PTRS-41

The PTRS-41 or Simonov anti-tank rifle (Russian: ПротивоТанковое Ружьё Симонова) is the semi-automatic analog of the PTRD anti-tank rifle.

Design

The PTRS-41 was produced and used by the Soviet Union during World War II. In the years between the World Wars, the Soviet Union began experimenting with different types of armour-piercing anti-tank cartridges. Finding the 12.7×108mm insufficient, they began development of what would become the 14.5×114mm armour-piercing round. Rukavishnikov developed an antitank rifle (ru:Противотанковое ружьё Рукавишникова) designated M1939 to accommodate this cartridge, but it didn't have large success because of some manufacturing issues, a sufficient number of more effective anti-tank guns in the Red Army, and high expectations about new German tank armour.

In 1941, the loss of huge amounts of anti-tank artillery created a need for a stop-gap anti-tank weapon, so famous USSR weapons designers such as Vasily A. Degtyaryov and Sergei G. Simonov designed two anti-tank rifles. Both were considered more simple and suitable to wartime production than an updated Rukavishnikov rifle. Simonov used elements of his 1938 design, a 7.62 mm automatic rifle.