Modernized T34

[Ivan Sorensen]

I know old T34/85 were modernized to some extent, even fitting laser sight gadgets and whatnot.

Was any gun upgrades ever done or more advanced ammo?

[Rules Junkie Jim]

I know the Egyptians made a couple of horrendous-looking turret/gun “upgrades” like this one with a 100mm gun:

but I didn’t know about the laser rangefinder upgrade – who did that?

[Ivan Sorensen]

I may have remembered incorrectly. I thought David Isby mentions it, but I just checked and he talked about infrared driving lights and not laser range finders.

[Rules Junkie Jim]

I could swear I read something recently about upgraded t-34s… in a real book rather than the internet, too. I’ve checked a couple of likely sources, but nothing so far. I’ll keep looking!

[Ivan Sorensen]

Sure! Appreciate anything you might dig up.
I am mostly curious how far a design like this can really be pushed, before it falls hopelessly behind.

[Rules Junkie Jim]

Nah, nothing too exciting – I was reading about the Chinese Type 58 copy of the T-34/85. It seems they added IR lights and a modified cupola with AA HMG. A bit more here:

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/China/Type-58.php

According to my Janes Armour and Artillery 1991-92 the previous edition (90-91) had a few pages about the t-34/85. Whatever I’m looking for, it’s always in the edition I don’t have!

And I just realised the T-34/100 photo didn’t stick, and it seems to have gone from the  net, so…

http://www.davidpride.com/Israeli_Armor/images/IL_Armor038.jpg

 

 

[Ivan Sorensen]

Nothing too exciting then. Do you know if a HEAT shell was ever devised for it? That’d seem like a simple enough “upgrade”.

And wow, that Egyptian tank looks like a wargamer knocked it together when he got tired of facing the horde of Tiger tanks 🙂

[Rules Junkie Jim]

Well, Frank Chadwick’s Combined Arms has a HEAT data row for the 85mm gun, so it must have! In those rules it’s rated as good as the 100mm HEAT round. I’d be surprised if it didn’t have a HEAT round developed for it. Jane’s Armoured Fighting Vehicles from 1979 lists only HE, HVAP and APHE (whatever that is) available.

[Rules Junkie Jim]

Oh, just noticed the Chinese had HEAT and HESH(!) rounds for their Type 56 85mm gun, which I think is near as dammit the same as the one in the T34.

[Ivan Sorensen]

First I’ve heard of a HESH round for those but fitting new ammunition to an old gun is a pretty time-honoured tradition of extending the lifespan of the gun so who knows 🙂

I’ll chalk it up as “quite probable”.

[GeoffQRF]

There were a couple:

T-34/100

T-34/122

QRF Models Limited
www.quickreactionforce.co.uk

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