Solothurn S18-100

History

The rise of tanks in the First World War (1914-1918) drove the development of tank killing systems. Artillery was found early on to be an important factor in destroying tanks, and mines were even trenches to some extent. During the interwar period, when the French WWI Renault FT-17 adopted the traditional form of the turret tracked armored vehicle, the development of the tank reached a whole new level.

From this came the classic tanks that dominated World War II (1939-1945), especially in the European theater of operations, and brought tank warfare to the forefront of modern combat.

The importance of armor forced engineers to develop portable armor-piercing systems. For a time, the German Imperial Army in World War I relied on heavy single-shot bolt-action rifles such as the Mauser Model 1918 "T-Gewehr" - essentially an oversized rifle that fired a large-caliber cartridge . Its arrival marked the beginning of the "anti-tank rifle" as a class of military weapons, and approximately 15,800 examples of this type were made.

While not as effective against tanks in general, such weapons can target key weaknesses in specific designs, targeting driver/gunner positions or key mechanical parts to disable tanks from a distance - versus mobile ones.

The philosophy of anti-tank warfare remained largely unchanged during WWII, except for the introduction of special anti-tank mines and towed anti-tank guns of larger caliber (starting with the 37mm type). Anti-tank rifles eventually came in some famous forms, such as the British Boy Anti-Tank Rifle and two Soviet designs. By then, the Swiss had developed their own in-house solution called the Solothurn S18-100, a large rifle system that relied on semi-automatic recoil operated recoil while firing large 20 x 105mm B (20mm) ammunition cylinder. A 5 or 10 round magazine (built into the left side of the receiver).

The gun is 1,760mm long, has a 925mm barrel and weighs about 45kg (100lbs) without a magazine.

The

Solothurn rifle was born in the early 1930s when engineers recovered a 1918 Erhardt WW1 era 20mm gun. The system was improved and the weapon was tested. Once completed, it was taken over by Switzerland, Italy and Hungary in small numbers in 1934.

The layout of the S18-100 was unique for its time as it used a "bulpup" configuration with the magazine and bolt attached behind the pistol grip and trigger assembly. This concentrates most of the weight in the rear and allows the use of a full-length barrel (in theory) in a more compact shape.

Still, this arrangement gave the S18-100 a bulky appearance, with a tubular front shroud at the bottom of the barrel, which extended some distance in front of the shroud. The barrel is locked with a perforated muzzle brake to counteract the huge recoil effect of firing such a large and powerful cartridge. The stock is padded on the shoulder, while the folding bipod assembly supports the front of the weapon, while a folding bipod is added to the rear under the stock.

The optics are mounted on the left side of the gun and the ejection port is mounted on the right. Overall, the S18-100 appears to be a very forward-looking design, with lines similar to systems on the battlefield today.

Despite its bullpup configuration, this weapon is still bulky and unwieldy when running or marching. While its battlefield advantages seem to outweigh its tactical limitationsespecially in terms of the desire to fire such a large cartridge (a design challenge that remains even today), its weight is unpleasant.

The cartridge itself is the one used by the S18-350 aircraft's automatic cannon, which gives the reader an idea of ??its size and original purpose/function.

Although the S18-100 originated in Switzerland, the S18-100 was still used by the German army during World War II. Solothurn was acquired by the German group Rheinmetall as a market for the development, manufacture and sale of war materials around the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles that emerged after the First World War.

That way, the company can still do what it does best and end up arming the German army in front of the world - however, not all of these weapons end up in German hands.

After the Soviet invasion of Finland in November 1939 to start the famous "Winter War" (November 1939-March 1940), the Finnish Army acquired some S18-100 series guns through the Swiss Army, but these came too late Useful for fields. However, they were forced into action during the continuing war (June 1941-September 1944), as the Finns were now attacking Soviet troops with German support.

Despite their inherent power, these guns did not prove to be very valuable in prolonged combat, which led to the development of the more powerful S18-1000 model, armed with the 20x138mm B (long) cartridge. The Germans used this form as "PzB 41".

The S-18/1100 was followed by one that included automatic action and a 20x138mm cartridge, but many of the limitations inherent in the original design remained (weight, length, recoil, expensive).

In addition to being used in Germany, Switzerland and Finland, the weapon was used by the armed forces of Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands before it really became history. In fact, this weapon was used in the short-lived Slovak-Hungarian War of March-April 1939, when Hungarian troops allied with the Axis powers successfully invaded the adjacent Slovak territory of the First Slovak Republic. By the end of the war in 1945, better systems were in play, including the well-known American M1 "Bazooka" and German "Panzerschreck" lines in heavy adoption.

The Soviets particularly valued their anti-tank rifles and opted to continue using them instead of rocket launchers in the battle against Germany - which, considering they spawned the famous RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) line of Cold War decades Interesting decision.

It should be noted that the Solothurn S18-100 series performed well in the armored confrontation of the time. This is simply due to the propulsive nature of tank warfare and the rise of shoulder-fired armor-piercing missiles and their limitations and expensive/complex manufacturing.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes