Cutaway model of a RPG-43. RPG is the abriviation for Ruchnaya Protivotankovaya Granata, meaning hand-held anti-tank grenade, 43 stands for 1943, the year the grenade was taken into service.
The RPG-43 is a HEAT-grenade, able to pierce 75 mm of steel @ 90 degrees. The RPG-43 was designed as a close by weapon for fighting the newer types of German tanks like the Panther and Tiger at short ranges.
The RPG-43 exists of a 95mm diameter warhead on a wooden stick. The warhead houses the steel shaped charge cone behind which a 0,612 kg heavy TNT charge is placed. In the wooden stick a longitudal slot is machined. The safety lever has a pressed in strip that fits the longitudal slot. The safety lever is normally held in place by the split pin; when the split pin is removed, the lever is to be held in position by pressing it to the wooden stick by hand. The lever keeps the spring loaded sheet metal cone which houses two fabric strips in top position. When the lever is released the spring pushes the sheet metal cone backward together with the lever, releasing the two fabric strips. These strips enshure the grenade is stabilized and aimed forward after being thrown. A detonator/booster is held in backward position by a light spring and a radial steel arming pin in an oversized hole. When the fabric strips extend after being thrown, the steel pin falls outof the oversized hole, releasing the detonator/booster. It is now only held back by the light spring. The detonator/booster is placed in a sheet metal tube with a fixed firing pin in top, facing the detonator. Upon impact, inertia moves the booster/detonator forward, riding the spring and pushing the detonator into the firing pin. This explodes the grenade.
Throwing the grenade is a matter of exercise as the grenade has to hit the target with some force to make the fuze function. The thrower also has to come into throwing distance of the enemy tank which is quite dangerous. The grenade also has the tendancy to fall down vertical due to the fabric strips. Therefore , troops were instructed to try to throw the grenade on the engine deck of tanks as this formed the largest - and lightly armoured- area of a tank. A very suitable way of useage was to throw it on a tank’s topside from a roof or top floor window of a building while fighting in build up area’s.
The RPG-43 replaced the older RPG-40 that in fact was a stick grenade with an oversized high explosive warhead. The RPG-43 was later in the war improved to the RPG-6.
The RPG-43 was used long after WW2, and although completely obsolete it can still be encountered in third world countries as it is a cheap and quite reliable short range anti tank weapon. It was also used in great numbers in the numerous arab-Israeli conflicts.
The last of the Russian anti tank handgrenade designs was the -post war- RKG-3 grenade.
The RPG-43 is a HEAT-grenade, able to pierce 75 mm of steel @ 90 degrees. The RPG-43 was designed as a close by weapon for fighting the newer types of German tanks like the Panther and Tiger at short ranges.
The RPG-43 exists of a 95mm diameter warhead on a wooden stick. The warhead houses the steel shaped charge cone behind which a 0,612 kg heavy TNT charge is placed. In the wooden stick a longitudal slot is machined. The safety lever has a pressed in strip that fits the longitudal slot. The safety lever is normally held in place by the split pin; when the split pin is removed, the lever is to be held in position by pressing it to the wooden stick by hand. The lever keeps the spring loaded sheet metal cone which houses two fabric strips in top position. When the lever is released the spring pushes the sheet metal cone backward together with the lever, releasing the two fabric strips. These strips enshure the grenade is stabilized and aimed forward after being thrown. A detonator/booster is held in backward position by a light spring and a radial steel arming pin in an oversized hole. When the fabric strips extend after being thrown, the steel pin falls outof the oversized hole, releasing the detonator/booster. It is now only held back by the light spring. The detonator/booster is placed in a sheet metal tube with a fixed firing pin in top, facing the detonator. Upon impact, inertia moves the booster/detonator forward, riding the spring and pushing the detonator into the firing pin. This explodes the grenade.
Throwing the grenade is a matter of exercise as the grenade has to hit the target with some force to make the fuze function. The thrower also has to come into throwing distance of the enemy tank which is quite dangerous. The grenade also has the tendancy to fall down vertical due to the fabric strips. Therefore , troops were instructed to try to throw the grenade on the engine deck of tanks as this formed the largest - and lightly armoured- area of a tank. A very suitable way of useage was to throw it on a tank’s topside from a roof or top floor window of a building while fighting in build up area’s.
The RPG-43 replaced the older RPG-40 that in fact was a stick grenade with an oversized high explosive warhead. The RPG-43 was later in the war improved to the RPG-6.
The RPG-43 was used long after WW2, and although completely obsolete it can still be encountered in third world countries as it is a cheap and quite reliable short range anti tank weapon. It was also used in great numbers in the numerous arab-Israeli conflicts.
The last of the Russian anti tank handgrenade designs was the -post war- RKG-3 grenade.
