25pdr
We had a game at the club last night, and as the first Panzer rounded the corner, we opened fire with the 25pdr and then realised there is no factors for that gun. After three of us had scoured the books we chose 6pdr. Can some genius help a confused club.

K, Use the HE equivalent for the 25pdr - i.e. an 88mm = AI3/AT2. 25pdrs may have been issued with some form of AT round - but I believe this may have been very rare? DB

25 pdrs were issued with a limited amount of 20pd solid shot AP rounds - and 25pdrs did see significant use early war in lieu of more effective AT guns (North Africa, pre-6pdr). These had to be fired with 3 charges (super charge) to attain sufficient muzzle velocity - some figures at http://gva.freeweb.hu/weapons/british_guns7.html which are appreciably better than those for the 2pdr. Later, the solid shot was replaced with APBC.

A, Interesting....I would suggest treating a super-charged AP round as a AT4 but limiting the number of shots with this ammo. DB

It is interesting. The more you read about the 25 pounder, the more you realise what an exceptional weapon it was, and how effective the Royal Artillery were at using it. I haven't been able to find many '42 accounts of anti-tank warfare, but I do recall reading in several places that the defense of Tobruk relied heavily on 25pdrs. From http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_25pdr2.html "The startling victories over the Italians during Operation Compass hid the fact that most British guns were incapable of dealing with heavy armour. They could deal with the light Italian tanks easily enough but the arrival of Rommel’s Afrika Korps changed the situation almost overnight. The Germans had the famous 88mm Flak gun, as well as Panzer III and IV tanks. Being almost 88mm in calibre itself, the 25-pdr was the only gun capable of challenging the German armour and the battles around and to the east of Tobruk would prove the worth of the gun. The fighting around Tobruk in April 1942 saw the 25-pdr pitted directly against German armour, for example by A/E Battery, 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery and it proved itself a worthy opponent, but was at a disadvantage when against the 88mm Flak gun as that had a muzzle velocity of 2,624 feet per second (as against 1,700) and a maximum range of 16,183 yards (as against 13,500). It must be remembered however that the 25-pdr was an artillery piece and not an anti-tank gun. It was used only in desperation against tanks, even though small amounts of anti-tank ammunition had been issued from the outset of the war. One of the first actions of A Battery (HAC), Royal Horse Artillery was on 21 January 1942 as part of Baron column, operating near the Wadi el Faregh. Around forty enemy tanks, mostly Panzer IIIs and IVs, attacked the column from about 4,000 yards. After a five-hour battle, the decision was made to withdraw as the column was now being harassed by Stuka dive-bombers as well as the advancing armoured units. C and D troops of the battery had been firing over open sights and three guns had been destroyed, but the other two continued to fire as they withdrew even though firing was very detrimental to the guns as the soft ground caused the platforms to bend and buckle with the shock of firing. In this situation, gun crews can be easily picked off, and the old horse artillery tactics (quick advance, quick unlimber, quick firing and quick withdrawal) proved to be ineffective due to the difficulty of the terrain. It was much more effective to concentrate artillery fire indirectly at enemy tanks to disrupt their movement."

Thanks for your help people. At least we know what to do in the next game.

Here are the different ammo types. HE, Smoke and AP and the guns Dont ask me for any more details I'm RAMC not a gunner !

S, Nice pics! Thanks. DB