Anti-tank rifle 39
| Anti-tank rifle 39 | |
|---|---|
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| general information | |
| Country of operation: | German Empire |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Gustloff works |
| Production time: | 1939 to 1942 |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: | 1620 (with folded shoulder rest 1280) mm |
| Total height: | 350 mm |
| Total width: | 110 mm |
| Weight: (unloaded) | 12.6 kg |
| Sight length : | 940 mm |
| Barrel length : | 1085 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : | 7.92 x 94 mm |
| Ammunition supply : | manually |
| Fire types: | Single fire |
| Number of trains : | 4th |
| Twist : | right |
| Visor : | open sights |
| Closure : | Block closure |
| Charging principle: | Single loader |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Panzerbüchse 39 (also anti-tank rifle 39) is a German anti-tank rifle that was developed shortly before the start of the Second World War . The grenade rifle 39 is a conversion of the armored rifle 39 for firing rifle grenades .
history
The Panzerbüchse 39 was used as a light anti-tank weapon in the rifle companies of the Wehrmacht . However, as early as 1940 during the western campaign it became clear that the penetration power for modern armor was insufficient. The weapon ultimately proved to be completely out of date in the war against the Soviet Union . In order not to discard the mature concept of the anti-tank rifle, many rifles were modified by attaching the shooting cup of the carbine 98k to the shortened barrel of the Pz.B. 39.
The Panzerbüchse 39 was used in this version until 1942; some Pz.B. 39 were converted to 39 grenade rifles. However, since the performance advantage over the carbine with a shooting cup was small, the grenade rifle disappeared from the rifle companies' stocks from 1944 onwards.
Anti-tank rifle 39
The Pz. B. 39 was designed as a simplified anti-tank rifle 38 ; to open the breech, the shooter pushes the handle forward and down. This lowers the breech block and ejects any case in the chamber. After inserting the cartridge, the shooter pulls the handle back into its starting position, whereby the slide slides up and the internal hammer is cocked.
The Pz.B. 39 has a muzzle brake to reduce the recoil, which is stronger than the Pz.B. 38, which uses some of the recoil energy for the loading process. Like the Pz.B. 38, the Pz.B. 39 is equipped with the bipod of the MG34 and a handle. The shoulder rest can be folded under the lock housing.
Grenade rifle 39
The grenade rifle 39 is a Pz.B. 39 in which the barrel has been shortened to 590 mm and the muzzle has been provided with the shooting cup (caliber 30 mm). The bipod was moved backwards and the fore-end removed; a new sight - tailored to the rifle grenades to be fired - was installed.
With the grenade rifle 39 only the "large armored rifle grenade with improved twist shaft" could be fired. The firing of all other types of rifle grenades was strictly forbidden, as they were not designed to be stable enough for the gas pressure of the powerful 318 propellant cartridge. The improved twist shaft consisted of a specially adapted Bakelite mixture.
In just under five months of production, a total of 28,023 grenade rifles 39 were produced (1,416 in 1942 and 26,607 in 1943). Towards the end of the war the total stock was only 2,999 pieces. The performance of the heavy and unwieldy weapon hardly surpassed that of the carbine 98k with attached rifle grenade, even with the bipod support, and thus did not justify the production of another type of weapon.
| overall length | 1230 mm |
| Total mass | 10.5 kg |
| Overall width (bipod unfolded) | 550 mm |
| Penetration performance of the armored rifle shell | 80 mm armored steel at 60 ° angle of impact |
ammunition
The weapons are set up for the 318 cartridge (7.92 × 94 mm); the normal combat cartridge was provided with a pointed bullet with a hard core, tracer and an irritant gas capsule. In addition, practice cartridges with a pointed bullet without tracer and irritant gas capsule as well as blank cartridges with a wooden bullet were available. The cartridges were carried in the "cartridge container Pz. B. 38/39", a sheet metal box with a hinged lid. The cartridge container held ten cartridges and was carried in pairs on the march in the “bag for cartridge container Pz. B. 38/39” on the shooter's belt; when taking up position, the containers should then be removed from their pockets and pushed onto rails on both sides of the breech block so that the cartridges were within reach of the shooter.
The anti-tank rifle had a caliber of 7.92 mm, with the case based on the 13.25 × 92 mm HR cartridge of the M1918 tank rifle in order to have enough powder room for the propellant charge. The penetration performance was at an impact angle of 60 ° with 25 mm armor at a distance of 300 m.
equipment
The rifle sling of the 98k carbine was used to carry the armored rifle or grenade rifle; for cleaning the "cleaning device 34 long". It corresponded to the RG34 that was used for the carbine but included a longer cleaning chain. The cleaning device for the grenade rifle also included that of the shooting cup.
Manufacturing
39,232 anti-tank rifles 39 were built in the Gustloff works by 1942.
literature
- Günter Wollert, Reiner Lidschun: Infantry weapons yesterday . (1918-1945). In: Illustrated encyclopedia of infantry weapons from around the world . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89488-036-8 , weapons, p. 217-222 .
- Ian Hogg : 20th Century Artillery. Gondrom, Bindlach 2001, ISBN 3-8112-1878-6
- Frank Iannamico: 7.92 mm anti-tank rifle (PzB), 39 German Anti-Tank Rifle , The Small Arms Review, Vol. 6, No. Available online May 8, 2003
- Karl R. Pawlas: Die Panzerabwehrbüchse 39 , in: Waffen-Revue No. 7, Nuremberg 1972
- Karl R. Pawlas: Die Grenatbüchse 39 , in: Waffen-Revue No. 10, Nuremberg 1973
- Karl R. Pawlas: German anti-tank rifles in caliber 7.92 mm , in: Waffen-Revue No. 45 and 46, Journal-Verlag Schwend GmbH, Schwäbisch Hall 1982
- Fritz Hahn: Weapons and Secret Weapons of the German Army 1933-1945 , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-5915-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Günter Wollert, Reiner Lidschun: Infantry weapons yesterday . (1918-1945). In: Illustrated encyclopedia of infantry weapons from around the world . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89488-036-8 , weapons, p. 221 .
- ↑ Günter Wollert, Reiner Lidschun: infantry weapons yesterday . (1918-1945). In: Illustrated encyclopedia of infantry weapons from around the world . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89488-036-8 , weapons, p. 220 .
Web links
- Maxim Popenker: PzB.38 PzB.39. In: Modern Firearms. modernfirearms.net, accessed March 1, 2018 .
- Panzerbüchse 39 on YouTube
- Grenade rifle GrB-39 on YouTube