A small anti-tank gun, the Solothurn S18-1000

[biffj]

Here are a few shots of my Solothurn S18-1000 20mm Anti-Tank gun. These were designed prior to WWII when armor was thinner and it was still possible to knock one out with a (large) rifle sized AT gun. The Italians seem to have been the largest user of these in North Africa and were probably the only real user of the carriage made for them. They are quite nice to shoot and incredibly accurate despite the very low power scope. We were shooting at 1600yds and easily punching holes in the 10mm non armor plate target using US training projectiles from the vulcan cannon. The carriage adds to the mobility and accuracy of the rifle. I imagine they were quite effective back in the early 40's on light armor but today would be considered more of a wake up alarm than a threat to newer armor.

Hope this is a good first post to start with. enjoy the pics.

Frank

[Topdog]

Thats the way to do it................

[Tony B]

So nothings new then. Except now it would be called an Anti Matriel rifle.

[andym]

So nothings new then. Except now it would be called an Anti Matriel rifle.

 

I was just going to say it looks like an early Barrett!

 

Andy

[Tony B]

Better described as the precursor of the Barret. :cool2:

[biffj]

I suppose it could be considered a precursor to the Barrett though the 118 lb empty weight is a bit more than the 36 lb of the Barrett. Its a bit more of a crew served weapon in comparison too due not only to the weight and size but also the ammunition. One man can carry a Barrett quite some distance with enough ammo to do some damage but the guy capable of carrying the solo with 20 or 30 rds is a rarity indeed. The 20mm ammunition uses a projectile of 2300 grains (150 grams or so) compared to the 650gr APIT slug of the US .50. The powder charge is about double that of the .50 as well. I think that 3 loaded 10rd mags of 20mm would be about the weight of the Barrett rifle with a loaded 10rd mag of .50....

Having said all that you guys are right that the target and intended purposes of the rifles are very similar. Development over the last 60 years has made the .50 cal capable of many of the same tasks with a whole lot less weight.

 

We really enjoy shooting this monster and even my little woman takes a few shots now and then. She thinks it kicks less than the .50 cal Boys Rifle though I think she's a bit warped....

I can't complain though as she doesn't complain about the toys and actually comes and shoots with us.

 

Here is a pic showing the 20mm round for the solothurn-20mm X 138 B compared to the russian 14.5mm X 114 and the US .50 BMG along with a 60mm mortar training round that happened to be there. ( we shoot a few of these too).

Frank