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The 76 mm gun M1 was an American World War II–era tank gun, which replaced the 75 mm gun on late Medium tank M4s, and was used for all 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 tank destroyers. The medium-velocity 75 mm M3 L/40 gun, which armed the standard M4 Sherman, was designed as a dual purpose weapon. Although quite capable of dealing with the initially 30 mm to 50 mm thick frontal armor of German Panzer IV tanks and StuG III assault guns, the subsequent uparmoring of these AFVs to 80 mm and upgunning to the KwK 40/StuK 40 diminished the ability of the Sherman to engage at long distances. Due to the appearance of the Panther and Tiger tanks on the field, a higher velocity weapon was demanded. The new 76mm gun represented a much needed increase in anti-tank performance, allowing the Sherman to engage the most common German armored vehicles like the Panzer IV and Stug III. ==Design and development== It was a new gun with a breech similar to that of the 75 mm M3 Gun. It fired the same shell as the (derived from the 3-inch Gun M1918) of the 3in Gun Motor Carriage M10 tank destroyer, but from a different case. The 76 mm was developed as a lighter gun than the "3 inch". The gun received a muzzle brake and faster rifle twist during production. While the 76 mm had less High Explosive (HE) and smoke performance than the 75 mm, the higher-velocity 76 mm gave better anti-tank performance, with firepower similar to many of the armored fighting vehicles it encountered, particularly the Panzer IV and StuG vehicles. Using the M62 APC round, the 76mm gun penetrated of armor at , with a muzzle velocity of . The HVAP round was able to penetrate at , with a muzzle velocity of . 〔Zaloga, Steven. ''T-34-85 vs. M26 Pershing: Korea 1950''. London: Osprey Publishing, 2010. pp. 32-33.〕 The M1 was tested on an M4 Sherman tank, it was then found that the long barrel caused balance problems. The barrel was shortened and a counterweight added to the breech to compensate, giving the M1A1. The reduction in length—by about 15 inches this did not however reduce performance; penetration figures remained the same. When the counterweight was found to be insufficient, the turret design of the T23 tank was used on the M4 chassis to carry the 76mm gun. Wholesale introduction of the 76 mm gun was opposed due to its inferior HE round—approximately of explosive to the in the 75 mm round—and the muzzle blast which could create large dust clouds in dry conditions.〔''M4 (76mm) Sherman Medium Tank 1943–65'', p. 7.〕 Later production guns were given a muzzle brake to deflect the blast sideways (M1A1C). The UK was not interested in the 76 mm gun Sherman as they had their own guns and tanks under development—although of intermediate length between the M1 and M1A1 76 mm, their Ordnance QF 17 pounder (76.2 mm) anti-tank gun used about more propellant. Developed as an expediency M4 Shermans converted to use the 17pdr were known as the Sherman Firefly. The anti tank performance of the 76mm was inferior to the British 17 pounder, and even more so if the latter was using discarding sabot rounds, though ''with that ammunition'' the 17pdr was less accurate than the 76mm. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「76 mm gun M1」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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