APCR
A lighter, faster shell with higher penetration than AP, less normalization and a steeper penetration loss over distance.
Also known as armor-piercing composite rigid, sub-caliber, HVAP.
APCR trades mass for speed. It flies noticeably faster than AP, which makes it easier to land on moving targets, and it penetrates more armor at close range.
The trade-offs are real: it normalizes by only two degrees, so it handles sloped armor worse than its raw number suggests, and it sheds penetration faster with distance. At long range an AP shell can outperform the APCR round that beats it point blank.
It is the premium round on most medium and heavy guns, and the standard round on a few high-velocity ones.
Related terms
Armor-piercingThe standard solid shell: reliable damage, moderate penetration, five degrees of normalization and a ricochet beyond 70 degrees.Premium ammunitionThe higher-penetration round available on nearly every gun, bought with credits and named after the days when it cost gold.NormalizationThe few degrees a shell turns toward the perpendicular on impact, reducing the effective armor it has to cross.Shell velocityHow fast a shell travels, in metres per second, which decides how far ahead of a moving target you have to aim.PenetrationHow much armor a shell can defeat, in millimetres, rolled plus or minus 25 percent on every shot and compared against the effective thickness it hits.