[dragoon500ly]

One of the things that always impressed me about the Soviets was their belief in never throwing any weapon system away. As long as reservists were still around who had trained on it, they kept the weapon around. While many decry this as a waste of resources, it really is a very efficient use of resources, after all, many of these weapons are still effective, they have been used by tens of thousands of reservists, and its that much less production capacity tied down with building new weapons. So here we go!

M-1943 152mm Howitzer. The standard Soviet divisional heavy artillery piece from WWII. In the firing position, it weighs 3,600kg. It has a maximum rate of fire of 4rpm and a sustained rate of fire of 2rpm. Maximum range is 12,400m. Ammunition consists of HE (39.9kg), SAP (51.1kg), Chem, Smoke and Illum. The SAP round can penetrate up to 82mm of armor at 1,000m. Crew is 7 men. Unit of Fire is 60 rounds broken down as 48 HE, 9 Smoke and 3 SAP.

S-23 180mm gun. This weapon dates back to 1955. All indications are that it is in service with some artillery divisions. In the firing postion it weighs 20,400kg. It has a maximum rate of fire of 1rpm and a sustained rate of fire of 1 rd per 2 min. Maximum range is 30,400m with HE and 43,800m with RAP. Ammunition consists of HE (84.09kg), HE/RAP (97.7kg), and 0.2kt nuclear. Crew is 15 men. Unit of Fire is 40 rounds, broken down as 30 HE, 10 HE/RAP.

M-1938 (M-30) 122mm howitzer. A simple rugged design that has seen use as recently as the Vietnam War. It weighs 2,500kg in firing position. It has a maximum rate of fire of 6rpm and a sustained rate of fire of 3rpm. Maximum range is 11,800m. Ammunition consists of HE (21.8kg), HEAT (14.8kg), Smoke (22.4kg), Illum (21kg) and a propaganda leaflet shell (21.5kg). Crew consists of 8 men. Unit of Fire is 80 rounds, broken down as 62 HE, 6 HEAT, 12 smoke.

M-1937 (A-19) 122mm Field Gun. This is a army-level counterbattery piece. It weighs 7,117kg in firing position. Maximum rate of fire is 6rpm and sustained rate of fire is 3rpm. Maximum range is 20,800m. Ammunition consists of HE (25.5kg), APHE (25kg), Smoke (25.7kg), Chem and Illum. The crew consists of 8 men. Unit of fire is 80 rounds, broken down as 65 HE and 15 Smoke.

M-1937 (ML-20) 152mm Gun-Howitzer. Weighing 7,128kg in firing position. Maximum rate of fire is 4rpm and the sustained rate of fire is 2rpm. Maximum range is 17,265m. Ammunition consists of HE (43.6kg), APHE (48.8kg), Chem, Illum, Smoke. Crew consists of 10 men. Unit of Fire is 60 rounds, broken down as 45 HE, 5 APHE, 10 Smoke.