Shortround6
Lieutenant General
I think some people got caught up in catchy titles in specifications, not just the Germans, that were completely unrealistic.
The German mine shells were a very clever innovation in small HE shells, but since they sacrificed sectional density to do it, they had problems with long range, like much over 600 meters. Actually, not real problem if the expecting engagement zone doesn't go much over that range. Now we switch over to why are we building high velocity guns?
If the answer is to increase the reach/range of engagement using the Mine shells is counterproductive. If the answer is to make gunnery easier (shorter time of flight) at short ranges it may be worthwhile.
1000 m/s will be easy to achieve with the Flak 20mm ammo and a 92g shell (my guess is that they did exactly that for the 213A), or even with a bit hotter-loaded 20mm Flak ammo with the 104g MX shell.
German 20x135mm ammo for the MG 213C was about 5mm bigger in diameter than the 20x138mm AA gun ammo. Had about 9,000 more joules of ME.
Maybe they just should have used the Standard AA gun ammo (or gotten rid of the belt?) and accepted the "lower" performance.
I am not sure that trying to use standard German Mine shells at high velocities is a real good idea. At high velocities and/or high pressures you may need stronger shell wall construction. Perhaps a hybrid shell could be used? Slightly thicker walls and bit less explosives? Not sure how much thicker you can make the walls with same manufacturing technique.
The German mine shells were a very clever innovation in small HE shells, but since they sacrificed sectional density to do it, they had problems with long range, like much over 600 meters. Actually, not real problem if the expecting engagement zone doesn't go much over that range. Now we switch over to why are we building high velocity guns?
If the answer is to increase the reach/range of engagement using the Mine shells is counterproductive. If the answer is to make gunnery easier (shorter time of flight) at short ranges it may be worthwhile.
1000 m/s will be easy to achieve with the Flak 20mm ammo and a 92g shell (my guess is that they did exactly that for the 213A), or even with a bit hotter-loaded 20mm Flak ammo with the 104g MX shell.
German 20x135mm ammo for the MG 213C was about 5mm bigger in diameter than the 20x138mm AA gun ammo. Had about 9,000 more joules of ME.
Maybe they just should have used the Standard AA gun ammo (or gotten rid of the belt?) and accepted the "lower" performance.
I am not sure that trying to use standard German Mine shells at high velocities is a real good idea. At high velocities and/or high pressures you may need stronger shell wall construction. Perhaps a hybrid shell could be used? Slightly thicker walls and bit less explosives? Not sure how much thicker you can make the walls with same manufacturing technique.