Self-propelled gun "Product 327" nicknamed "Puck" is one of the most mysterious and secret Soviet developments in the field of self-propelled artillery.
For the first time, the general public became aware of its existence only in 2004 year from a report by Yuri Belousov in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. Then this car took a place of honor in the museum of the Uraltransmash Production Association. But since this museum is located on the territory of a defense enterprise, and still have access to it «people from the street» scheduled.
All the information that is on the Internet, essentially taken from two sources: already mentioned newspaper article, and a small article in the magazine "Arsenal. Military-industrial review "No. 2 (2010). Even your obedient servant, which was at one time close to the Central Design Bureau "Transmash" even closer than to the "native" UKBTM, knew about this wonderful car up to a certain point only by rumors. And today I have the opportunity to tell and even show something new.
Let's start off with, that almost all Soviet self-propelled guns of the 1970-80s we used to consider howitzers. In this case, we are dealing with a self-propelled gun. She could conduct not only mounted fire over the horizon, but also work great at direct shot ranges. The latter circumstance can equate it to self-propelled anti-tank guns, and over high power.
And yes, it was indeed created in parallel with the future SAU 2S19 "Msta-S", but back then, when it came to R&D - in 1983-1986 years. As part of research work to ensure the creation of promising self-propelled guns with a high practical rate of fire, a prototype was made, which now rests in the museum exhibition. Here are some photos of "Product 327":
The prototype self-propelled gun "Product 327" was based on a modified elongated hull similar in appearance to the hull of the T-72 tank. But in fact it was the original case, closer to the body of the future "Msta". Therefore, the hull is slightly higher than the tank one - an ambush for conversion modellers. But the chassis was really borrowed from the "seventy-two".
This is about the prototype. However, the whole machine was also worked out. Its appearance and internal structure can be judged by this section:
I will give some performance characteristics:
- Full mass - 41 ton;
- crew - 4 man (in the layout sample - 2 man);
- The armament consists of 152 mm cannon LP-72 of separate-sleeve loading designed by SKB Perm Machine-Building Plant (chief designer Yu.N.Kalachnikov), 12,7 mm machine gun NSVT with ammunition in 300 rounds). Besides, in the drawing we clearly see the 30-mm automatic gun 2A72 (ammunition is unknown), about which source, which I use says nothing.
- Pointing angles 152 mm guns were horizontal - 360 degrees, and vertically from -3 to +70 degrees.
- The transportable ammunition of the main gun was 35 shots.
- The firing range of a high-explosive fragmentation projectile of the 3OF45 type was at least 30 km.
- At the same time, the gun had an outstanding rate of fire - whole 13 rounds per minute!
- Armor protection was bulletproof and anti-fragmentation.
- Collective protection means: FVU, PRHR, sealing.
- Means of disguise: TDA, smoke grenades system 902B, warp coloring.
- Diesel engine V-84AMS, power 840 HP.
- The specific power was 20,5 hp / ton.
- Maximum highway speed - 60 kmh.
- Cruising on fuel on the highway - not less than 500 km.
- dimensions: 11125 x 3580 x 3200 in mm, respectively length x width x height.
According to the drawing, chassis "Products 327" was even closer to that of the future "Msta" — it already had a more advanced chassis, borrowed from the T-80 tank.
I also draw the attention of the reader, what, looking at the drawing, gives the impression of, that the car is very high. In fact, she is lower than the well-known BMPT "Terminator", the height of which according to the panoramic sight is 3440 mm vs. 3200 mm at "Product 327". Furthermore, "Puck" was even lower than "Msta", whose height 3350 mm.
"Product 327" fired further (30,5 against 24,7 km) and faster (13 shots against 8) 2C19 "Msta-C". It was better armed and in fact, as already written above, could successfully fulfill the role of a tank destroyer.
The downside was the smaller transportable ammunition (35 shots against 50), and how it was thought, more complex, which means less reliable and more expensive design. It is also considered, that the recoil of the gun when fired created a significant buildup. During the tests, it was not possible to achieve a clear operation of the projectile feed mechanism and the automatic loader often worked with delays. Besides, as a drawback, the lack of protection of the breech of the gun was indicated, located outside the armored hull.
The last argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny at all., since self-propelled guns 2S5 and 2S7 also had unprotected breech and nevertheless this did not prevent them from being excellent combat vehicles. Everything else concerned primarily a simplified mock-up sample, done, what is called "on the knee". When it was created, first of all, the issues of working out the automatic loader were solved., which would eventually be brought to the proper level. The buildup issue was resolved when creating Msta, and on the "paper" 327th product, as we see, the chassis was already almost the same as "Mste".
It remains to be added, that the leading engineer of this machine was I.M. Panfilov - he continued the work of N.S. Tupitsin, who previously worked on "Product 326", and the story about him is still ahead of us.
R&D was carried out with 1983 of the year, and the prototype was created in 1986 year.
In fact, self-propelled gun "Product 327" ahead of its time. In terms of ideas and technical solutions, it rather corresponded to the 21st century.
/Alexey Khlopotov, gurkhan.blogspot.com/
