism allows you to fire only single shots. When the cartridges end, the bolt remains in the open position. The design uses a flag-type fuse.

The barrel has eight right-hand cuts and is equipped with a muzzle brake. Thanks to the brake-compensator, the return of the gun was significantly reduced. Buttplate butt equipped with shock absorber (cushion). The stationary shop has a folding bottom cover and a lever feeder. Charging is carried out from below, with the help of a metal pack of five rounds, staggered. Six of these packs were bundled with PTRS. The range of shooting from a gun with a high probability of effective hit was 800 meters. As an aiming device was used open sector-type sight, working in the range of 100-1500 meters. The gun, which was created by Sergei Simonov, was structurally more complex and heavier than Degtyarev's rifle, but it won at a rate of 5 shots per minute.

PTRS was served by the calculation of two fighters. In combat, the gun could carry one calculation number or two. Handles for transportation were attached to the butt and trunk. In the marching position, the PTR could be disassembled into two parts: a receiver with a butt and a trunk with a bipod.

Under the caliber of the PTRS, a cartridge was developed which could be equipped with two kinds of bullets :

1. B-32. A simple armor-piercing-incendiary bullet with a hardened steel core.
2. BS-41. It differs from the B-32 cermet core.

PTRS: characteristics

Summarizing all the above, we give the main characteristics of the gun:

1. The caliber is 14.5 mm.
2. Weight - 20.9 kg.
3. The length is 2108 mm.
4. Rate of fire - 15 rounds per minute.
5. The speed of the bullet at the exit from the barrel is 1012 m / s.
6. Bullet weight - 64 g.
7. The muzzle energy is 3320 kGm.
8. Armor-piercing: with 100 m - 50 mm, with 300 m - 40 mm.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the anti-tank rifle PTRS (Simonov) had some shortcomings, Soviet soldiers loved this weapon, and the enemies feared. It was trouble-free, unpretentious, very maneuverable and quite effective. According to its operational and combat characteristics, Simonov's anti-tank self-loading rifle surpassed all foreign analogues. But most importantly, it was this type of weapon that helped the Soviet troops to overcome the so-called tank fear.