[Panther Al]

I really really wish I still had a copy - or knew where to find again - a collection of studies done in the early 70's on performance of (then) current tank main guns compared to the second world war. I think it was done by the germans - 90% certain of this - and it came to some interesting conclusions.

If memory serves - I am not about to try to recall specifics - the conclusion was that the Soviets, then and now (again, Now refers to the early 70's through out) are still lagging significantly behind the west, due mostly to propellent issues. (Some thing they still have issues with even in 2011.) Unsurprisingly, the rate German cannon of the Second as on the whole vastly superior to the others, which to be fair, is mostly true. They further said the only guns the allies had that actually performed to standard was the US 76mm and the British 17 pounder - they was amazed that neither army type standardized on them instead of issuing them piecemeal. Another interesting conclusion was that the infamous 88 of Tiger 1 fame was actually not as good as everyone thought. It was actually, for its size, underpowered. Much like the US 90mm tank gun. And the only reason the L48 75mm guns of the Mk 4's was so much better than the allied guns, was because the allied guns by and large left a lot to be desired. The true winners of the period was the 7.5cm Kwk42 L/10 and the 8.8cm KwK43 L/71 - and the KwK42 was the better of the pair due to ammo size - much easier to handle KwK42 rounds then the incredibly long KwK43 rounds.

But here is the funny thing. They ran the numbers and compared them to the western standard L7A1 - which the considered one of the best cannon designs ever, high praise from the Germans - and if you gave the KwK 42 modern ammo, and modern sights, it performed very close to the L7A1 - and the KwK43 even closer. In fact, it was theorized, that if you gave the KwK43 a smoothbore, and use fin stabilized ammo, it would actually outperform the L7A1 with the original ammo developed at its induction - mainly because of muzzle velocity. Now, by the 70's, and certainly by the 80's and 90's ammo for the L7A1 has improved by leaps and bounds making this comparison rather moot. Why this caught my eye is I think this might have been one of the pushes that gave Rheinmetall the idea to develop the 120mm Smoothbore of fame and legend - from it being a smoothbore, as well as perhaps the idea to make the rounds light and compact by using combustable cases.