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ShVAK cannon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The ShVAK (Russian: ШВАК: Шпитальный-Владимиров Авиационный Крупнокалиберный, Shpitalnyi-Vladimirov Aviatsionnyi Krupnokalibernyi, "Shpitalny-Vladimirov large-calibre for aircraft") was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK was installed in many Soviet aircraft including Yakovlev Yak-1, Polikarpov I-153 and I-16, Lavochkin La-5 and La-7, LaGG-3, early Ilyushin Il-2, and Soviet-modified Hawker Hurricane aircraft as well as T-38 and T-60 tanks.
The TNSh was a version of this gun for tanks (Russian: ТНШ: Tankovyi Nudel’man-Shpitalnyi).
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ShVAK 20 mm autocannon is a large-caliber version of the 12.7 mm ShKAS machine gun. The machine gun entered production in 1934 but proved unreliable, difficult to manufacture, and prone to jamming which often required partial or complete disassembly of the weapon. Its production was stopped in 1936. The autocannon version differed only in larger caliber of the barrel. It is a gas-operated belt-fed weapon with either cable or pneumatic charging in remote applications. ShVAK ammunition consisted of a mix of fragmentation-incendiary and armor piercing-incendiary rounds. The damaging effect of this ammunition was considered weak for the caliber. As the result, towards the end of Great Patriotic War ShVAK was supplanted by Berezin B-20, Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23, and Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 autocannons.
- Caliber: 20 mm
- Cartridge: 20×99R
- Rate of fire: 700–800 rounds/min
- Muzzle velocity: 750–790 m/s
- Weight: 88 lb (40 kg) without ammunition for the wing version
- Length: 66.1 in (1679 mm) for the wing version
| USSR Designation | US Abbreviation | Bullet Weight [g] | Muzzle Velocity [m/s] | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OZ | HEI | 96.0 | 770 | Nose fuze, 2.8 g HE + 3.3 g incendiary |
| OZT | HEI-T | 96.5 | 770 | Nose fuze, 2.8 g HE + 3.3 g incendiary, tracer |
| OF | HE-Frag. |
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Nose fuze, 6.7 g HE, fragmentation grooves on shell |
| OFZ | HEI-Frag. | 91.0 | 790 | Nose fuze, 0.8 g HE + 3.8 g incendiary, fragmentation grooves on shell |
| BZ | API-HC | 96.0 | 750 | Mild steel projectile case with hardened steel core, surrounded
by 2.5 g incendiary, screwed on aluminum, or bakelite ballistic cap |
| BZ | API-HC |
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As above but with swaged steel nose cap |
| BZ | API |
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Solid steel shot with incendiary in swaged steel cap |
| BZT | API-T |
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As above but with tracer in base cavity |
| PU | TP |
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Inert filled HEI shell with dummy fuze |
| PUT | TP-T |
|
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Empty solid head projectile with swaged tracer in base cavity |
| Name | Cartridge | Projectile weight |
Rate of fire | Muzzle velocity |
Gun weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (grams) | (rpm) | (m/s) | (kg) | ||
| France | |||||
| HS.9 | 20 x 110RB | 122 | 360-420 | 830 | 48 |
| HS.404 | 20 x 110 | 130 | 700 | 880 | 60 |
| Germany | |||||
| MG FF | 20 x 80RB | 134 | 520 | 600 | 28 |
| MG FF/M | 20 x 80RB | 92/115 | 540/520 | 700/585 | 28 |
| MG 151/20 | 20 x 82 | 92/115 | 750 - 800 | 800/720 | 42 |
| Japanese Army | |||||
| Type 94 Flexible | 20 x 99RB | 127 | 380 | 675 | 43 |
| Ho-1 | 20 x 125 | 144 | 400 | 805 | 45 |
| Ho-3 | 20 x 125 | 144 | 400 | 805 | 45 |
| Ho-5 | 20 x 94 | 96 | 750 - 850 | 715 | 37 |
| Japanese Navy | |||||
| Type 99-1 | 20 x 72RB | 129 | 520 | 525 | 26 |
| Type 99-2 | 20 x 101RB | 128 | 490 | 750 | 34 |
| Great Britain | |||||
| Hispano Mk.II | 20 x 110 | 130 | 600 | 880 | 50 |
| Hispano Mk.V | 20 x 110 | 130 | 750 | 840 | 42 |
| USSR | |||||
| ShVAK | 20 x 99R | 95 | 800 | 750 - 770 | 42 |
| Berezin B-20 | 20 x 99R | 95 | 800 | 750 - 770 | 25 |
- Широкорад А.Б. (2001) История авиационного вооружения Харвест (Shirokorad A.B. (2001) Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia Harvest. ISBN 985-433-695-6) (History of aircraft armament)
- 20mm TNSh Tank Gun at battlefield.ru
- THE RUSSIAN AMMUNITION PAGE
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