SU-100??

[Julien]

Did the Russians put a bigger gun in the SU-100

 

This picture shows what appears to me to be an SU-100 chassis but the gun is bigger, the plate reads 122mm? is this still a SU-100?

 

 

Thanks

 

Julien

 

 

[Mig Eater]

The hull is a post-war Czech made Su-100m (SD-100), you can tell by the storage box on the left and the square fenders on the front. The Soviets stopped production of the Su-100 at the end of the war, the Czechs then restarted it soon after and supplied them to all the Warsaw countries. Most of the ones you see now days in museums are these post-war built ones, just like nearly all the Hetzers are post-war Czech G-13s.

 

The barrel doesn't look like a 122mm but it is shorter than the normal 100mm, I think the breach has been damaged and the barrel has been pushed inside the fighting compartment, you can see a gap around the barrel and mantlet and they should be flush with each other.

 

The text on the sign could refer to the Su-122m prototype that was built in 1943, which was a Su-85 fitted with a 122mm D-11. Only one was made and then the project was cancelled, they decided to concentrate on production of the Su-85. Or someone could have just mixed up the Su-100 and Su-122 signs either way it's wrong. 

 

Su-100

 

Su-100m

 

Su-122m

 

 

If you are interested in making a big gunned Su tank there is the Su-122P which was a Su-100 fitted with the 122mm D-25 from the Is-2.

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by Mig Eater

[Julien]

Thanks for the info. The barrel does look strange to me and when compared to another SU-100 it looks larger where it goes through the mantlet?

 

 

[Julien]

BTW it seems the Czechs made them well, one was still fighting in the Yemen in 2014!

 

[Mig Eater]

If you look at the two Su-100 pics I posted above you can see that the barrel thickens as it meets the mantlet and doesn't have a gap around it, I don't know why this one doesn't. Maybe the original barrel was damaged and they replaced it with something else, which doesn't quite fit!?