Learning about modern main battle tanks, some of them have 120mm main guns that have a smooth bore muzzle as opposed to rifling. Historically, muskets and other muzzle loaded rifles weren’t considered accurate at anything resembling long or even moderate range. Rifling of the barrels dramatically increased accuracy. Have main battle tanks ever used rifled bores, and if not, how can the smooth bores be accurate enough to effectively engage targets at ranges over 3,000m?
In: Engineering
A computer takes all the data and generates a ballistic solution instantly. There’s a traditional sight too but it’s a bit more complicated than just looking through a scope. Without the rifling the projectile drifts, but the drift is always the same. So smoothbore just needs some extra math.
Rifling has been used in modern tanks. The Abrams originally had a 105mm rifled main gun. Then we switched to the German made 120mm smooth bore.
There are a lot of advantages to smooth bore, and all the negatives can be negated.
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