Russian

08/15/13

The Russians started development of an ATR based on the 12.7mm x 108mm machine gun round in the mid 1930's. This was the Sholokov, a rifle based on the original Mauser design. However the Russian army were not impressed with the performance of this rifle and development of the PTRD and PTRS based on the 14.5mm cartridge begun. As a result only small numbers of the Sholokov were produced.

The PTRD 1941

Link to the PTRS

Length: 2020mm

Weight: 17.3Kg

Calibre 14.5mm

Muzzle velocity: 1000m/s

Armour penetration at 300m: 25mm

Russian PTRD rifle team waits for the German advance.

The Red Army was alone among the major combatants in that it never produced a viable anti tank weapon for its infantry throughout the course of the war. The PTRD 1941 was available in time for the German invasion, but unfortunately its ammunition was not, so the Red Army found itself introducing the weapon during 1942; the same year the British and German armies were relegating their designs to the scrapheap.

The Russian weapon saw widespread use against the ever heavier German tanks. It was useless in a frontal assault, and the weapon was too cumbersome to consider stalking for a rear engine shot. Instead, against tanks it was used to target soft points such as visor screens or periscopes, blinding the crew. While it may seem a desperate tactic an entire generation of 'super heavy' sniper rifles currently exists to target vulnerable electronic equipment in an identical fashion. It was also useful against buildings or bunkers. A semi automatic model, the PTRS 1941 was also used, 3.5 kg heavier and 8 cm longer, it was fed from a five round clip (pictured below). It proved mechanically inferior to the PTRD and eventually production was switched to the manufacture of the PTRD.