NS-23 (23 mm)

Description

The NS-23 is a 23 mm autocannon which can be found on some Russian props and jets.

General info

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

Available shells

The NS-23 has the following shells available :

• AP-I

Armor piercing incendiary shells with 29 mm penetration, shell velocity: ~610 m/s

• FI-T

Fragmentation incendiary tracer shells with ~3 mm penetration, shell velocity: ~690 m/s

The following belts are available:

• Default belts (AP-I, FI-T, AP-I, FI-T)
• Ground target belts (AP-I, AP-I, AP-I, FI-T)
• Air targets belts (FI-T, FI-T , FI-T, AP-I)
• Stealth belts (AP-I, AP-I, AP-I, AP-I)

It's recommended to use Air targets belts as the FI-T shells are way more effective against planes than the AP-I shells. Although if one haven't researched the "Offensive 23mm" modification yet, the default belts will usually get the job done just fine. The Ground target belts or Stealth belts are well suited for top-down approaches on tanks because of the 29 mm penetration on the AP-I shells, which makes it possible to penetrate most tanks engine deck from a top-down approach. Bear in mind that the AP-I shells doesn't have any tracer elements so it can be tricky to hit sometimes.

Comparison with analogues

The 23mm shells weight approximately 200 gram each compared to the 20 mm ShVAK-shells that weights only 90 gr e.a so even though the ShVAK offers a higher fire rate the damage of the NS-23 can make up for the loss of fire rate.

The NS-23 is identical to the NR-23 except for the lower fire rate. The NS-23 has a fire rate of ca 600 rpm whereas the NR-23 has a 50% higher fire rate of 900 rpm, but with that comes higher ammo consumption and recoil.

Usage in battles

Due to the high damage of the 23 mm cannons, firing short bursts is usually enough because only a few rounds need to connect to eliminate an enemy fighter, this also saves ammo which is usually in short supply for the planes using the NS-23s. For taking down bombers one should, as with most guns, aim for critical points to avoid wasting ammo and down the plane quickly.

Because the shells have a lower velocity than most guns (e.g. ShVAK having around 800-900 m/s compared to NS-23 600-700 m/s), a bit more lead must be used for the shells to connect. This is more of a problem in jet matches because the lead can be hard to approximate when targets are moving fast. Though this is likely not going to be a huge problem because of the tracer rich ammo belts, especially when going against slower propeller planes.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Lower fire rate can help conserve ammo and lower the recoil
• High damage shells, no need to shoot for longer durations
• High fire rate for gun of caliber
• Has enough penetration for top-down attacks on most tanks

Cons:

• Low velocity
• Low overall rate of fire, planes can sometimes "pass between the shells" during continuous fire
• No stealth belts for air targets (if one doesn't want to use AP-I shells)

History

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Media

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See also

• ShVAK
• NR-23

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
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