Can HESH be fired from smoothbore?

HESH rounds are mostly fired from guns with rifled barrels rather than smoothbore ones. HESH ammunition has good general purpose use, being effective against most targets, though the round is generally used at relatively low velocities because high velocity excessively disperses the pat of explosive.

Are HESH rounds effective?

The major advantage of HESH lies in its usefulness as a multipurpose round. It is approximately 90\% as effective as a conventional High Explosive (HE) round against unarmoured targets and considerably better than HE against bunkers and buildings.

Why do British tanks still use HESH?

HESH was favoured by the British (some say to the point of fetishism!) because the round is versatile. It can kill tanks, is very effective against masonry targets, bunkers etc and about 90\% as effective as HE against enemy troops. [Ref 4].

Why are modern cannons smooth bore?

The smoothbore design of most modern tank barrels makes it easier for tanks to fire missiles through the same barrel used to fire projectiles. The gun itself is not the sole factor influencing the range of a tank during combat operations.

How does high explosive anti tank work?

High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is a type of shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armour. The jet’s effect is purely kinetic in nature; the round has no explosive or incendiary effect on the target.

Is HESH still used today?

HESH rounds are still carried today by armoured engineer vehicles; they are typically intended for use against fortifications rather than armoured fighting vehicles. A 165 mm HESH round is used by the United States Army for the main gun of the M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle, an M60 tank equipped with a bulldozer blade.

Why do tanks have smooth bore guns?

The reason tank guns are smoothbore is the switch from HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) to kinetic energy rounds sabot as the primary anti-tank round. Kinetic energy rounds are subcaliber rounds (smaller than the bore) and aren’t effective if the spun by rifling.

Is smoothbore better than rifled?

The chief advantages of smoothbore designs are their greater suitability for fin stabilised ammunition and their greatly reduced barrel wear compared with rifled designs.

What is the advantage of smoothbore?

Smooth-bore guns have the advantage of being better suited to firing fin-stabilized armor piercing rounds. There is also the added benefit of the barrels being able to last longer with reduced barrel wear compared to rifled guns.

What is Hesh in World of Tanks?

High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) The value of this ammunition lies in finding the sides and rears of tanks like mediums and sometimes heavies, and shooting a high damage shell, with more reliability of it’s penetration than HE shells.

Can a smoothbore tank gun fire missiles?

The German company Rheinmetall developed a more conventional 120 mm smoothbore tank gun which does not fire missiles, adopted for the Leopard 2, and later the U.S. M1 Abrams. The chief advantages of smoothbore designs are their greater suitability for fin stabilised ammunition and their greatly reduced barrel wear compared with rifled designs.

What’s wrong with 120mm smoothbore?

A problem is that it is too long and thin to be stabilised by the spin and the fins necessary to stabilise it aerodynamically will de-spin it in very short order – fast enough to damage them and thereby degrade performance further out. The current 120mm smoothbore ammunition is one part. The current L30 rifle ammunition is two-part.

Why do sabot ammo have a slipping driving band?

Ammunition with a high length:diameter ratio (i.e APFSDS) is stablised by fins, rather like an arrow, and spinning tends to make it less stable. The slipping driving band allows the sabot itself to stay more or less ‘un-spun’ as it travels down the barrel.