[Quick Guide] BT-7M

The USSR tree has many fast vehicles, and one such example is the BT-7M. This tank is among the fastest at its BR but has many drawbacks as well. In this article, you will learn all about the BT-7M's strengths and weaknesses, along with how to play it and progress with this speed demon.

Armor and Survivability

The armor on the BT-7M is... poor to say the least. The tank really has next to no armor, even frontally. The UFP has 20 mm of CHA, meaning it will get penetrated by heavy caliber machine guns with ease. The hull sides fare even worse, with only 15 mm of CHA. The rear of the tank has only 13 mm of armor, barely protecting against 7.62 mm fire at point blank. The turret is not much better, with 15 mm of CHA all around, except for the rear, also with 13 mm. The tank will survive light machine gun fire, but HMGs such as the 12.7 mm M2HB on the M8 LAC or aircraft guns such as the 15 mm on the Fw-189 C will cripple the tank easily if not outright kill it. 

The survivability of the BT-7M is also quite poor. The crew are seated in the tank relatively tightly, so crew knockouts are quite common. Ammunition is carried mostly under the turret, so any shots below the turret will most likely detonate ammunition stowage. To minimize this, try to take under 40 shells into combat. The BT-7M is decently sized, meaning that it will be commonly detected by enemies. Lastly, the module layout is mostly placed in the back, with the engine and transmission placed in the rear of the tank so you cannot expect them to absorb lousily placed shots.

Overall, the armor and survivability of the BT-7M can be described as, in one word, lackluster.

Mobility

The BT-7M's mobility is one of the shining factors, and really is one of the standout qualities that differentiate it from other tanks at its rank. The BT-7M has a V-2 engine that produces 442 hp when stock and 500 hp when spaded. This engine is extremely powerful and gives the 14.7t BT a HP/t of 30.1 when stock and 34 when spaded, which is more than other speedy vehicles at the BR like the M22 (25 HP/t) or Sd.Kfz.222 (18 HP/t). The tank has 4 gears forward and one backwards, with a top speed of 62 km/h forwards and 10 km/h backwards.

The tank lacks neutral steering and so it is extremely poor at turning. This means it loses a lot of energy in sharp turns due to how long it is. You want to find routes and paths that will require minimal turning. This leads to outstanding mobility in straight lines, but it will be much slower after any sort of maneuvering.

Armament and Firepower

The BT-7M has two main weapons: a 45 mm 20-K as the main gun, and a coaxial 7.62 mm DT machine gun.

The 45 mm gun and the coaxial MG are capable of rotating a full 360°, and capable of raising up 20° and down 5°. While the poor gun depression is typical of Soviet tanks, the real problem is the gun laying. With a max turret traverse of 16°/s left and right and the mantlet elevating 4° per second up and down, almost every tank in the game will find a firing solution before you. The solution to this comes from rotating your turret and your hull at the same time. By doing this, you can effectively double how fast your turret traverses. 

The 20-K is a rather powerful gun, and can reload quickly. With a fully stock crew it takes 3.8 seconds to load a new round into the breech, but with an ace crew it takes 2.9 seconds, meaning you can often fire another shot before the enemy even reloads. The BT-7M can also carry up to 188 rounds of ammo, but in a realistic sense that will never be consistently used, so consider taking less as that will reduce the chances of ammunition detonation.

The DT machine gun is basic and very similar to other machine guns at the BR, penetrating 13 mm at point blank with a full belt of API and API-T bullets. The machine gun has a RoF of 600 and has 63 rounds in each belt, giving just under 10 seconds on the trigger per magazine. The BT-7M contains 30 magazines of ammunition for the 7.62 mm.

Rounds

The BT-7M uses two types of ammo: BR-240 and BR-240SP. Of these, literally only one is ever worth using.

BR-240

This is a stock APHEBC shell with 29 grams of explosive filler and a great muzzle velocity of 760 m/s. This shell is more than capable of delivering one-hit kills reliably due to the explosive filler content. With 67 mm of penetration at 100 m, it is also capable of going through the armor of any tank it can find at 2.0 and below with good aim, but being extra careful is suggested for many vehicles encountered in uptiers. 

BR-240SP

This is an unlockable APBC shell with basically no upgrade in penetration, while lacking explosive filler. This shell has similar ballistics as BR-240 and has 70 mm of penetration at 100 m, which is only 3 mm more than the APHE. Consider not using this shell at this rank due to the minimal increase in penetration for a massive reduction in post penetration damage.

Playstyle

With an extremely powerful cannon, ridiculously strong mobility, and almost no armor, this vehicle has two good strategies. 

Hit-and-Run

This should go without saying, but if you can strike quickly, you can perform Hit-and-Run strategies. By zooming into the fray, using the lightning fast reload, obliterating one or two vehicles, and disappearing back into the fog of combat, you can quickly rack up kills while staying relatively unfindable and safe in general. However, the Hit-and-Run strategy relies on staying fast. Without knowing how to fire the BT-7M's cannon relatively accurately on the move, you will have to stop and will most likely die.

Flanking

This strategy is very common for light tanks due to their good mobility. Flanking can simply be described as strategically moving around the map to unexpected locations and attacking the weaker side and rear of enemies. Remember, after you knock out a few players, they will come looking for you, since they now know your location and they see you as a threat to their team. This means after a few kills you should relocate as to avoid enemy fire.

Stock Grind

The BT-7M has an easier stock grind than some other vehicles, due to having the best shell at beginning and already having better mobility than the BT-5/7 before it. These are the mods you would want to research right away, as they offer substantial increases in performance.

1. Improved Parts (Tier 1). This modification allows you to repair battle damage when not on a captured point. 
2. Horizontal Drive (Tier 1). Since the gun laying on the BT-7M is quite bad, you want to research this to gain better turret rotation speed.
3. Tracks (Tier 1). Since the standout feature on the BT-7M is speed, modifications like Tracks which improve mobility are a must-have.
4. Suspension (Tier 2). Suspension reduces the amount of "wobble" the tank has while on the move. Quite helpful for firing on the move.
5. Improved FPE (Tier 2). If your engine gets shot out, it will often light on fire as well. This gives you more fire prevention charges, letting you put out fires more often.

Afterwards, modifications like Crew Replenishment and mobility enhancement go a long way.

1. Crew Replenishment (Tier 3). Allows you to add a new crewmember to your tank.
2. Adjustment of Fire (Tier 2). This modification removes a large amount of inaccuracy from your gun, allowing you to strike enemy weakpoints easier and reduce random factors.
3. Elevation Mechanism (Tier 3). Helpful for gun laying since it makes elevating the gun easier.
4. Filters (Tier 3). Filters and Engine are modifications that improve horsepower and mobility further. 
5. Engine (Tier 4)

Afterwards, most of the modifications that offer noticeable increases are researched. With the last few, pay attention to what they do and decide based off that. 

Notable Enemies

M4A3(105)

The M4A3(105)(US/French) is arguably one of the biggest threats to the BT-7M in the entire BR bracket. This tank has nigh impenetrable armor frontally, a 105 mm derp cannon, and a 12.7 mm M2HB on the roof. The tank has one frontal weakspot, the MG port. The MG port probably will not take out the gunner or commander, but will damage modules like the transmission and will likely kill the driver as well. Luckily, the side and rear armor are very poor, so flanking it is highly recommended.

British Heavy tanks

When encountering British heavy tanks, you will oftentimes be incapable of fighting them at all with your standard BR-240 shells. When you come up against one, try to flank around to its sides or load BR-240SP for a greater chance of penetrating it frontally. 

Summary

The BT-7M offers a high speed platform with a powerful-ish cannon and an amazingly rewarding playstyle. There is no surprise you can find these little rascals roaming games far higher than where they belong! See you on the battlefield and hope you enjoyed this guide to the BT-7M!

Thanks to rafi013 for helping edit this article!