Ammunition
The D-1 had a large variety of ammunition, including high explosive, armor piercing, HEAT, shrapnel, illumination, and chemical.
The D-1 used separate loading ammunition, with eight different charges. The charges included the "full charge" Zh-536 and smaller charges ranging from the "first" to "sixth", which was the smallest. A "special charge" was used with the BP-540 HEAT projectile. Propellant charges were produced in "full" and "third" variants in munitions factories. All other charges were derived from them by removing small gunpowder bags from the charge cartridge. For flash suppression there was a special chemical mixture which was to be inserted into a cartridge before night firing. 152 mm projectiles for the D-1 weighed about 40 kg; a difficult job for the loaders, who had to carry the projectiles alone.
When set to fragmentation mode, the OF-530 projectile produced fragments which covered an area 70 meters wide and 30 meters deep. When set to high-explosive (HE) action, the exploding shell produced a crater about 3.5 meters in diameter and about 1.2 meters deep. Despite the D-1's withdrawal from service in the mid- 1970s, the OF-530 is still fired from modern 152 mm ordnance pieces of the Russian Army.
The G-530 HEAC anti-concrete shell had a muzzle velocity of 457 m/s when fired with the "first" charge. At a range of one kilometer it had a 358 m/s terminal velocity and was able to punch through up to 80 centimeters of reinforced concrete before detonating a TNT charge which increased the total penetration to 114 centimeters. The G-530 could not be fired with a "full" charge without putting the crew at risk of having the shell explode in the barrel. A special version of the shell, the G-530Sh, was developed to allow use with the full charge.
The BP-540 HEAT projectile was not used during World War II. It had an armour penetration of 250 millimeters at an incident angle of 90°, 220 millimeters at 60°, 120 millimeters at 30°.
In the late 1950s old ammunition stocks for the D-1 were removed from the Soviet inventory. The only shells retained were the OF-530, O-530, G-530/G-530Sh, and possibly chemical shells. The Soviet Army also possessed a 152 mm nuclear shell, but it is not clear whether that shell could be used with the D-1.
| Available ammunition | |||||
| Type | Model | Weight, kg | HE weight, kg | Muzzle velocity, m/s | Range, m |
| Armor piercing shells | |||||
| Naval semi-AP | model 1915/28 | 51.07 | 3.2 | ||
| HEAT | BP-540 | 27.44 | 560 | 3,000 | |
| Anti-concrete shells | |||||
| Anti-concrete shell | G-530 / G-530Sh | 40.0 | 5.1 | 508 | 12,400 |
| High explosive and fragmentation shells | |||||
| HE-Fragmentation, steel | OF-530 | 40.0 | 5.47-6.86 | 508 | 12,400 |
| HE-Fragmentation, steely iron | OF-530A | 40.0 | 5.66 | 508 | 12,400 |
| HE, old | F-533 | 40.41 | 8.0 | ||
| HE, old | F-533K | 40.68 | 7.3 | ||
| HE, old | F-533N | 41.0 | 7.3 | ||
| HE, old | F-533U | 40.8 | 8.8 | ||
| HE, steely iron, old French | F-534F | 41.1 | 3.9 | ||
| HE for 15 | F-521 | 41.7 | 7.7 | ||
| HE, British, for Vickers 152 mm howitzer | F-531 | 44.91 | 5.7 | ||
| Shrapnel shells | |||||
| Shrapnel with 45 sec. tube | Sh-501 | 41.16-41.83 | 0.5 (680-690 bullets) | ||
| Shrapnel with Т-6 tube | Sh-501T | 41.16 | 0.5 (680-690 bullets) | ||
| Illumination shells | |||||
| Illumination, 40 sec. | S 1 | 40.2 | |||
| Chemical shells | |||||
| Chemical howitzer shell | HS-530 | 38.8 | |||
| Chemical howitzer shell | HN-530 | 39.1 | |||
| Chemical (post-war) | ZHZ | ||||
Read more about this topic: 152 Mm Howitzer M1943 (D-1)