Best tank gun of WW2?

[mollusc]

Ok, here's a question for you tank-nuts, just for the hell of it....

What was, in your opinion, the best tank gun of WW2....and why?

Simple opinions or lots of technical burb welcomed!

[sapper]

There is only one that can possibly be entertained as the "Best Gun" The 88, high velocity, dead accurate, no need to take acount of anything.. just aim and fire. Held in awe by infantry and armour alike.
Still is to day amongst the Veterans.
Sapper

[Owen]

From my PM to Adam, with editing.

I was going to be silly and say 2 pdr, then thought 88 was over kill so was going to say the 75mm of the Panther.
might go for Petard mortar.

EDITJust thought I'd add that the 2 Pdr was perfectly addiquite for it's day and it seems unfair to compare it to such guns as the 88 etc.

[von Poop]

Sweet choice Owen, mental thing.
If 'best' refers to 'most mental' I might go for the 38cm RW6 anti-submarine rocket mortar on the Sturmmorser Tiger. (very rare footage of it firing here: MENDEN PICTURES)

Realistically I may just choose the 75mm KWK42 L70 as fitted in the Panther, as I believe it outshot the L56 88 and seems to be a far more compact and usable package than other meaty 'classics' from ww2 like the 17pdr which were only mounted in vehicles with some difficulty and associated problems.

The head-scratching continues... those 90mm's fitted to American TD';s seem to have been pretty effective too. And there's always that twin 25pdr equipped Sentinel IV (17pdr emulator) project....

[mollusc]

Originally Posted by Owen D

From my PM to Adam, with editing.





EDITJust thought I'd add that the 2 Pdr was perfectly addiquite for it's day and it seems unfair to compare it to such guns as the 88 etc.

You're right - the 2 pdr was perfectly adequate for it's day.... unfortunate that day was 15th July 1938.

[Gerry Chester]

Hi Mollusc,

To give a satisfactory to the question raised, one should consider where the tanks mounting different types of guns were deployed facing each other.

In the wide open spaces, where Tigers were able to fire at enemy tanks, outside the latter's killing range, kudos must go the the 88 mm, however, when deployed elsewhere they belong to others. In the Pacific and Far East theatres to the US 75 mm, in North Africa and Italy to the British 6 pdr.

In the hills of Tunisia and Italy the advantage, over both Tigers and Panthers, belonged to the Mark III and IV Churchills with their higher rates of fire and the ability to faster lay on their targets. The following is of interest:
http://www.northirishhorse.org/nih/Documents/25TB-TechSummary.html

Cheers, Gerry

[mollusc]

Thanks Gerry, some very interesting data in that report.

which ever one makes a great stonking hole in a tank.

And that is all that shall be said by a Birder on the subject.

[machine shop tom]

For raw destrucive power, the Pak 43 88mm of the Tiger II, Nashorn/Hornisse, and Jagdpanther would be hard to beat, plus it fired a useful HE round as well. Anything smaller would have a hard time beating the frontal armor of German and Russian amor, and anything much bigger would be harder to load.

At shorter ranges, anything in the 75mm or 76mm class would be adequate, but I'd feel better behind an 88.

tom

[mollusc]

Originally Posted by machine shop tom

For raw destrucive power, the Pak 43 88mm of the Tiger II, Nashorn/Hornisse, and Jagdpanther would be hard to beat, plus it fired a useful HE round as well. Anything smaller would have a hard time beating the frontal armor of German and Russian amor, and anything much bigger would be harder to load.

At shorter ranges, anything in the 75mm or 76mm class would be adequate, but I'd feel better behind an 88.

tom

Assuming the same type of propellant is used, I think the size of cartridge case is a good indication of how much energy is behind a shell..... I used to have a nice little collection; British 2 pdr longcase AP (cartridge case was about 35cm long and 5cm diameter), Russian 85mm and German 88mm (Kwk36 ala Tiger 1) - these two were very similar in size, both about 60cm long and 9-10cm diameter), but the 88mm Kwk43 (or Pak43) case I had was a monster.... about twice the volume of the Tiger1's ammo.