| Solothurn S-18/1000 T3 Automatic | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | Switzerland |
| Type | Semi-Automatic Anti-Tank rifle |
| Effective range | 100 m: penetrate 90° 40mm armor 300 m: penetrate 90° 35mm armor |
| Magazine | 10 rounds |
| Ammunition | 20×138mmB AP/HE rounds |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Used by | Germany Hungary Italy United States |
| Scope | 2.5X telescopic sight |
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The Solothurn S-18/1000 Anti-Tank rifle was a Swiss and German 20mm sermi-automatic anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. It was a variant of the earlier S-18/100 with modifications for a higher muzzle velocity, as well as a larger cartridge size, the 20x138B ammunition. As a result of its large, powerful ammunition the gun had a tremendous recoil, and its size made portability difficult.
The Solothurn firearms company was owned by the German firm Rheinmetall, who used the Swiss company to manufacture arms which were prohibited for manufacture by any German firm under arms limitations imposed at the end of the First World War.
The S-18/1000 was adopted or considered by a numbers of militaries, the Swiss military, Hungary, Romania, Italy adopted it and a anti tank variant of the L3 tankette mounting the gun was made.
The S-18/1000 was purchased and designated M38 in the both the Dutch army in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies military, only 72 of 322 were delivered to the East Indies and 125 were in the Netherlands when deliveries ceased after Germany attacked and occupied the Netherlands. These and 47mm Boehler guns were the main anti-tank weapons. The S-18/1000 was used with success against the lightly armoured German vehicles at the battle of Maastricht. Allegdly it was also preferred by the Japanese over their domestic Type 97 Anti-Tank rifle.
The US army had considered the Solothurn S-18/100 as a lighter anti-tank alternative to their 37 mm guns. But they were dissapointed that the S-18/100 was hardly more effective than the .50 M2HB Browning. Solothurn would then provide the S-18/1000 in April 1940 which was much more improved. In spring 1941 the Solothurn was tested against the .90-cal. T4 automatic gun developed by US Ordnance. Although less powerful, the Solothurn was also less bulky and complicated and was found more suitable for Army use. The weapon was standardized for limited procurement as 20mm automatic gun T3. The plans were to acquire an order of 50 pieces and later to produce the weapon in the US. However, long contract negotiations resulted in abandonment of the planned purchase. The introduction of the M1 Bazooka also took the place of the anti-tank rifle. In FHSW it is a rare weapon for the US. The weapon can be found on Alaska and Falaise Pocket.
Later, a new variant have been designed for automatic use which become the S-18/1100.
The weapon prove ingame to be a excellent anti-tank rifle against light and medium tanks. But also against aircrafts (with some training) and againts infantry, the weapon is an excellent killer! You can choose between AP rounds or HE rounds and the weapon have a bipod wich you also can use with both type off rounds. Sometimes you can find the rifle's with a 2.5X telescopic sight, but they are very rare ingame.
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