How do WW2 tank shells work? 

Isn't the more explosive filler good for hitting fortified position?

I thought the cap was made so the shell wouldn't shatter when it impacts the target?

@@Commander_Koyke That might be a side-effect, but the main reason was for 'normalization', aka: Making the shell adjust its angle to be more perpendicular to the armor plate it's striking at sharper angles. While I'm not too sure how accurate exactly it is in War Thunder, the game gives a decent visual of the effect. The lack of the ballistic cap means it loses a millimeter or two of penetration since it's a flatish, wide mass of metal instead of curved now, but the soft metal normal-cap means it can go through two-three more millimeters at sharper angles. EG: Round 1 APHE (armor piercing high explosive) goes through 60mm of armor at 10m at a 90 degree angle, 30mm at a 45 degree angle, and 10mm at a 70 degree angle. Round 2 APHEC (armor piercing high explosive capped) goes through 58mm of armor at 10m at 90 degree angle, 33mm at a 45 degree angle, and 13mm at a 70 degree angle.

@@5peciesunkn0wn The cap reduces the angle of shell deflection but doesn't actually "normalize" the shell towards perpendicular relative to the armor - rather the soft cap let's the shell "bite in" more to the armor before starting to deflect. Simulation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gTomWXvyrtg.html

The penetration cap was originally placed on shot to overcome the effects of face hardened armour in the early 1900s. Palliser shot was cast with a metal "chill" in the mould to produce a hard tip with the rest of the projectile left tough. This worked on early armour, but a way of "face hardening" armour was developed using techniques similar to case hardening. This left a thin skin of hard armour backed by tough armour. The effect of this was to shatter the tip of the shot, reducing its penetration significantly, often leading to breakup. The solution was to cover the tip of the projectile with a soft cap which transferred the initial shock of impact to the shoulders of the shot rather than the tip. This allowed the shot to break through the hard layer without shattering and improved the plastic flow of the penetration. There is also an type of cap that reduces the bending moment put on the projectile which can also lead to shatter. This is more seen on later APDS and APFSDS which have long rod penetrators..

@@KennyT187 Oooh. Right. That's what it was. Isn't there a slight side-effect of normalization though? Or am I thinking of something else?

Time fuzes need to be set for a certain delay / heigth. Those fuzes dont detonate on impact and none of the AA rounds I saw had a base fuze. I dont see the value of these fuzes for tanks and since every shell has to be set to explode at a specific distance this is another task that the gunner would have to do. This would be impractical to do inside of a tank in battle.

@@herrhaber9076 AA fuzes usually have a point detonating feature on off chance a shell actually hits an aircraft.. but more usually so that the shell can be used for direct fire self defence. All AA shells also include a self destruction device, either in the fuze or in the tracer. This is to self destruct the shell if either the timer fails or the shell does not hit the target..

@@felixthecat265 I got beautiful pictures of 2 88 shells found on Omaha beach (next to a 270mm fitted with a friction fuze!). Both suited with a beautifully preserved time fuze. The EOD I was with said "no point detonating fuze". But then, I also had to convince him that most 20mm have self destruct features. He didnt seem ready to believe me until I patiently explained the pyrotechnic train that is started by the tracer (tracer burn through). We had plenty of those around for examples "fortunately". What you say makes perfect sense, I was just told otherwise by someone who is supposed to know these things better than me ;).

​@@可爱的初中生oh thx mate

Radar was invented because of war. Radar has been used commercially. Can be found on airports

Weapons are humanity's fangs. They're a part of us. A tool like everything else. Violence is not desirable but sometimes you must use it. It's your reasons what determine if that's a good thing or not.

Just your problem

as far a I know shape charge is HEAT, as shape charge is a device that is design to concentrate it's explosive power in to a small area creating a jet when explode, this was used for anti-tank weapon such rocket propelled ammunition, cannon round, and AT grenade, sometimes in one device there is 2 shape charges it's called tandem shape where the first one is smaller that the second one to weaken anything that in the way and follow by the second one to deal the actual damage this is used for modern anti-tank rocket such as Javelin and NLAW and the latest ATGM fire by russian tank

HEAT rounds use the Munroe effect = shaped charge