`  ::::Yes, this is not the A-19 122mm gun forum, but a discussion about reliability of sources.   I consider Thomas Jentz to be absolutely meticulous in his writing, documenting where he obtained every scrap of information, and setting down no more than what his sources state.  As such the range-penetration data which Jentz set down in his two books -  ``Germany's Panther Tank`` and ``Germany's Tiger Tanks: Tiger I & Tiger II: Combat Tactics`` are about as definitive as it gets for the gun vs. armor debates.   And in those books, you'll find that neither the 122mm Soviet gun nor the 17-pounder could penetrate the front glacis plate of the Panther at any range.  You'll find that the T-34's 85mm gun was slightly WORSE than the much maligned 76mm gun of the even more maligned M4 Sherman.  So much for the ``best tank in the world`` label - how could that be if the German Army tests say the T-34's 85mm gun was not as good as the M4 Sherman's 76mm gun?  This same data show that the much maligned armor of the M4 Sherman was roughly equivalent to the T-34-85 as far as  resisting puncture by the Panther's 75m Kwk 42  - neither tank's armor was any good, but they were about equal. ``Best tank in the world``?  Or just a myth, perhaps only momentarily true for the 1941 time period.   Jentz's data show that the firepower and armor of the 76mm M4 Sherman and the T-34-85 were very, very close to each other.    ::::Jentz's data are all from tests done by the German and British Armies on captured tanks, and these are about as reliable as it gets.  I have no idea where the Soviet data comes from.  Perhaps they were testing precision manufactured versions of their guns instead of what actually came out from their factories.  Yes, theoretically a 122mm gun should do a lot better than a 75mm gun, and an 85mm gun should do better than a 76mm gun, but not if the barrel and gunpowder are so shoddily manufactured that the factory gun could not generate the required high pressures and velocities.   The Soviet 122mm had significantly lower velocities when tested by others than the Soviets.`