Anti-Tank Rifle

An anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks. The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks in WW I and until the Korean War. While medium and heavy tank armour became too thick to be penetrated by rigid projectiles from rifles that could be carried by a single soldier, anti-tank rifles continued to be used against other targets, though shapped-charge weapons such as the bazooka were also introduced for infantry close-defense against tanks. Anti-material rifles of today, such as the Barett M82, are a development of the Second World War technology.

The first Anti-Tank Rifle was the German "Tankgewehr 1918" against the British Mark-tanks.

Their rifles was a new version of the big game hunting rifles of the 19th century.

cal 13.2x92mm 

At the beginning of the second World War the A-T Rifles were very effectively used by the Polish Army against the German tanks (lighter Tanktypes like the PzKpfW I,II and III).

They used their A-T Rifle, the "Wz. 35 Anti-Tank Rifle"

the cal was 7.92 x 107

 

Later as armour became thicker on the newer models, the effectiveness of a man-portable rifle lessened. A notable exception was against the light tanks employed by the Japanese in Malaya, where the British Boys rifle was used with some success.

After WW II the A-T Rifle was useless because of the thick armour of the newer tank models, so the military set their interesses on heavier ant-tank weapons like the upcoming shoulder firing rockets of the bazooka and "Panzerschreck".

Todays A-T Rifles are more used as Heavy Sniper Rifles.

Some well-known rifles are:

The "Barrett M82A1" of the U.S.A. (cal .50 BMG)

or the Hungarian "Gepard" (cal aslo .50 BMG)

 

EDIT:

Video of the Finnish "Lathi 20mm"
The Rifle with the biggest caliber in WW II which you can shoot "from the shoulder".
Even its magazine weighed almost ~7 kilogramms. The whole weapon weighed some 50 kilograms and it was usually towed by horses, but could be carried by several men.