The Antitank SP17pdr M10 was designed in 1942, manufactured by the British Army based on the existing fully tracked American M10 Tank Destroyer and was in use from 1944 to 1945.
General Details
Specifications
Operational Date(s)
1944 - 1945
Ordnance classification
M10
Quantity Produced
1100
Weight
29.6 tonne
Crew
5
M.G's small
1
M.G's large(>10mm)
1
Length
6.03 mtr
Width
3.08 mtr
Height
2.49 mtr
Engine Details/Performance
Max Road Speed
32 mph
Max Cross Country Speed
20 mph
Range Road
322 miles
Range Cross Country
186 miles
Fuel Type
Diesel
Fuel Capacity
165 gal
Horse Power
375 hp
Power/Weight
12 hp/tonne
General Information
The Antitank SP17pdr M10 was designed in 1942, manufactured by the British Army based on the existing fully tracked American M10 Tank Destroyer and was in use from 1944 to 1945.
The vehicle was powered by General Motors 'General Motors 6046' diesel powerplant producing 375 HP which could drive the vehicle on roads at up to 32 mph with a range of about 322 miles before refuelling. Its cross country performance was good providing a max speed of about 20 mph and a range of about 186 miles.
It was armed with 1 light machine gun , a Bren Gun. and 1 large machine gun. consisting of 0.5 inch Browning Machine Gun M2 Its main armament consisted of an Ordnance Q.F. 17pdr which could penetrate 186 mm of flat plate at 200 metres .
The Achilles was a British modification to the American M10 Tank Destroyer utilising the 17pdr gun instead of the American 3" (76.2 mm) Gun M7, which improved the anti-tank capability significantly.
The original turret was open topped making it vulnerable to high explosives and grenades, and was manually rotated, so was slow to change directions. The Achilles had a modified roof of 20mm armour reducing the vulnerability of the M10.
Armour Details
Turret
Front
57mm
@
45°
(81mm)
Side
25mm
@
75°
(97mm)
Rear
25mm
@
0°
(25mm)
Top
19mm
@
90°
(19mm)
Superstructure
Front
38mm
@
35°
(46mm)
Side
19mm
@
52°
(31mm)
Rear
19mm
@
52°
(31mm)
Top
19mm
@
90°
(19mm)
Hull
Front
51mm
@
34°
(62mm)
Side
25mm
@
0°
(25mm)
Rear
25mm
@
0°
(25mm)
Top
20mm
@
90°
(20mm)
Armour (x)mm @ (y)° (Effective mm @ 0°)
Effective Armour - Maximum 97 mm - Minimum 20 mm
Weapon Details
Bren Gun
History
The Bren gun was licenced from the Czechoslovak ZB vz.27 light machine gun which was designed and manufactured in Brno from 1935.
It fired the standard British .303 rifle round.
Manufactured
1930 - 2004
Calibre
7.70mm
Length
L/82
Rate of Fire
500 rpm
Ammunition Details
Name/Id
Calibre Weight MVelocity
Explosive Content
Standard british .303 round(AP)
7.70mm 0.017Kg 783M/Sec
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.15
Penetration(mm@30°)
4
Penetration(mm@0°)
5
Hit Probability(%)
98
Standard british .303 round - HPBT(MG)
7.70mm 0.01Kg 761M/Sec
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.17
Penetration(mm@30°)
1
Penetration(mm@0°)
2
Hit Probability(%)
98
Weapon Details
0.5 inch Browning Machine Gun M2
Calibre
12.70mm
Rate of Fire
480 rpm
Number of Rounds
420
Ammunition Details
Name/Id
Calibre Weight MVelocity
Explosive Content
MG(MG)
12.70mm 0.04Kg 884M/Sec
Quoted Penetration 22mm@100m
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.13
0.28
Penetration(mm@30°)
7
5
Penetration(mm@0°)
9
6
Hit Probability(%)
98
98
Weapon Details
Ordnance Q.F. 17pdr
Manufactured
1942 - unknown
Calibre
76.20mm
Length
L/55
Number of Rounds
50
Ammunition Details
Name/Id
Calibre Weight MVelocity
Explosive Content
AP(AP)
76.20mm 7.65Kg 950M/Sec
Quoted Penetration 130mm@915m
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.11
0.22
0.44
0.94
1.5
2.13
2.85
3.69
Penetration(mm@30°)
174
161
147
129
113
97
84
71
Penetration(mm@0°)
201
186
170
150
131
113
97
82
Hit Probability(%)
98
98
98
98
88
60
34
22
APC(APC)
76.20mm 7.71Kg 883M/Sec
Quoted Penetration 130mm@915m
Range(Mtr)
100
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
2400
Flight Time(Secs)
0.11
0.23
0.48
1.01
1.61
2.29
3.07
3.97
Penetration(mm@30°)
162
151
137
121
106
91
78
66
Penetration(mm@0°)
188
175
159
140
123
106
91
77
Hit Probability(%)
98
98
98
98
81
57
25
22
17pdr HE(HE)
76.20mm 6.1Kg 550M/Sec
0.480Kg explosive
Maximum Range 10000 Mtr
Range(Mtr)
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
Flight Time(Secs)
2.09
4.93
9
15.32
26.45
51.33
156.99
Burst radius Infantry in open 99% kill
2 mtr
Burst radius Infantry in open 66% kill
5 mtr
Burst radius Infantry in open 33% kill
13 mtr
Armour Penetration inc roof at 1 mtr
1 mm
An explosion within 2 mtr of infantry in the open will cause 99% casualties - lethal.
An explosion within 5 mtr of infantry in the open will cause > 66% casualties and could damage some AFV's.
An explosion within 13 mtr of infantry in the open will cause 33% casualties.
The blast effect of this shell exploding within 1 mtr of an armoured vehicle will penetrate 1 mm of the tank armour including the roof.
Hit probability is based on a static 2 x 2.4 metre panel at 0 degrees(vertical) at the range specified.
The data that has been used to create these records has come from Wikipedia, The Lone Sentry, The Bundes Archive
and numerous books and websites that have provided the detailed information that has not been available anywhere else. The
information we use to calculate the penetration tables, flight times and the hit probability comes from the Gun Calibre,
the Shell Mass(Kg) and the muzzle velocity, plus range reductions to allow for gravity and wind resistance. This calculation
originally came from a pre-war Krupp calculation which has been modified, and seems to fit the actual test results.