Mauser PzB-38/PzB-39

     Notes: The PzB-38s round combined an 8mm Mauser bullet with a much larger 13mm cartridge shell. The result was a small but fairly heavy bullet that flew at a very high velocity to achieve penetration by a principle similar to modern sabot rounds. The bullet used a core of armor-penetrating steel combined with a small capsule of tear gas; the tear gas portion was entirely useless, as the capsule seldom ruptured as it was supposed to, and the amount of tear gas was so tiny as to have negligible, if any, effects. (It may be safely ignored for game purposes.) The PzB-38 was a single-shot rifle using an operation more akin to artillery pieces than to rifles, with a breech block rather than a conventional bolt action.

     The PzB-38, while nearly useless (as were most antitank rifles) against the armor of the day, was an effective long-range sniping weapon. It was also expensive and slow to manufacture, even in the small number that were built. The PzB-38 was thus replaced in production by the simplified PzB-39. This rifle dispensed with the recoiling barrel and semiautomatic breech, and using the pistol grip to open the breech instead of a separate handle. Unfortunately, it was also more painful to fire, and Nazi snipers got a hold of the earlier PzB-38 whenever possible.

     During the invasion of Poland in World War 2, examples of ammunition for the Polish Wz-35 antitank rifle were captured. This weapon fired a tungsten-cored AP round. This round was reverse-engineered for use in the PzB-38 and PzB-39.

     Starting in 1942, PzB-39s returned for repair of damage or refurbishing were rebuilt with a shortened, 23.22-inch barrel (versus the 42.7-inch standard barrel). A cup adapter to fire standard German rifle grenades was fitted at the muzzle, and special ammunition with a wooden bullet was issued with the converted rifles to fire the grenades. Standard ammunition could also be fired from the converted rifles; however, the converted weapon, the Granatbüchse Modell 39 (GrB-39) was not intended for use as a rifle and standard 7.92 Patronen ammunition was not normally issued to the crew of a GrB-39.  Stats are still provided for such below, including an attempt to show what happens when the wooden bullet is fired at a person. I unfortunately do not have enough information on German World War 2 rifle grenades to even mock them up right now.  There were three types of grenades, a light antiarmor grenade, a heavy antiarmor grenade, and an antipersonnel grenade.  The sights fitted to the GrB-39 are graduated out to 150 meters. It should be noted that the grenade cup of the GrB-39 is an effective flash suppressor.

Mauser Tankgewehr M1918

     Notes: Also known as the Mauser 13mm Antitank Rifle and the T-Gewehr, the M1918 was the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of dealing with armored targets – at first, the armor plate used in trench fortifications and soon thereafter, the first tanks. Mauser was inspired by rifles used in big game hunting, but the M1918 quickly grew larger than any of them. The M1918 was a single-shot bolt action weapon using the tried-and-true Mauser action; in many ways, the M1918 is an overgrown Gewehr 98. It uses a 984-millimeter barrel. It has a pistol grip and a bipod, but had no other means of reducing recoil, and felt recoil is heavy. It was meant to be fired from a bipod or from inside a trench; hand firing the M1918 was brutal. The 13mm T-Patrone round the M1918 fired was originally designed for the projected Maxim MG18 machinegun (which was to be fielded by Germany in 1919), and was a large, high-velocity cartridge the size of a short cigar.

     After World War 1, the M1918 was tested by the Allied Powers, and Britain kept a number of them in working order, thinking they might be useful at some point.  The Germans likewise were allowed to keep them in service.  Poland, Sweden and Finland put them in service, though Finland merely kept them in working order and never used them in combat. The Russians had a small collection of M1918s they got from Britain and Poland, and in 1939 they retro-engineered the M1918 to fire 12.7mm Russian ammunition, and small amounts were hand-produced by the Baumann Institute in Russia and put into service in 1941.  These modified M1918s were later discarded in favor of the PTRS-41 and PTRD-41 antimateriel rifles.

     Right or wrong, some collectors in the US and Europe have rechambered M1918s to fire .50-caliber ammunition. Yes, 13mm T-Patrone ammunition is rare and expensive, but that’s criminal…