20-K (45 mm)

Description

The 45 mm 20-K is a Soviet tank cannon, equipped on a number of rank I tanks. It is a decent gun for its rank, and can still be useful in uptiers due to its high-penetrating APCR shell.

General info

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

Available ammunition

• BR-240: APHEBC - This should be the main ammo type that you use, as it deals the most damage because of its explosive filler.
• BR-240P: APCR - This shell should only be used against more heavily armoured targets that the BR-240 cannot penetrate.
• BR-240SP: AP - It is recommended to avoid this kind of shell as it is inferior in most aspects compared to the BR-240P ammo.
• O-243: HE - Carry only very few of these. They are useless against anything other than unarmoured AA vehicles.

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-240	APHEBC	70	67	58	47	39	32
BR-240SP	AP	73	70	60	50	41	34
BR-240P	APCR	106	98	72	48	33	22
O-243	HE	4	4	4	4	4	4

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-240	APHEBC	760	1.43	1.2	9	29.26	48°	63°	71°
BR-240SP	AP	757	1.43	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
BR-240P	APCR	1,070	0.85	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
O-243	HE	343	2.15	0.4	0.3	118	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

• Germany - 50 mm KwK 38
• USA - 37 mm M6
• Great Britain - 57 mm OQF 6-pounder Mk.III

Usage in battles

The 45 mm 20-K is a decent gun for its rank. In downtiers, it is a very effective and lethal weapon, and can take out most tanks with 1-2 shots. However, in uptiers, it will be more difficult to take out tanks because of the relatively small calibre. However, this doesn't mean that you are useless. The APCR round is capable of penetrating most rank II vehicles, however the post-penetration damage is poor due to the lack of an explosive filler.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent penetration
• Short reload time
• Has access to APCR with 104 mm of penetration at point-blank
• Shells have a medium-high velocity, makes aiming easier

Cons:

• Due to the small calibre, post-penetration effects are bad
• APHEBC rounds will have trouble

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

China tank cannons
30 mm	ZPL02 · ZPZ02
73 mm	Type 86
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type 56 · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	88B-105T · Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
130 mm	PL59A Gai
152 mm	PL66 Gai
	Foreign:
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
37 mm	M6 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
47 mm	Type 1 (Japan)
57 mm	Type 97 (Japan) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
75 mm	M2 Howitzer (USA) · M3 (USA) · M6 (USA)
76 mm	D-56T (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M1 (USA) · M7 (USA) · ZIS-3 (USSR)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
90 mm	M3 (USA) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10S (USSR)
105 mm	M68 (USA) · M68A1 (USA)
115 mm	U-5TS (USSR)
122 mm	A-19 (USSR) · D-25T (USSR)
152 mm	ML-20S (USSR)