Anti-tank or what?

[Kala]

Hello
I have again a question. Few years ago I bought this thing mainly for paper weight because it think it was very intersting. Now I have begun wondering what it is. The projectile is 23 mm diameter without rotating band (?). It has 6 rifles. The steel plate is 10mm thick.
It seems that it is for educational purposes and seems to be quite old. Thank you for Your kind answers.

Kala

[Gary J]

Rather than Anti-Tank, I would say it was a solid shot "Bunker - Buster" type round.
.. Although obviously effective against steel plate ...

Gary J.

[Panzer 3]

Hi Kala,
I think i am with Gary on this as it,s solid shot, what a great pice i ld love to have that in the collection. never see anything like that.
dave.

[Matt L]

23mm is a pretty common Soviet anti-aircraft caliber isn't it (remembering the ZSU23, for example)? Not suggesting that's what it is, but that AA guns had AP rounds...

[AK-47]

Search for italian WW1 "Cannoncino da trincea". A kind of small cannon, used for destroying small bunkers.
There were several calibers : 23mm, 37mm, 25mm, 47mm...

LP, Jure.

[Kala]

Hello
Firstly: Thank you Gary J, Panzer 3, Matt L and AK-47.
Secondly: I am sorry, but I measure projectile wrong.
Actually iIt is 25 mm and it weights 200 grams and it is 63 mm long.

The closest I could find is 25mm Revelli-FIAT projectile. The Revelli-FIAT projectile is oviesly much longer, but weights 200 grams and should be HE. Mine is not. So maybe when HE projectiles exploding stuff is lighter the projectile must be longer to be even weight to my solid steel projectile.
I don’t know if this make any sense, but I continue looking.

[Matt L]

Where did you measure it Kala? It sould be the projectile, just forward of the driving band- and that'll be slightly less than the 'formal' calibre of the weapon (my MG151/20 shells, for example are actually between 19.4 and 19.8mm, and an 8,8cm Pzgr39/1 on my desk here is really 87.38mm in diameter). If you measure the driving band, that'll be rather wider.

And sometimes an AP projectile, particularly if solid shot, can be shorter than an HE, but not always. It's a shame there are no markings on the projectile at all...

[Kala]

Thank you Matt L
Well, I measured again and from the place you recommended, it was 25.25 mm and with the driving band 26 mm. How it can squeese through the barrel, I don't know.

[Matt L]

Well the driving band is soft- copper in this case- and we're talking about a LOT of force behind it

I suspect your caliper may be off since 25.25mm doesn't really make sense- projectiles should only be very slightly smaller than their barrel's bore. If the driving band is 26mm, that really suggests it should be a 25mm weapon and the projectile should be slightly less than 25mm, not more.