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Re: sniper weapons for SGII

From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@s...>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 09:53:51 +0300 (EET DST)
Subject: Re: sniper weapons for SGII

On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, John Atkinson wrote:

> The last ATR in regular military service was, IIRC, the Lahti 20mm
used 
> by the Finnish Army during WWII up until the end of the war.	

I have seen a Lahti 20mm fired from 5 yards away. It's very impressive, 
very big (taller than a man), very heavy and still it wouldn't seriously

dent MBT armor in 1941.

Good for taking out APCs, soft-skinned vehicles and even light bunkers, 
if you *really* want to lug all that weight around.

The germans had the 28mm "cone rifle" later in the war, which was team 
served (2 or 3 men IIRC), but even that wasn't of much use against
real tanks.

> But 
> anyway, this Lahti was a semi-automatic conversion with bipod of an 
> aircraft cannon.  Indeed, some were left full-auto.  :)  

Not quite true. It was an original design, with the FA version coming
later for AA duty (that one survived in the arsenal into the 60's --
anti-helicopter for airfield defense). I think we sold a bunch of those
to
US after the war. 

Trivia: The designer's brother shoulder-fired standing a prototype to
prove 
the concept was viable.

In Finnish tradition, the bipod has little skis on it :-)

> Anyway, this 
> thing could gut a BT-series tank, and even kill a T-34 from the rear
at 
> close range, but was decidedly obsolete by 1944.  

We couldn't get enough for the Winter War of 1939 when it would have
been 
useful -- even though the designer supplied test models to the front out

of his own pocket -- and by 1941 it was only used because better things 
were not always available. Then again, we did take out T-34's with soda 
bottles filled with tar and gasoline...

-- 
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