ZIS-5 (76 mm)

Description

The 76 mm ZiS-5 is a modification of the Soviet F-34 tank gun, used on various KV-1 tanks.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• KV-1 (ZiS-5)
• KV-1S

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available shells

The available ammunition allows for engaging all types of targets:

• BR-350A (MD-5 fuze): APHEBC; a shell with high explosive mass that will one-shot any tank it penetrates but has an average penetration power.
• BR-350P: APCR; a composite round with the best penetration but no explosive filler and will only penetrate flat vertical surfaces.
• BR-350SP: APBC; a solid shot with an even better penetration but no explosive filler.
• BR-350B (MD-8 fuze): APHEBC; same shell as the BR-350A but with increased penetration at the cost of slightly less explosive filler.
• OF-350M: HE; useful for destroying open and lightly armoured vehicles.
• Sh-354T: Shrapnel; useful against vehicles that are resistant to the HE shells but too thinly armoured to trigger the fuzes of AP shells.
• D-350A: Smoke; useful to blind enemy vehicles that are too remote for you to disable so that you can progress towards objectives.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
BR-350A (MD-5 fuze)	APHEBC	87	85	76	67	59	52
BR-350P	APCR	125	119	92	68	50	36
BR-350SP	APBC	102	100	91	81	72	64
BR-350B (MD-8 fuze)	APHEBC	94	92	83	73	65	57
OF-350M	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10
Sh-354T	Shrapnel	37	35	29	25	20	17

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
BR-350A (MD-5 fuze)	APHEBC	662	6.3	1.2	14	150	48°	63°	71°
BR-350P	APCR	950	3.02	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
BR-350SP	APBC	655	6.78	N/A	N/A	N/A	48°	63°	71°
BR-350B (MD-8 fuze)	APHEBC	655	6.3	0.9	14	98.56	48°	63°	71°
OF-350M	HE	680	6.2	0.05	0.1	621	79°	80°	81°
Sh-354T	Shrapnel	680	6.2	0.5	8	85	62°	69°	73°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
D-350A	680	6.45	13	5	20	50

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

The ZiS-5 has somewhat inadequate penetration for its rank, and thus will often struggle when facing well armored enemies frontally. Therefore, despite being fitted exclusively to heavy tanks, the ZiS-5 works best when flanking, as its high explosive mass often guarantees a one-hit knock-out when shooting center mass from the side.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Extremely powerful APHEBC shells

Cons:

• Slow reload
• Inadequate penetration for many tanks faced in uptiers

History

The F-34 gun was designed before the outbreak of the Second World War by P. Muraviev of Vasiliy Grabin's design bureau at Factory No. 92 in Gorky. Despite being superior to its Soviet contemporaries, bureaucracy prevented the gun from being adopted until much later in the war when the Kharkov Locomotive Factory began fitting F-34 guns to T-34 tanks against orders, with the resulting praise for the gun from its crews leading to the gun being officially authorized for production. This also allowed for the adoption of the F-34 onto the KV-1 heavy tank, leading to the ZiS-5, a version of the F-34 gun designed to better fit the KV-1's turret, replacing the original L-11 gun found on earlier KV-1.

By 1943 however, the F-34 and ZiS-5 became obsolete, being unable to penetrate the thick armor found on the new Tiger and Panther heavy tanks. This led to the two being replaced by the ZIS-S-53 on the T-34-85, while the new IS tanks received the D-5T and later the D-25T guns instead.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Wikipedia] 76 mm tank gun M1940 F-34