Last updated on February 17th, 2019 at 09:49 pm
The Stielgranate 42 was a hollow, finned projectile that was developed by the Germans in 1942, when shortages of tungsten made it hard for the Germans to produce AP40 ammunition for the Pak 35/36 Rheinmetall anti-tank gun.
Germany allocated all available tungsten for machine tool production.
The introduction of the Stielgranate 42 enabled the Germans to continue to use the Pak 35/36.
The Stielgranate 42 had three stabilization fins.
Its warhead contained 60 pounds (27kg) of explosives.
The warhead was fitted to a driving rod that was loaded inside the muzzle, so that the projectile itself was always outside the gun barrel.
Although the Stielgranate 42 had a combat range of only 330yards (300m), it could pierce up to 7.1 inches (180mm) of armor.
A larger version of the Stielgranate 42 was later developed for the 6 inch (15cm) sIG33 infantry gun.