Finland in 1939 was on shaky ice with the Soviet Union, who at the time, shared a border with the small country. By then the standard tank of the day, such as the T-34 were sheathed in as much as 60mm of steel armor plate. As the Soviets had no less than 18,000 tanks, the Finns felt the need to get their own locally made anti-tank rifle ricky tick. One area in particular where the Navy knew it needed to innovate was in effective, close-range anti-aircraft defense. 's would have been as effective as four 20mm's for ground attack against moderately armored vehicles and ground positions. Also, explore tools to convert caliber or millimeter to other length units or learn more about length conversions. It provided effective short-range defense against aircraft that the .50-caliber Browning or the quad 1.1-inch could not. Adopted by the U.S. Navy in November 1940, the Oerlikon 20 mm was operated by a crew of four: the gunner, loader, spotter, and gun captain. The .50's could easily destroy most half tracks. When you keep in mind that the .50 caliber BMG round popular in the Barrett rifle and M2 ‘Ma Deuce’ brings 13,910 ft. /lbs of energy with a 660-grain bullet, you can see just how brutal this round was. Aimo Lahti, the Thomas Edison of Finnish gun engineers, designed a 109-pound semi-automatic rifle around the largest 20mm shell then in existence. This goes to show, if you ever run into a good deal on a gently used pre-owned anti-tank rifle…you had better take it. The ever dwindling supply of surplus WWII era ammunition goes for about $50ish. Ammunition was $84.95 for 100 rounds (about the same price today for 5.56mm Greentip!). 50 cal. Developed in the final days of World War I, Germany sold the rights to a 20 mm caliber cannon to a Swiss firm that eventually became the Oerlikon 20 mm. Anzio Iron Works, the big and tall store of custom gunmakers, still makes new 20x138mm loaded ammunition on stainless steel cases for $35 a pop. Four Years Later: IWI Tavor SAR Revisited. This gave the weapon the unusual distinction of being utilized by both Allied and Axis forces during the war. In 1965, Canadian criminal Joel Singer, a 22-year old member of the Montreal-based West End Gang syndicate, stole two Lahti L39s and 200 rounds of ammunition from a Plattsburg, New York gun dealer. Wallace noted that this—and the limits of early gunsights—forced gunners to aim with their tracers like a stream of water. Singer and four other gang members later used one of these guns in a dramatic late night burglary when they broke into the vault of the Brinks facility in Syracuse, New York. He spent two weeks at large before authorities captured him and sent him up the river. Finnish troops no doubt hated lugging this gun around, but it proved capable on the battlefields of the Karelian front in the 1939-40 Winter War. It was thought that a group of tank hunters—a couple soldiers on foot armed with a very large rifle—could move around the battlefield and pick off these vehicles like big game hunters on safari. The solution came from an unlikely source; Germany. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Adopted by the U.S. Navy in November 1940, the Oerlikon 20 mm was operated by a crew of four: the gunner, loader, spotter, and gun captain. You’ve all seen the pictures of the bearded gun guy spooning a gigantic seven-foot long rifle deep in the woods (well, you have now). Gun crews held the reticle on target and the gun barrel or barrels would quickly and continuously move in the right direction to permit the target to be hit. Lahti packed in coffin shipping case with magazines. While Lahti’s were not needed in their home country anymore, some other more nefarious individuals found other uses for them. This set up gave the gun a compact profile when firing from a prone position. Singer was the 221th person to be added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List on November 19, 1965. Some just call it the Finnish Boombeast and it’s real. vs 20mm Which are better/what are their characteristics? LOL - was just about to post those. German 20mm were useless against a Sherman -- so what's your point? The .50-caliber Browning machine gun lacked the hitting power and range necessary to bring down the fast-moving, monoplanes of the day. Jul 23, 2017 @ 2:33pm Currently, .50 cal perform better than 20mm, because .50 cal's got a buff where they penetrate better at longer ranges, and because there's so many of them they are very strong at causing fires. Lahti’s rifle used a gas-piston action that fired the round through a 51.2-inch long barrel. The Lahti L-39 is a Finnish 20 mm anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War.It had excellent accuracy, penetration and range, but its size made transportation difficult. These guns saw further use in World War 2 but by 1946, they were obsolete. It should come as no surprise the Ruger name is synonymous with value, and its’ AR-556 looks to fit this mold as an entry-level AR-15 with a reasonable MSRP. Nevertheless, the Oerlikon 20mm continued serving until well after the war. While this seems high, when dealing with super large caliber rifles it’s still much cheaper than a used Solothurn or Oerlikon and not that much more expensive than a premium .50-cal. Most 20mm cannons are pretty good where they are right now, and some I would even argue are a little too strong as well (though not as grossly OP as .50s). Using the Swiss 20×138mmB Solothurn Long cartridge, the gun was readily capable of piercing 20mm of armor at 100-meters and 16mm out to 500m with enough pop to put most of the Soviet tanks of the era on the menu. P-40 had 6 x .50 cal BMG P-47 had 8x .50 cal BMG F4F Wildcat Guns: 4 × .50 cal BMG F6F Hellcat either 6× 0.50 cal BMG, or 2 × 20 mm and 4x .50 Cal BMG F4U Corsair 6 × 0.50 cal BMG, or 4 × 20 mm autocannons Above are some of the most common US planes used in WW2. Dubbed the Norsupyssy (Finnish for elephant gun), the Russians lost more than 3000 tanks in that short conflict, many to the Lahti. wow that's great info, it's amazing to see how, at 0 degrees the difference between 20mm and .50cal is 7mm armour penitration, but by the time you get to a 40 degree angle the difference in armour penitration is 11mm!!! They need to be seriously nerfed. Aimo Lahti, the Thomas Edison of Finnish gun engineers, designed a … Operations, Platforms, Ships, By Daniel Garas, Naval History and Heritage Command. “There were only five parts that could break,” wrote Wallace. < > Showing 1-14 of 14 comments . Official blog of the Naval History and Heritage Command, The Oerlikon 20 mm: The Right Tool for the Job, “From Dam Neck to Okinawa: A Memoir of Anti-Aircraft Training in World War II,”, Uncommon Valor and Courage Can Come From Anyone: Sgt Cole’s Heroic Story, Families of USS Indianapolis Crewmembers: We Are Their Legacy, Finding the Needle in the Haystack, aka Processing 101. The Brinks job. By 1945 just under 2000 had been made by VKT in Finland, yet as soon as peace fell across Europe, many of these guns were sold as surplus. Though IWI's X95, released in 2016, usurps the SAR, my Tavor SAR is still part of the family. To learn more about the Oerlikon 20 mm watch out our Artifact Spotlight below: 20mm Anti-aircraft Machine Guns Men firing, circa 1945. The budget-friendly line of American-made Leupold VX-Freedom riflescopes found a welcome audience last year, but 2020 sees even more interesting additions to the family, with our hands-down favorite being the illuminated-reticle FireDot line. Fed by a 10-shot detachable box magazine mounted on top of the receiver, the gun ejected spent rounds downward. I'm always learning something new on this forum. The quad 1.1-inch gun (nicknamed the “Chicago Piano”) proved to be equally disappointing and frequently jammed. I am trying to figure out whether eight .50 cal. The Boombeast cracked open the bank vault with a shattering of 33-rounds of AP, allowing the gang to flee with nearly a half mil in cash. The Lahti 20mm anti-tank guns were sold back in the early 60’s on the surplus market in the US for about $99 (yes, really). Most ground targets had less than 6mm of armor. The caliber [cl] to millimeter [mm] conversion table and conversion steps are also listed. Nicknamed “Doc’s Shoebox,” the Mark 14 gunsight adjusted the elevation and lead of a targeting reticle through a reticle on two mirrors powered by an air-driven gyroscope. The tanks and armored cars of say, 1938, were far from the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradleys of today. Of course, since it was over .50 Calibers (12.7mm) they were classified by the 1934 NFA as Destructive Devices transferable on a Form 3 or 4, and still are. You must log in or register to reply here. As a result, accuracy suffered at extended ranges. .50's weren't meant to take out tanks. An estimated 1000 of these guns and 200,000 rounds of live ammunition were imported into the states from 1958-64. This led to such guns as the British Boys Anti-tank rifle, the German/Swiss Solothurn S-18, and others. This 20mm bandit took his own life in 1973 at age 29. According to an anti-aircraft summary published after the war, the Oerlikon 20 mm accounted for 617.5 enemy aircraft shot down between 1941 and 1945. The use of a 20mm cannon in a robbery was never tried again after this incident. All Rights Reserved, The Lahti 20mm Anti-tank Gun: The 'Finnish Boombeast' (VIDEO). Let's find out. Shypigeon. And, like the Oerlikon, the CIWS fires the venerable 20 mm round. Bank robberies and Soviet tankbusting be darned, the Lahti is one interesting piece of heavy metal. Even though the Oerlikon 20 mm had an effective range of 1,500 meters, most gunners were unable to take advantage of its full potential. The ammo went about 24 grams for a .303 round, 112 grams for a .50 cal and about 257 grams for a 20mm Hispano. All are from Anzio Ironworks. They were not "totally useless", but they were of limited use. If I hadn't gone in and cut them down to save space, I'd have posted um first! That $99 investment in 1960 would have returned a nice dividend now as these guns currently sell for $8000-10,000 a pop as NFA regulated (since 1968) Destructive Devices on a Form 3 or 4 with tax stamps. Due to limited inter-pupillary space within the human eye, gunners could only judge distances accurately out to 400 yards. They were very effective at taking out the infantry and the logistical support which are essential to effective armor operations. So how does the no-frills Ruger AR-556 perform when put to the test? For this, you got the working gun, eight magazines, snow sled mount, wooden crate, muzzle break, armorer’s tool kit, and spare parts. “Four of these were located together on the breechblock.”. weights of links, ammo boxes, mounts and such can affect over all weight. 20mm Lahti ammo compared to 20mm Vulcan and .50 caliber BMG in front.
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