Use of relatively light bullets (12 – 14 gram compared to 50-60 gram bullets in 13-15mm calibers) allowed to build lighter rifles with less punishing recoil. The second school of thoughts favored rifle-caliber bullets, fired at very high velocities (1100 to 1200 m/s). Soviet troops with 14.5mm PTRD anti-tank rifle. Typical calibers for antitank rifles ran between 12.7 and 15mm, although there were two other schools of thoughts in anti-tank rifle development.īritish troops with. Usually, such projectiles were able to penetrate about 20 to 300 mm of steel armor at range of 100 meters, which was well enough to deal with most tanks of pre WW2 era. These generally included rifle-like layout combined with significal size (usually between 1.5 and 2 meters, sometimes longer), heavy weight and noticeable (if not punishing) recoil, generated by large-caliber cartridge firing specially designed armor piercing (AP) bullet.

The T-Gewehr set the pattern for most weapons of this class. 5') and then cause at least some damage to the crew or equipment. This weapon basically was nothing more than conventional rifle, enlarged to fire specially designed 13mm ammunition, which was capable of penetrating typical armor of contemporary british tanks (with thickness about 12 mm /. Since the Germans were the first to see the 'business ends' of British tanks, they also were the first to develop a practical weapon to fight the tanks – the Tank-abwehr-gewer (anti-tank rifle), which is commonly known as Mauser T-Gewehr. Of cause, these tanks were vulnerable to artillery fire, but lack of proper communications and impossibility of getting a field cannon to every trehcn, resulted in requirements for relatively compact and inexpensive weapons, capable of penetration of tank hulls. This armored vehicle was purpose built to travel through the battlefield with its natural and artifical obstacles like shell holes and barbed wire, and to withstand small arms fire from infantry machine guns and rifles. The anti-tank rifle was born during the late stages of the Great War (WW1), when German troops faced the newest British invention, the tank.

Modern 20mm anti tank rifle