PIAT: Britain’s Answer to the Anti-Tank Rifle Problem

The British began World War Two with the Boys antitank rifle, but like all antitank rifles it rather quickly became obsolete. The replacement for it was adopted in 1942 as the PIAT - Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank. This was a unique sort of weapon which fired a 3 pound (~) hollow charge projectile using a combination of a massive spring and a firing charge much like a rifle grenade blank cartridge - a spigot mortar, really. The large (“, 83mm) projectile was able to defeat almost any tank that wou