A firing port, sometimes called a pistol port, is a small opening in
armored vehicles,
fortified structures like
bunkers,
or other armored equipment that allows
small arms
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
to be safely fired out of the vehicle at enemy
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
, often to cover vehicle or building blindspots. Examples of this can be seen in the
Crusader tank,
Sherman tank,
Tiger I
The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...
,
T-34-85
The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The Chri ...
,
and even modern armored vehicles today such as the
Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle (MICV) program, its successor the
Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) featuring the
M231 Firing Port Weapon, and Russian
armored personnel carriers
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Ac ...
. Some firing ports are improvised for such use. For example a late production Tiger I manual shows the
Nahverteidigungswaffe being used as a firing port.
Some pistol ports, such as on the Sherman, included vision slits such as "protectoscopes" increasing visibility around the tank.
Ballistic weakspot
Being a ballistic weak spot, firing ports are often reinforced with additional armor, and in subsequent designs reduced in number (BFV), or deleted altogether (Sherman and Tiger I
anuary 1944.
Other armor is improvised such as
slat armor to stop
shaped charge
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ini ...
s or chicken wire to stop grenades.
However, due to strong crew demand,
they are sometimes brought back, as happened with the Sherman.
This was in part due to its use during ammunition resupply in the Sherman, eliminating the need for an additional crew member to pass ammunition through the loader's hatch, instead of being able to simply pass the ammunition from the ground through the firing port.
One of the Tiger I's firing ports (right) was converted into a loader's escape hatch and the other covered with an armored plug and eventually deleted from the design to improve production time and reduce costs.
See also
*
M231 Firing Port Weapon
*
Krummlauf
The ''Krummlauf'' (English: "curved barrel") is a bent barrel attachment for the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) rifle developed by Germany in World War II. The curved barrel included a periscope sighting device for shooting around corners from a saf ...
*
Nahverteidigungswaffe
*
Embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
*
Gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
References
{{reflist
Armoured vehicles
Military terminology