Armour Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR)

Armour Piercing Composite Rigid was a British term for a type of Armour Piercing ammunition utilized during the Second World War. The US term was High Velocity Armour Piercing (HVAP) and the Germans also used rounds based on this principle, called Hartkernmunition.

The APCR projectile has a core of high-density hard material such as tungsten carbide surrounded by a full bore shell of a lighter alloy. The projectile shape in general resembles that of the standard Armour Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped shot, but due to an overall reduction in weight, could be fired at a higher velocity. However, the poorer ballistic qualities also decreased the effective range of this type of ammunition.

To prevent shattering on impact, shock buffering caps were placed between the core and the outer ballistic shell as with Armour Piercing Capped rounds. APCR rounds were phased out by Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot rounds.

Canadian weapons that utilized APCR ammunition included the 6-pounder Anti-Tank Gun, which used APCR Mark 1T ammunition. The Boys Anti-Tank Rifle also had ammunition based on APCR designed for it, but not issued.

The Germans also utilized APCR rounds in such weapons as the 5cm PaK 38 anti-tank gun, though shortages of tungsten limited their supply of the ammunition.