this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
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I wonder what would happen if somebody successfully shot a bullet up into the barrel of a tank
I assume probably nothing for both modern tanks and WWII era, but for different reasons.
I think the WWII era tanks basically shot slugs, so hooting a bullet at a much bigger bullet would probably not do much, at the very worst it triggers the firing mechanism and the tank fires normally (but prematurely).
Modern tanks fire much more complex projectiles that contain explosives, so there is the possibility of triggering the detonation mechanism early.... But for robust battlefield reasons the detonation mechanism is disabled until after firing. So that is also unlikely.
Now take all of this with a grain of salt, this isn't the War Thunder forums.
In ww2 they definitely had differing types of ammunition depending on the application.
You had shells designed to anti armor, anti personnel, even flak rounds.
They def weren’t just shooting slugs.
Where is Mythbusters when we need them the most?
My very armchair general-ish educated guess:
If they have an HE round loaded, a shot might damage or activate the shell's very sensitive front facing fuse, causing it to immediately explode and also cause any other readied shells near the loader to explode, virtually guaranteeing the tank crew's death.
Other shell types, they have thick and inert ballistic cap that is propelled with enough velocity to shred armor. Basically an oversized bullet themselves. A pistol round would not go through the ballistic cap, only crumple and deform it. But there may be a chance it would make the shell misfire and damage the barrel when the tank crew attempts to fire.