[GF] Armour Piercing Caps

[TheSilverSword]

Can somebody breakdown the differences between caps gamewise?

I'm looking for how AP, APC, APBC and APCBC compare in terms of raw penetration and then the cone of internal damage.

N.B. Please regard APCBC as having a non-explosive filler.

[Tankfriend]

AP usually has the highest raw penetration power of any ammo on the same gun. Problem is that it has trouble with sloped armour and loses penetration power at range reasonably fast.

APC is best against sloped armour, but it normally has the lowest raw penetration power and loses power at range very fast.

APBC has a bit less penetration than AP and similar trouble against sloped armour, but it loses its power at range slower than AP.

APCBC technically should be the best of both worlds of APC and APBC, but judging by the stats alone, it doesn't seem to perform better against sloped armour than AP or APBC.

As for damage, I can't say I feel like the caps matter, which actually makes sense, because they're normally made of soft/deformable materials, and not hard penetrator material like the actual solid shot behind them. If there is a difference, it's probably negligible. Shell weight is a better indicator of how damaging a shell can be.

[Katokevin]

AP is a standard Armor Piercing shell designed to just pierce the armor with nothing special to it. Often has little fragmentation and not always accurate at distances.

APC is Armor Piercing Caped. This means that it has a small, more solid cap on the front of the shell that makes it more effective at penetrating armor. Still not that accurate at distance. Often has a bit more fragmentation.

APBC is Armor Piercing Ballistic Cap. These shells have a hollow pointed cap on the front that vastly improve its accuracy at range. The cap often just shatters on impact and adds very little effect to fragmentation but does give it a bit more speed and slightly more penetration.

APCBC is APC and APBC combined. A solid cap with a hollow pointed cap to improve both accuracy and penetration.

The only real difference they make in-game is accuracy. Use any kind of early tank and its shells and compare it to later shells and you will often find that early shells tend to go a bit to the left, right, and sometimes up or down. Some nations shells I find fragment more then others. US tank shells fragment very little while Soviet shells fragment quite a bit more.