Type 97 anti-tank rifle

Type 97 anti-tank rifle, less magazine.

 

Type 97 anti-tank rifle, with magazine and carrying handles attached.

Type / action	full automatic, gas operated
Caliber	20x125
Weight unloaded	50 kg
Length	2100 mm
Barrel length	1250 mm
Magazine capacity	7 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	250 m / 90o / 30 mm

 The Type 97 anti-tank rifle was adopted by Imperial Japanese army in 1937 (2597th year by contemporary Japanese calendar), as a dedicated anti-tank weapon. While not sufficiently effective against medium and heavy American tanks, it was good enough to deal with light tanks, landing crafts, small surface vessels and improvised pill-boxes, used by US and allied forces in Pacific theatre during WW2. It was one of the heaviest weapons in its class, especially when fitted with low-profile armor shield and dual carrying handles, which raised the weight of the system to some 68 kg (150 lbs).

The Type 97 anti-tank rifle is gas operated, full automatic only weapon (rate of fire - unknown). It used two gas pistons located below the barrel. The bolt locking is achieved by vertically sliding locking block, which is installed at the top of the bolt. When in battery, this locking block is forced up by cam surface in the bolt carrier to engage the slot cut in the receiver. After discharge, rearward movement of the gas piston and bolt carrier forces the locking block to fall down and unblock the bolt; after that, bolt is free to recoil along with bolt carrier. Firing is from open bolt position, in full automatic mode only. To reduce peak recoil forces, the receiver with barrel and action are allowed to recoil agains the cradle, compressing massive spring buffer. Barrel is equipped with muzzle brake to further decrease the recoil. Feed is from top-mounted detachable box magazines. Standard iron sights are graduated up to 1000 meters in range. To provide necessary stability when aiming and firing the gun, it is equipped with folding bipod and an adjustable monopod under the butt. Additional accesories include detachable armored shield which is installed in front of the magazine, and pair of detachable U-shaped carrying handles, so the gun can be carried over the batlefield by three of four men.

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Solothurn S18-100 S18-1000 and S18-1100 anti-tank rifle

Solothurn S18-100 anti-tank rifle.

 

Solothurn S18-1100 anti-tank rifle; it was externally similar to the S18-1000, and the main difference was the select-fire capability of the S18-1100.

	Solothurn S18-100	Solothurn S18-1000
Type / action	semi-automatic, recoil operated
Caliber	20x105B	20x138B
Weight unloaded	40 kg	51.7 kg
Length	1760 mm	2170 mm
Barrel length	930 mm	1447 mm
Magazine capacity	10 rounds	5 or 10 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 35 mm 300 m / 90o / 27 mm	100 m / 90o / 40 mm 300 m / 90o / 35 mm

 Small Swiss arms-making company Solothurn Waffenfabrik AG emerged on the world markets during late 1920s, when it was purchased by huge German military contractor Rheinmetall Borsig AG. The Solothurn factory became an off-shore R&D and sales front-end for Rheinmetall, which was at the timeseverely limited in its military activities under treaty of Versaiiles. Using experience and ideas of German designers, Solothurn factory quickly developed a number of innovative small arms, ranging from submachine guns and up to large-caliber anti-tank rifles, which in certain respects were closer to artillery pieces rather than small arms. The Solothurn S18-100 was the first in line of large-caliber anti-tank rifles, developed by Solothurn during early 1930s. This was a massive weapon, which could be carried by the single soldier for a short time, and certainly not suited for firing it off-hands. Nevertheless, it was considered as antitank rifle rahher than cannon. It was offered for export sales, and a small number of  Solothurn S18-100 anti-tank rifles were sold to various European countries, such as Hungary or Finland. Later on, Solothurn engineers decided to improve performance of the gun, and redesigned it to fire more powerful 20x138B ammunition, which was also used in German FlaK (Anti-Aircraft) guns such as FlaK 30 and FlaK 38. This version was offered to intersted buyers as  Solothurn S18-1000 anti-tank rifle; a select-fire version of the  Solothurn S18-100 anti-tank rifle was offered as S18-1100 "Universalwaffe" (universal weapon), as it was intened for use against tanks from integral bipod, firing semi-auto, and as anti-aircraft gun (firing in bursts) from special AA mount. This version also found some buyers, including Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland. Few of the S18-1100 guns also were used by German army during WW2 as PzB-41(s). Overall, Solothurn guns looked like formidable weapons which could deal with variety of targets, using AP or fragmentation loads, but by the 1942 its armor penetration was insufficient to deal with Soviet T-34 tanks. These rifles also were overly heavy (at least, by standards of the foot infantry of the time), complicated and quite expensive.
Solothurn S18-100 anti-tank rifle is semi-automatic weapon which uses short recoil principle to operate its action. The barrel is locked to the bolt using rotary nut, attached to the barrel breach. This nut has series of lugs on its inner surface, which engage cuts made on the bolt heads. Upon recoil the nut is forced to rotate and thus unlocks the bolt, allowing it to recoil freely once the barel recoil is arrested by the buffer. Upon bolt recoil, a spent case is extracted and ejected. Once bolt recoil cycle is complete, it is driven forward by the spring, loading, chambering and locking the fresh cartridge. The feed is from detachable box magazines, which are insrtted horizontally from the left. The barrel was equipped with muzzle brake to decrease heavy recoil. Weapon is fitted with adjustable folding bipod under the barrel jacket, and a folding monopod under the butt. Solothurn S18-100 anti-tank rifle was equipped with iron sights, adjustable for range between 100 and 1500 meters, and an optional 2.5X telescopic sight can be installed for more accurate fire.
The Solothurn S18-1000 anti-tank rifle was essentially similar to the S18-100, but it used longer and more powerful round, and thus was of somewhat larger dimensions and weight. It has longer barrel with more efefctive muzzle brake.

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Carl Gustav pvg m/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle

Carl Gustav Pvg fm/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle.

Type / action	single shot, recoilless
Caliber	20x180R
Weight unloaded	11 kg
Length	1450 mm
Barrel length	mm
Magazine capacity	-
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 40 mm

Carl Gustav m/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle (Swedish designation Pansarvärnsgevär fm/42, or Pvg fm/42 in short) was developed in Sweden between 1940 and 1942. It was the world's first shoulder-fired recoil-less weapon, and its main achievement is that this weapon served as an important step in development of the famous 84mm Carl Gustav recoilles rifle, which is now being used by many countries around the world. Only about 1000 of the Carl Gustav Pvg fm/42 recoilless anti-tank rifles were delivered to Swedish army before it was found that the concept of relatively small-bore solid steel penetrator is obsolete for an shoulder-fired antitank weapon, and focus of development was moved toward the weapons of greater caliber, firing HEAT warheads at lower veocities. Despite that fact, the Carl Gustav m/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle is one of the lightest 20mm anti-tank weapons (it is even lighter than some rifle-caliber weapons of same class), yet it delivered significant armor penetration (again, for its class). The cost of these achievements were relatively big size and weight of ammunition, and significant backblast when firing the gun. Standard ammunition types included AP and HE loadings.
The Carl Gustav m/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle is breech-loading single shot weapon built to use Davis recoil-less principle. Its barrel is open at the rear and fitted with swing-out breechblock / venturi nozle, which allows some powder gases to escape to the rear and counter the recoil of the discharge. Specially designed cartridges have 'blown-out' bases that allows the hot gases to escape both ways - to the front, pushing out the projectile, and to the rear and out of the funneled breechblock / nozzle, to provide reactive force and countering recoil. Unlicke most other anti-tank rifles, Carl Gustav m/42 recoilless anti-tank rifle is designed to be be fired from the shoulder. It is provided with shoulder rest, located below the barrel and near the point of balance, and a pistol grip with trigger. It also can be fitted with light bipod to be fired from prone position. Standard iron sights are calibrated to 300 meters range, and an optional telescope sight was available for this gun.

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Lahti L-39 "Norsupyssy" anti-tank rifle

Lahti L-39 "Norsupyssy" anti-tank rifle.

Type / action	semi-automatic, gas operated
Caliber	20x138B
Weight unloaded	49.5 kg
Length	2240 mm
Barrel length	1300 mm
Magazine capacity	10 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 30 mm; 300 m / 90o / 25 mm

The L-39 antitank rifle (official Finnish designation 20 pst kiv/39, unofficial "Norsupyssy" - elephant gun) was developed by famous Finnish arms designer Aimo Lahti on request from Finnish army. Early prototypes were built around proprietary 20x113 ammunition, also designed by Lahti, but in mas production this was changed to more common 20x138B ammunition, which was more powerful, has wider selection of loadings (AP, AP-T, AP-HE, Incendiary etc), and was also common with 20mm AA guns, bought from Germany. About 1 800 of these guns were produced by VKT factory during the WW2, and although 20mm shells were rather ineffective against Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, Finnish army made a good use of this weapon to fight light armor, bunkers and other targets of importance. In 1944, an 'anti-aircraft rifle', known as 20 it kiv/39-44, was developed from the L-39, by adding select-fire capability and simple anti-aircraft mount. It must be noted that Finnish army kept its stocks of Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifles well after the WW2 - many were surplussed and sold to USA in early 1960s and last ones were scrapped or sold as surplus in mid-1980s.

Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle is a semi-automatic, gas operated weapon. Gas piston is located below the barrel, and a manual gas regulator is provided in gas block. The bolt locking is achieved by vertically sliding locking block, which is installed in the bolt. When in battery, this locking block is forced up by cam surface in the bolt carrier to engage the slot cut in the receiver. After discharge, rearward movement of the gas piston and bolt carrier forces the locking block to fall down and unblock the bolt; after that, bolt is free to recoil along with bolt carrier. One unusual feature of the Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle is that bolt remains open after each shot, which allows the barrel to cool down faster after each shot. Despite that, gun is fires from closed bolt, and the firing sequence after each shot involves two deliberate actions. First, shooter must squeeze grip lever (located below the trigger guard) to release bolt forward. Once bolt is fully locked, shooter can pull the conventional trigger and fire the gun. Feed is from detachable top-mounted magazines, ejection is to the bottom. To reduce the felt recoil, rifle is equipped with massive muzzle brake and a soft shoulder pad. Standard iron sights are fully adjustable and calibrated between 200 and 1400 meters. Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle was equipped with unusual "dual" bipod, with two sets of legs, one with spiked shoes for use on more or less hard ground and another with skid-type shoes for use on soft ground or snow.

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Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle

Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle.

 

14.5x114 ammunition in PTRS en-block clip.

Type / action	semi-automatic, gas operated
Caliber	14.5x114
Weight unloaded	20,9 kg
Length	2108 mm
Barrel length	mm
Magazine capacity	5 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	with BS-41 projectile: 100 m / 90o / 40 mm; 300 m / 90o / 35 mm

  The PTRS (ПТРС - ПротивоТанковое Ружье Симонова- Simonov anti-tank rifle) was rapidly developed by famous Russian arms designer Simonov during the late summer of 1941, when Red Army issued the urgent requirements for a man-portable and inexpensive anti-tank weapon, suitable for infantry use. Developed, produced and used concurrently with Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle, it became an important asset of the Soviet infantry during the earlier stages of the Great Patriotic war, altought the PTRS was manufactured in smaller numbers, due to its more cokplex and expensive construction. This weapon used a powerful round, especially designed for anti-tank role, which fired armor-piercing projectiles of 14.5mm caliber (see 14.5x114 entry in Ammunition section for details). With improved BS-41 armor-piercing bullets with tungsten cores the PTRS was able to penetrate of up to 40 mm of steel armor at 100 meters range. The same bullet also easily penetrated log and sand entrenchments, brick walls and other battlefield obstacles, to provide fire support for infantry. About 60 000 of these rifles were manufactured in USSR in 1941 and 1942, when rapid evolution of German armor made these anti-tank rifles obsolete. Nevertheless, many PTRS rifles were used as ancillary anti-tank and infantry support equipment until the end of the war, and few also saw the action during the war in Korea.

The Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle is a semi-automatic weapon that uses gas-operated action. Short-stroke gas piston is located above the barrel, and the barrel locking is achieved by vertically tilting bolt. Gas block is fitted with manual gas regulator with 3 settings. Feed is from integral box magazine which holds five rounds in en-block clip, similar to that used in US M1 Garand rifle. Clips are loaded into integral magazine from the bottom, by unlatching the magazine body, swinging it down and forward, loading the clip into the body and then closing and locking it back to rifle. Magazine is fitted with automatic bolt stop device, which locks the bolt group in the open position once tha last cartridge is expended from magazine. To mitigate heavy recoil, Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle is equipped with massive muzzle brake and rubber buttpad. Iron sights are adjustable for range between 100 and 1500 meters in 50-meter increments, although the rifle was considered to be effective only up to 300-400 meters.Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle is also equipped with folding bipod and a carrying handle.

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Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle

Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle

Type / action	Single shot bolt action
Caliber	14.5x114
Weight unloaded	17.3 kg
Length	2000 mm
Barrel length	1350 mm
Magazine capacity	-
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	with BS-41 projectile: 100 m / 90o / 40 mm; 300 m / 90o / 35 mm

 The PTRD (ПТРД - ПротивоТанковое Ружье Дегтярева - Degtyarov anti-tank rifle) was rapidly developed by famous Russian arms designer Fedor Degtyarov during the late summer of 1941, when Red Army issued the urgent requirements for a man-portable and inexpensive anti-tank weapon, suitable for infantry use. Developed, produced and used concurrently with Simonov PTRS anti-tank rifle, it became an important asset of the Soviet infantry during the earlier stages of the Great Patriotic war. This weapon used a powerful round, especially designed for anti-tank role, which fired armor-piercing projectiles of 14.5mm caliber (see 14.5x114 entry in Ammunition section for details). With improved BS-41 armor-piercing bullets with tungsten cores the PTRD was able to penetrate of up to 40 mm of steel armor at 100 meters range. The same bullet also easily penetrated log and sand entrenchments, brick walls and other battlefield obstacles, to provide fire support for infantry. About 190 000 of these rifles were manufactured in USSR in 1941 and 1942, when rapid evolution of German armor made these anti-tank rifles obsolete. Nevertheless, many PTRD rifles were used as ancillary anti-tank and infantry support equipment until the end of the war, and few also saw the action during the war in Korea.

The Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle is a manually operated, single shot rifle. It uses conventional rotary bolt cation with single-piece bolt that has two radial locking lugs at the front. One unusual feature of the PTRD action is its self-ejection: the barrel was allowed to slide back under recoil, compressing the spring buffer located in the shoulder stock. Upon recoil, the bolt handle struck the cam plate, located on the right side of the stock. This plate forced the bolt handle to rotate up and unlock the bolt. After this, the barrel recoil movement was stopped and the heavy bolt was allowed to recoil under its own inertia, to open up the action and extract and eject fired case. Once the ejection was complete, the shooter had to manually load a fresh round into the chamber and manually close the bolt for the next shot. To provide additional recoil mitigation, barrel was equipped with massive muzzle brake, and the shoulder stock had shock-absorbing pad. Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle was fitted with simple iron sights with dual setting, for ranges between 100 - 400 and 400 - 1000 meters, although the rifle was considered to be effective only up to 300 - 400 meters. Line of sight was offset to the left to provide more comfortable shooting position and clear shooter's face from recoiling bolt. To provide better stability, rifle was fitted with folding bipod, and a carrying handle was attached to the barrel.

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Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35 / PzB 35 anti-tank rifle

Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35 anti-tank rifle.

Type / action	manually operated bolt action
Caliber	7.92x107
Weight unloaded	9 kg
Length	1760 mm
Barrel length	1200 mm
Magazine capacity	4 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 30 mm

 The Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35 anti-tank rifle was developed in Poland in mid-1930s, and kept under strict secrecy, which resulted in limited use of this weapon during the German attack on the Poland in 1939, despite the fact that this weapon was effective enough to deal with German tanks of the period. Some Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35 anti-tank rifles were captured by German army, where these were known as PzB 35(p). The peculiar name "Kb Ur" comes from the attempt of the Polish army to disguise this development as the "rifle for Uruguay". Rifle was built around proprietary, rifle-caliber round (metric designation 7.92x107), which had very long and slender case, and was loaded with conventional, lead-cored jacketed bullet  (12.8 gram, 1220 m/s). Due to the very high muzzle velocities, the barrel life of the rifle was relatively short (barrels normally had to be replaced every 300 rounds or so). Total production of the wz.35 anti-tank rifles is estimated at about 6 500 guns, which were delivered to Polish army before the German occupation. 

The Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35 anti-tank rifle is amanually operated, bolt action rifle. It uses Mauser-type rotary bolt with frontal locking lugs. Feed is from detachable box magazine which holds 4 rounds. Rifle is equipped with traditional wooden stock and folding bipod. The long barrel is fitted with effective muzzle brake. Iron sights are of fixed type, set for 300 meters range.

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PzB M.SS.41 / PzB-41(t) anti-tank rifle

PzB M.SS.41 anti-tank rifle.

 

PzB M.SS.41 anti-tank rifle.

Type / action	manually operated bolt action
Caliber	7.92x94 Patr.318
Weight unloaded	13 kg
Length	1360 mm
Barrel length	1100 mm
Magazine capacity	5 or 10 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 30 mm; 300 m / 90o / 20 mm

 The antitank rifle, generally known as PzB M.SS.41, was developed in Czechoslovakia, at CZ factory in Brno. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia small numbers of these antitank rifles were manufactured for Waffen SS. This rare weapon bears the distinction of being the first small arm of bullpup (bull-pup) layout ever to be used by any military force (rifles of bullpup layout were experimentally built even before the WW1, but none reached service before M.SS.41). In terms of combat effectiveness this rifle was similar to German PzB-38 and PzB-39 antitank rifles, although it was more compact and had faster rate of fire due to magazine feed. Like mentioned weapons, PzB M.SS.41 antitank rifle became obsolete by 1942.

The PzB M.SS.41 antitank rifle is a manually operated, bolt action weapon. Unlike most other rifles, it has a stationary breech and sliding barrel, which is allowed to rotate and move forward and backward inside the stock / cradle. To open the breech, shooter first has to unlock the barrel from the breech by rotating barrel counter-clockwise; this is done by turning the pistol grip, which is attached to the barrel, right and up. Once barrel is unlocked from stationary breech, it can be pulled forward by pushing the pistol grip to the front. If the spent case is present in the gun, it remains stationary against the breech, held by extractor. Once the barrel is fully forward, the spent case is free to fall out of the gun. Barrel then is pulled rearward, and upon this movement it picks up the fresh cartridge from the box magazine, which is attached to the stationary stock / cradle at the angle. Once the barrel is in its rearmost position, enclosing the fresh round in the chamber, it can be locked to the breech by turning the pistol grip down. Now the rifle is ready to be fired. This unusual construction allows for extremely compact action, making the rifle very short, compared to other weapons of similar characteristics, but of conventional design. The PzB M.SS.41 antitank rifle was equipped with non-adjustable iron sights, mounted on folding bases and zeroed for 500 meters. To reduce the felt recoil, a muzzle brake was installed on the barrel and a soft shoulder pad was attached to the shoulder stock. Rifle was normally fired from integral folding bipod.

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Panzerbüchse PzB-38 (Pz.B.38) and PzB-39 (Pz.B.39) anti-tank rifle

Pz.B.38 antitank rifle with spare ammunition box attached to the gun.

 

Pz.B.39 antitank rifle.

 

Pz.B.39 antitank rifle, with spare ammunition box attached to the gun. The pistol grip is dropped down to open the breech for reloading.

 

GrB-39 grenade launcher, converted from PzB-39 antitank rifle.

	PzB-38	PzB-39
Type / action	manually operated single shot, automatic ejection	manually operated single shot
Caliber	7.92x94 Patr.318
Weight unloaded	16.2 kg	12.1 kg
Length	1615 mm	1600 mm (1255 mm folded for transport)
Barrel length	mm	mm
Magazine capacity	-	-
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 30 mm; 300 m / 90o / 20 mm

Based on their WW1-era experience with T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle, in late 1930s German army initiated development of the similar weapon. The first "Hitler's anti-tank rifle" was so called Panzerbüchse Modell 1938 or Pz.B.38 in short, which translates to "Tank rifle, model of 1938". It was developed and produced at Gustloff werke, using newly developed rifle-caliber high-velocity ammunition, known as 7.92mm Patrone 318 (14.3 gram AP bullet at 1210 m/s). This ammunition was usually loaded with steel-cored (SmK) bullet, although AP-Tracer and AP-Chemical loadings also were produced in this caliber. Less than 2 thousands of the PzB-38 rifles were built in following 2 years when it was discovered that it was too heavy and too complicated, and a simplified and lightened version was requested. It was adopted by 1940 as PzB-39, and slightly less than 40 000 of these guns were delivered to Wehrmacht (Hitler's army) in 1940-41. Following the widespread use of Soviet T-34 tanks, whose armor was well beyond capabilities of PzB-39, many of these rifles were converted to grenade launchers by cutting the barrels down and installing cup-type muzzle launchers. Such launchers were known as GrB-39, and fired various grenades using special blank cartridges. 

The PzB-38 antitank rifle is a single shot, manually loaded rifle. It uses vertically sliding breechblock, which is dropped down to open the barrel for reloading, and then rose up for locking before fire. The barrel and breech are allowed to recoil against the buffer in the stock. This recoil movement helps to decrease peak recoil which is felt by the shooter. It is also used to drop the breechblock automatically and eject the spent case. The fresh cartridge is then loaded into the barrel by hand, and the breech closed through the push on the charging handle, which is located to the right of the breech. The same handle also can be used to drop (open) breech manually, by pulling it to the rear. Rifle is equipped with conical flash hider, folding tubular buttstock and a bipod. To facilitate faster reloading in combat, two ammunition boxes can be attached to either side of the receiver, each holding ten rounds, ready to be picked up by hand and loaded into the gun.

The PzB-39 antitank rifle has similar layout but much simplified design. Barrel recoil and automatic ejection features are discarded, and the vertical movement of the breech block (down to open, up to close) is controlled by tilting pistol grip. To open the breech, operator has to unlock the pistol grip and tilt it down and forward. Once empty cartridge is ejected and fresh one is loaded, operator has to pull the pistol grip back and up until it locks in place. The barrel is fitted with muzzle brake. For transportation, tubular buttstock folds to the right, and a carrying handle is provided on the barrel. Folding bipod is attached to the front of the stock.PzB-39 antitank rifle was equipped with fixed iron sights, zeroed for 400 meters range.

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Mauser T-gewehr anti-tank rifle

Mauser T-gewehr anti-tank rifle.

Type / action	manually operated bolt cation, single shot
Caliber	13x92SR
Weight unloaded	17.7 kg
Length	1680 mm
Barrel length	984 mm
Magazine capacity	-
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	100 m / 90o / 20 mm; 300 m / 90o / 15 mm

  Mauser T-Gewehr (Tank abwehr Gewehr M1918 = anti-tank rifle, model 1918) weapon is the first of its kind ever to be adopted and see the combat. It was designed in Germany during the closing stages of World War 1, to provide German infantry with inexpensive and man-portable weapon, capable to defeat the armor of the newest British invention, the battle tank. It was adopted in 1918 and manufactured by Mauser Werke arms factory until the Armistice, with total production estimated at about 15 thousands of rifles. The Mauser T-gewehr anti-tank rifle proved to be effective enough against earliest British tanks, as their armor was designed to withstand only rifle-caliber ammunition and shrapnel, and the T-Gewehr fired purpose-designed large caliber cartridge loaded with steel-core AP bullet (52 g at 770 m/s). The major drawbacks of the T-gewehr were heavy recoil, heavy weight and huge size - features, later inherited by most weapons of similar class and purpose. It is rumored that normally T-gewehr crew members fired only about 2 or 3 rounds before passing the gun to the team-mate, as they suffered heavily from excessive recoil - the rifle had no recoil mitigation means, such as buffered buttstocks, soft buttpads and muzzle brakes, which became the must for latter weapons of the same class.

Mauser T-gewehr anti-tank rifle is a manually operated, single shot bolt action rifle. It uses more or less traditional Mauser-type rotary bolt with frontal locking lugs. Cartridges are loaded manually directly into the chamber. Rifle is fitted into the wooden stock with pistol grip, and an MG-08/15-type bipod is fitted to the front of the stock. The iron sights consisted of the blade front and tangent-type rear, with settings from 100 to 500 meters.

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Boys Mk.I, Mk.I* and Mk.II anti-tank rifle

Boys Mk.I anti-tank rifle, with circular muzzle brake and "inverted T" shaped bipod, as made by BSA in england.

 

Boys Mk.I* anti-tank rifle, with flat muzzle brake and "inverted V" shaped bipod, as made by Inglis in Canada.

Data for Boys Mk.I anti-tank rifle

Type / action	manually operated bolt action
Caliber	.55 Boys (13.9x99B)
Weight unloaded	16.3 kg
Length	1626 mm
Barrel length	910 mm
Magazine capacity	5 rounds
Armor penetration (Range / Angle / Penetration)	W Mk.1 bullet: 100 m / 90o / 16 mm W Mk.2 bullet: 100 m / 70o / 20 mm

 The Boys anti-tank rifle was named after its designer, captain H Boys at RSAF Enfield, who died shortly before the adoption of this weapon late in 1937. This weapon was in service with British forces until about 1943, although its effectiveness against German tanks became insufficient on much earlier stages of war. This rifle was produced by BSA Ltd in three basic versions, Mk.I, Mk.I* and Mk.II, with total production reaching 62 thousands of rifles. The Boys Mk.I was original British-made version, with round muzzle brake and T-shaped bipod. The Boys Mk.I* rifles were produced in Canada by John Inglis co, and were distinguished primary by flat muzzle brake and V-shaped bipod. The Boys Mk.II version was rarest of the three, as it was designed especially for airborne troops and had shortened barrel. Boys rifles were normally used from its own bipods, and also were fitted to "Universal carrier" armored tracked vehicles. The ammunition used in the Boys antitank rifle was peculiar to this weapon, using belted case 99mm long, loaded with AP bullets with steel core (W Mk.1, 60 g, 747 m/s) or tungsten core (W Mk.2, 47.6 g, 884 m/s). Boys anti-tank rifles saw some action against Soviet tanks during the Winter war in Finland (1940), and later against German armor in Europe and Japanese armor in Pacific theater. Generally, this weapon appeared to be less than popular due to complex design of certain parts, heavy weight and recoil, and insufficient armor penetration.

The Boys anti-tank rifle is a manually operated bolt cation rifle. It uses rotary bolt with frontal locking lugs. Feed is from top-mounted detachable box magazine with 5-round capacity. To mitigate the heavy recoil, the barreled action is allowed to recoil against the buffer in the stock, and the barrel is equipped with muzzle brake. Shoulder stock is fitted with additional cushioned pad. Rifle was normally fired from folding bipod, and it was equipped with open sights, which were offset to the left to clear top-mounted magazine. The rear sight was of aperture type, either fixed one (set for 300 yards / 271 meters range), or with two range settings (up to 300 yards and 300-500 yards).

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Safir arms T15 rifle and carbine

T15 'Classic' semi-automatic rifle.
Image: Safir Arms

 T16 'Classic' selective-fire rifle.
Image: Safir Arms

 T15 'Classic S' rifle.
Image: Safir Arms

 T15 'Compact' carbine.
Image: Safir Arms

 T15 'Compact S' carbine.
Image: Safir Arms

Data for T15 'Classic' rifle

Type / action	gas operated, direct impingement, rotating bolt
Caliber(s)	5.56x45 mm / .223 Remington
Weight unloaded	3.4 kg
Length	1000 mm
Barrel length	500 mm
Magazine capacity	30 rounds

The T15 rifle, as made in Turkey by Safir arms company, is a copy of the famous American Ar-15 rifle in its semi-automatic version. The T15 is intended for civilian and police use, but Safir arms also makes selective-fire version of the same design, known as T16, which is intended for military use. For countries that prohibit civilian ownership of semi-automatic firearms, a manually-operated version of T15 is also manufactured. Both T15 and T16 rifles are available in different configurations, with fixed or telescoping buttstock, and with fixed "M16A2-style" carrying handle or flat-top "M16A3-style" upper receivers. Carbine versions of both rifles also available with same modifications, and with any reasonable barrel lengths according to customer preferences.
Another interesting feature of the T15 is that it can be easily converted to 36 gauge semi-automatic shotgun with installation of the T14 shotgun upper receiver, made by the same company.

The T15 rifle is gas-operated weapon that uses Stoner direct impingement gas system, in which hot powder gases are fed from the barrel and via steel tube into the bolt carrier body, where they expand to operate the action. The bolt group is also of Stoner design, with 8-lug rotary bolt that engages the barrel extension. Receiver is made from two halves, upper and lower, both manufactured from aircraft-grade aluminum alloy and connected by two cross-pins. Barrels are manufactured using cold hammer forging process, which ensures long service life and good accuracy, yet maintaining affordable price of the entire gun. Manual safety (which also works as a fire mode selector in T16 rifle) is located on the left side of the receiver. Overall, controls and design of the trigger unit are similar to that of Ar-15 rifle, and include bolt stop release button and T-shaped cocking handle above the buttstock. In standard configuration, T15 and T16 rifles feature M16A2-style adjustable sights, with diopter-type rear sight built into the carrying handle, although 'flat-top' models with Picatinny rail instead of the carrying handle can be produced upon request. Standard furniture is black polymer, with fixed or telescoping buttstock (the latter also features no-slip rubber buttplate). Magazines are same as used in Ar-15 / M16 rifles, and a number of other accessories, compatible with Ar-15 / M16 rifles also can be fitted to T-15 and T-16 rifles.

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TPD AXR rifle

TPD Inc. AXR rifle,left side.

TPD Inc. AXR rifle,right side.

Type / action	gas operated, rotating bolt
Caliber(s)	5.56x45mm / .223 Rem, also 6.8x43 mm Rem SPC
Weightunloaded	3.2 kg
Length	667 mm / 26.25" (with 406mm / 16" barrel)
Barrel length	406 mm/ 16" or 457 mm / 18"
Magazinecapacity	30 rounds standard, any M16/Ar15 compatiblemagazine will fit

The AXR (Advanced eXtensible Rifle) weapon was developed by US-based company Tactical Product Design (TPD) Inc. The AXR is based on the famous Austrian SteyrAUGassault rifle. Manufacture of this clone became possible because original patents for  SteyrAUG have expired, and the demand for civilian version of this weapon in USA was not covered by import of original Austrian-made rifles. TPD designers created a faithful copy of Steyr AUG,so most parts are interchangeable between the AXR and AUG.Prime differences between AXR and its prototype are in materials (TPD claims to use most modern metals and polymers in its design, which are superior to those available 30 years ago in original Steyr rifle) and use of STANAG / M16 type magazines rather than proprietary magazines.Optional caliber conversion kit allows to upgrade the AXR from 5.56mm /.223 to more potent 6.8mm Rem SPC caliber. At the present time AXR is offered only in semi-automatic version, for civilian and police use.

TPDAXR rifle is gas-operated semi-automatic weapon of bullpup configuration. The receiver is made from aluminum alloy, the stock / housing is made from impact-resistant polymer. Barrels are quick-detachable, with barrel lock incorporated into the gas block /forward grip base. Adjustable gas system features short-stroke gaspiston, located to the right of the barrel. Bolt group rides on dual guide rods, and different user-replaceable multi-lug rotary bolts are available for right- or left-hand ejection. It must be noted that current polymer stocks of AXR rifle does not permit easy change of the ejection direction, as ejection port is made only on one side of the stock. AXR is equipped with bolt hold-opendevice; bolt catch can be deactivated by pulling the charging handle.The originalSteyrAUG-type bolt closure device is incorporated into the design,in the form of the button on the charging handle. Normally non-reciprocating charging handle is located also on the left side, in front of the receiver; push on the button locks the handle to the bolt group, allowing to use it for manual bolt closing. AXR rifle accepts any M16 / Ar15-type magazines; magazine release buttons are located below the stock, behind the magazine housing, and on the left side of the stock, above the magazine. Manual safety is of cross-boltbutton style, located above the pistol grip. No sights are installed by default on AXR rifle; instated, each rifle is equipped with Picatinny-type rail on the top of receiver, which permits installation of any type of sighting equipment using appropriate mountings.

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SIG 556 semi-automatic rifle

 SIG 556 semi-automatic rifle,left side; buttstock collapsed.

 SIG 556 semi-automatic rifle,right side.

Type / action	semi-automatic rifle,gas-operated
Caliber(s)	.223Remington (5.56x45)
Weightunloaded	3.54 kg/ 7.8 lbs
Length	940 mm / 37"
Barrel length	406 mm/ 16"
Magazinecapacity	30 rounds

The SIG 556 semi-automatic rifle was announced in 2006 as a rifle for civilian and law-enforcement use.It is produced by international SIGARMS (now SIG Sauer) arms corporation and intended primary for US market. SIG 556 is based on SIG SG 550 assaul trifle, which is in use by Swiss army, and is limited to semi-automatic fire only, thus being legal in most countries that permit civilians to own rifles. SIG Sauer also produces a SIG 556 SWAT semi-automatic rifle which has a different butt stock and a 4-rail forend.

The SIG 556 semi-automatic rifle is gas operated, using short-stroke gaspiston located above the barrel. Gas system has manual gas regulator with two settings for normal and harsh conditions. The barrel is locked using rotary bolt with two massive lugs. Receiver is redesigned from original SIG SG 550 rifle, and features stamped steel upper part matedto aluminum alloy  lower part which houses a trigger unit and a redesigned magazine housing which accepts all M16 / Ar-15 type magazines.A bolt stop device is incorportaed into design. Manual safety is ambidextrous and located above the pistolgrip. As a standard, rifle is shipped with 30-round magazine. In basic configuration SIG 556 has no iron sights (adjustable folding ironsights are optional). Top of receiver is fitted with Picatinny rail foreasy installation of various optical or red-dot sights; additional rails are installed on the forend, at 3-, 6- and 9-o'clock positions.Buttstock is of non-folding, telescoped adjustable type.

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