KwK42 (75 mm)

KwK 42 from a panther with the letterbox mantlet and recoil system included.

Description

The main cannon of the panther tanks, not to be confused with the identical 75mm gun PaK 42 (75 mm) arming the majority of theJagpanzer VI famaily of tank destroyers.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Panther A
• Panther D
• Panther G
• Ersatz M10
• ▂T-V
• Panther "Dauphiné"

General info

This gun has a high muzzle velocity but relatively low projectile mass, which along with a long reload makes it more suited to long range engagements.

Available ammunition

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
PzGr 39/42	APCBC	191	188	173	156	140	126
PzGr 40/42	APCR	227	224	204	182	162	145
Sprgr. 42	HE	11	11	11	11	11	11

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
PzGr 39/42	APCBC	935	6.8	1.2	14.0	28.9	+4.0°	48°	63°	71°
PzGr 40/42	APCR	1,120	4.75	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
Sprgr. 42	HE	700	5.74	0.1	0.5	725	0.0°	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

• M1 (76 mm)
• Ordnance QF 17-pounder (76 mm)
• D-5S (85 mm)

Usage in battles

Higher than its predecessor 75mm cannon it is able to penetrate most unsloped armor and has a very flat arc of fire allowing hunreds of meters of leeway.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High velocity
• High accuracy

Cons:

• Low explosive filler
• Long reload

History

With the development of the new Panther tanks, a new gun (the KwK 42) also had to be designed, as the KwK 40 was seen as insufficient to deal with the new generation of Soviet tanks. Shells between these guns were near-identical allowing for easier manufacturing with the only difference being the larger driving band. Of note should be that the PaK 42 is also a tank gun rather than a towed gun as the name would designate it which may or may not have been manufactured.

Media

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

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

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

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.