Hi,

I am building a diorama and I was wondering what the impact is of a 37mm shell on a brick building fired at close range by an M5. Big hole, small hole, no hole??

cheers,

Matthijs

Not an easy answer. It depends if it's armor piercing or high explosive first of all. AP would be a nice drilled hole but with surrounding areas of brick affected. HE would be a shallow crater with maybe a bit of schrapnel damage around the crater.
It would also depend on where the shell hit the bricks. Square on one brick or at the edge or in the mortared grooves would look a bit different a swell.
I suppose it all depends on how anal you want to get??
J

Not exactly a 37mm but helpful anyway???
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fz%2Ftank-shell-impact-building-wall-abandoned-brick-42846649.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dreamstime.com%2Fstock-photo-tank-shell-impact-building-wall-abandoned-brick-image42846649&h=957&w=1300&tbnid=D2K7-wyDcP7J5M%3A&zoom=1&docid=uUJw0TNqqLhTQM&itg=1&ei=NRFzVc2IGImjsAHjg4LAAQ&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1341&page=1&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=0CCEQrQMwAA

"Depends on how anal you want to get," is right. I suppose some could claim that bricks made in Belgium are made of different materials than ones in Tunisia and would crumble differently. Or that a brick building in the middle of winter in Leningrad would show different damage than one in the middle of summer in the Manila. In short, materials and weather may have an impact on your impact. (sorry,, couldn't resist)

Added to the mix of suggested influences, is your building a single-skin brick shed, or a big building with double-skin walls or even brick cladding over concrete? If a single skin, a solid AP shot would probably knock in maybe a few bricks at the point of impact, while HE might cause the wall to collapse. Stronger double-skin walls might see the AP cause a smaller divot, and the HE a shallow crater in the face of a patch of bricks. (Probably not enough "oompf" to take down the whole wall with a 37mm...)

Then there's angle of attack - square-on hits will cause holes, while oblique hits might cause a shallow groove as they ricochet off, or a long increasingly-deep groove where they dig in. And hits to corners, or near openings (doors, windows) could be more devastating than hits to the middle of the wall, possibly causing larger collapses if they knock out the bricks that hold up the structure above!

But generally we're not looking at the kind of impact that normally brings whole buildings down - unlike say an 88mm or similar big gun. Bear in mind though that even the humble Ma Deuce will happily perforate single-skin brick walls at short range...

Sorry if this doesn't help too much - there are just way too many variables to consider. So, indulge in a little artistic license!

Just take a 1 mm drill bit and drill....

Thanks for the help guys,

I already thought it would not make too much of an impact. My grandmother witnessed a US tank shooting rounds at a house to "persuade" stubborn Germans to surrender after the liberation of our city called Venlo. Of course she could not imagine she would one day have a grandson who would make a diorama of it Houses in our city were usually made of a single-skin brick wall those days, so I'll make a very small hole with some damaged brick around it.

Cheers,

Matthijs

Mat, you could find an old building and get together with some gun collectors and fire a 37mm cannon at the wall.

Be sure to post lots of pictures!!

When I was stationed in Merrell Barracks in Nurnberg, Germany, the former SS kaserne had a number of impact craters on the outside walls. Most were missing bricks in about a 12-18" circle and framented ones outside. You could see if the impact was 90 degrees and those from an angle.

The difference between small caliber and .50 cal strikes could be noted also! .30 cal bullet strikes in limestone window casings left long gouges, as they impacted on an angular surface.