Talk:RPG-40

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fillings other than TNT?[edit]

Hi,

in the infobox you find this very precise information:

Filling TNT Filling weight 0.612 kg

This means 612 gramm and the total weight of this grenade was 1.22 kg which makes the TNT content exactly 50,16% of the total weight. I guess there have been very much incidents if you look at the picture the construction is not very safe for a filling like TNT (there is a reason why no modern weapons use TNT^^), but the Soviets didn't really care about human losses as we know. In the text you find the information:

Its anti-tank capability came from blast effect produced by the detonation upon contact of 760 grams of explosive contained in it. This effect enabled about 20 mm of armour to be penetrated, and secondary damage, such as spalling, by contact with thicker armour. This made the grenade very effective against earlier German tanks, but ineffective against later models, such as the Panzer IV and the Panzer V, leading to the RPG-43 replacing it in [very early] 1943.

the [very early] was added by myself, but if it really contained 760 grams and not just 612 gram of TNT, what was the other filling? There are no signs for a 2nd substance used, maybe the whole system with the fuse and so on is meant?

Very early since the RPG-6 came into service 1943 too and it was the follower of the RPG-43 if you want so, at least the success of the RPG-6 lead to a larger production than the RPG-40/43, testing started in september and typical for the soviets only took very few time and was already accepted in october 1943. It was a bit lighter than the RPG-40/43 with their 1.22 and 1.247kg, the TNT amount was even reduced to 562 grams compared to 612 grams in RPG-40 and RPG-43,

but: it was later found that optimal performance was gained from a HEAT warhead if it exploded a short distance from the armour, roughly the same distance as the weapon's diameter. and it had at least a bit security for the user . The RPG-6 also had "only" the 562 gram of TNT and no other filling, so was there another filling in the RPG-40 or is it just a error?!

Sorry for bad language, its my 3rd language if you want so, I hope you understand the most^^ Greetings Kilon22 (talk) 16:26, 15 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]