>>64383776
>The early M72 penetrated 200 mm vs 280 of the PG-7, the difference was due to diameter.
It didn't, and the difference was actually due to differing standoff and was primarily velocity dependent and manufacturing quality dependent. The real penetration for PG-7 at ranges where the pH was at least 50% in normal conditions ranged from 150-160mm, and only reached the spec at ranges where Russians were incapable of hitting things (and thus pK was effectively zero). Picrel is the real penetration measured for PG-7VM that supposedly does 300mm of penetration. Meanwhile, M72 was actually doing its advertised penetration of 200mm as a baseline.
>more range
It didn't. This is horseshit wishful thinking by the Russians. The RPG was and is horrifically inaccurate and the sustainer motor that gives it good velocity at long range is a huge part of why. The fact that it is going faster at 500m than at any point before then doesn't mean it was useful at that distance. The pH for a target at that distance was something like 5% in normal conditions. The pH for both M72 and RPG-7 was about 50% at 200m in reasonable conditions, and in practice M72 actually turned out to have better pH at all ranges.