Post by kanowarrior on Dec 27, 2010 13:33:10 GMT -5
Interestingly enough as part of the research I have been doing lately I just looked up the penetration tables for the M2HB .50 caliber and other American weapons vs German armor. One should remember that following WWI the M2HB .50 caliber machine gun was created as an Anti-tank weapon, not Anti-aircraft or personnel, but it evolved as tank armor increased and by WWII most tanks were to thickly armored against the .50 caliber round, but lightly armored vehicles were not. These specs should bear that out.
Now to keep things in perspective, remember that the CHG bylaws state all Machine guns only have a range of 100 YARDS. Break that down to Meters and you get 91.44 meters. That means that even with these changes you are getting better than listed penetration. Well, to put it bluntly, your hitting your target as Point Blank Range. Your pretty much going to penetrate even thru the frontal armor and you don't have to use Armored Piercing ammo to do it.
The M2HB .50 caliber Lead bullet round has a penetration of:
22mm of armor at 100 meters
19mm of armor at 500 meters
The M2HB .50 caliber armor piercing bullet has a penetration of:
28 to 26mm of armor at 100 meters
25 to 22mm of armor at 500 meters
The Sd.Kfz. 251 German half track had 15mm to 6mm of armor.
Obviously the 15mm was frontal armor and 6mm was the rear armor. Now the sloping armor does account for some extra protection but how much is not shown by mere numbers. The frontal armor of an Sd.Kfz wasn't sloped by very much, the sloping factor applied more on the sides but I have not yet found the specific thickness of the side armor. Remember also, a .50 caliber lead or armor piercing bullet would only penetrate one side. Once it did it lost much of it's forward velocity and at that point would literally "bounce" around until it hit something. American half tracks without sloping armor had this problem with AP rounds fired from rifles. This is why you don't see half tracks from either side used as tanks punching thru front lines like the SS use theirs at reenactments.
Now comes the really interesting part. The Sd.Kfz. 222 German Armored car.
The German Sd.Kfz. 222 has only 8mm to 5mm of armor. Far less armor than the 251 half track! This is because the Sd.Kfz 222 was developed very early in the war and was never intended to withstand AT fire but only small arms. One reason for this is because the doctrine of most armies (including the US) was Armored cars were fast and used for a reconnaisance role, not frontal attack like we see them being used in the CHG.
Clearly the German vehicles mentioned were not built to withstand .50 caliber fire. Only small arms fire and most likely they were just as vunerable to sustained .30 caliber machine fire especially with armored piercing rounds which the GI's were known to load alot in their MG ammo belts. Most of the time .30 Cal ammo belts were hand loaded.
Bledsoe did this research some time ago when we first started getting our .50 cals and jeeps. He also included information on the increased effectiveness of the German armor with sloping but his numbers were two to five times the range of the CHG bylaws and even with that the German armor could not withstand the .50 caliber round. Taking into consideration the slope of the armor on the Armored car the maximum frontal armor of the 222 would still only be equivilent to a maximum of 15.5mm and that is in the REAR of the superstructure. The front has no more than an increased thickness of 13.6 to 13.9mm, well within the penetration capabilities of the .50 caliber round.
Now to keep things in perspective, remember that the CHG bylaws state all Machine guns only have a range of 100 YARDS. Break that down to Meters and you get 91.44 meters. That means that even with these changes you are getting better than listed penetration. Well, to put it bluntly, your hitting your target as Point Blank Range. Your pretty much going to penetrate even thru the frontal armor and you don't have to use Armored Piercing ammo to do it.
The M2HB .50 caliber Lead bullet round has a penetration of:
22mm of armor at 100 meters
19mm of armor at 500 meters
The M2HB .50 caliber armor piercing bullet has a penetration of:
28 to 26mm of armor at 100 meters
25 to 22mm of armor at 500 meters
The Sd.Kfz. 251 German half track had 15mm to 6mm of armor.
Obviously the 15mm was frontal armor and 6mm was the rear armor. Now the sloping armor does account for some extra protection but how much is not shown by mere numbers. The frontal armor of an Sd.Kfz wasn't sloped by very much, the sloping factor applied more on the sides but I have not yet found the specific thickness of the side armor. Remember also, a .50 caliber lead or armor piercing bullet would only penetrate one side. Once it did it lost much of it's forward velocity and at that point would literally "bounce" around until it hit something. American half tracks without sloping armor had this problem with AP rounds fired from rifles. This is why you don't see half tracks from either side used as tanks punching thru front lines like the SS use theirs at reenactments.
Now comes the really interesting part. The Sd.Kfz. 222 German Armored car.
The German Sd.Kfz. 222 has only 8mm to 5mm of armor. Far less armor than the 251 half track! This is because the Sd.Kfz 222 was developed very early in the war and was never intended to withstand AT fire but only small arms. One reason for this is because the doctrine of most armies (including the US) was Armored cars were fast and used for a reconnaisance role, not frontal attack like we see them being used in the CHG.
Clearly the German vehicles mentioned were not built to withstand .50 caliber fire. Only small arms fire and most likely they were just as vunerable to sustained .30 caliber machine fire especially with armored piercing rounds which the GI's were known to load alot in their MG ammo belts. Most of the time .30 Cal ammo belts were hand loaded.
Bledsoe did this research some time ago when we first started getting our .50 cals and jeeps. He also included information on the increased effectiveness of the German armor with sloping but his numbers were two to five times the range of the CHG bylaws and even with that the German armor could not withstand the .50 caliber round. Taking into consideration the slope of the armor on the Armored car the maximum frontal armor of the 222 would still only be equivilent to a maximum of 15.5mm and that is in the REAR of the superstructure. The front has no more than an increased thickness of 13.6 to 13.9mm, well within the penetration capabilities of the .50 caliber round.
