Originally Posted by
uxb99
Help me out here.
It's my understanding that Russian, Ukrainian (who use Russian) and German tanks are smooth bore.
Challenger is rifled bore.
So what's the advantage of smooth bore over rifled and why does everyone use smooth? I was always lead to believe rifled = more range and accuracy?
Smooth bore allows better transfer of the energy from the chamber pressure to the projectile; it also allows sabot rounds to be launched, which are smaller than the bore and are made of dense and very hard alloys and penetrate armor more effectively than HE rounds. Smooth bore rounds are designed for aerodynamic stability, so they maintain accuracy.