ShVAK cannon
Encyclopedia
20 mm caliber
The 20 mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition, commonly the smallest caliber which is unambiguously a cannon and not a heavy machine gun....
autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
used by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy
Boris Shpitalniy
Boris Gavriilovich Shpitalny was a Soviet designer of aircraft guns and cannons, Hero of Socialist Labor , professor ....
and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK was installed in many Soviet aircraft including Yakovlev Yak-1
Yakovlev Yak-1
The Yakovlev Yak-1 was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft. Produced from early 1940, it was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings....
, Polikarpov I-153
Polikarpov I-153
The Russian Polikarpov I-153 Chaika was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the Soviet's major fighter types in the early years of the Second...
and I-16
Polikarpov I-16
The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first cantilever-winged monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear. The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II...
, Lavochkin La-5
Lavochkin La-5
|- See also :- References :NotesBibliography* Abanshin, Michael E. and Nina Gut. Fighting Lavochkin, Eagles of the East No.1. Lynnwood, WA: Aviation International, 1993. ISBN unknown....
and La-7
Lavochkin La-7
The Lavochkin La-7 was a piston-engined Soviet fighter developed during World War II by the Lavochkin Design Bureau . It was a development and refinement of the Lavochkin La-5, and the last in a family of aircraft that had begun with the LaGG-1 in 1938. Its first flight was in early 1944 and it...
, LaGG-3, early Ilyushin Il-2
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 was a ground-attack aircraft in the Second World War, produced by the Soviet Union in very large numbers...
, and Soviet-modified Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
aircraft as well as T-38 and T-60
T-60
The T-60 scout tank was a light tank produced by the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1942. In this time over 6,292 were built. The tank was designed to replace the obsolete T-38 amphibious scout tank.-Design:...
tanks.
The TNSh was a version of this gun for tanks .
Description
The ShVAK 20 mm autocannonAutocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
is a large-caliber version of the 12.7mm ShVAK machine gun. Plant INZ-2 began production of 12.7-mm of ShVak machine guns in 1935. During 1935-1936 12.7-mm ShKAS machine gun was rechambered to a 20-mm caliber round and serial production was launched. Some months later the 12.7-mm version has been removed from manufacture altogether.
The autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
version differed only in the caliber. It is a gas-operated disintegrating link ammunition 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. By 1944 ShVAK was supplanted by the 20-mm development of the Berezin UB 12.7-mm machine gun (UBS), the Berezin B-20
Berezin B-20
The Berezin B-20 was a 20 mm caliber autocannon used by Soviet aircraft in World War II.-Development:The B-20 was created by M.E. Berezin in 1944 by chambering his Berezin UB 12.7 mm machine gun for the 20 mm rounds used by the ShVAK cannon...
, which offered the same performance as 20-mm ShVAK but with the advantage of being significantly lighter.
Specifications
- CaliberCaliberIn guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
: 20 mm - CartridgeCartridge (firearms)A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
: 20×99R - Rate of fireRate of fireRate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. It is usually measured in rounds per minute , or per second .-Overview:...
: 700–800 rounds/min - Muzzle velocityMuzzle velocityMuzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
: 750–790 m/s (2,460-2,592 ft/s) - Weight: 88 lb (40 kg) without ammunition for the wing version
- Length: 66.1 in (1679 mm) for the wing version
Ammunition specifications
| 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. | 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 | As above but with swaged steel nose cap | ||
| BZ | API | Solid steel shot with incendiary in swaged steel cap | ||
| BZT | API-T | As above but with tracer in base cavity | ||
| PU | TP | Inert filled HEI shell with dummy fuze | ||
| PUT | TP-T | Empty solid head projectile with swaged tracer in base cavity |
See also
External links
- 20mm TNSh Tank Gun at battlefield.ru
- THE RUSSIAN AMMUNITION PAGE