17pdr APDS vs PANTHER | Sub-Calibre Simulation | Armour Piercing Developments Vol. 2

Simulating the Mk.1 Armour-Piercing Discarding-Sabot round of the 17-Pounder against the Panther at 100-1500m. Projectiles with sub-calibre penetrators increase penetration by focussing the projectiles energy onto a smaller area, with APCR projectiles being used at the beginning of the WW2. These projectiles had a hard, dense core, normally encased in a steel body; this offered increased penetration and velocity, but the body hindered the projectile through drag and wasted mass (the body would not contribute to penetration). The solution to this was having the core sit in a lightweight sabot, which would fall away during flight, thereby reducing the drag and wasted mass (known as APDS). One of the APDS forerunners was the one used by the 17-pounder, where its tungsten carbide core increased the cannon’s penetration by around 50%. The Mk.1 projectile suffered from great inaccuracy but its design influenced many future APDS designs. An interesting note is how much the projectile deviates