The PTRD-41 () is an anti-tank rifle that was produced and used from 1941 by the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It is a single-shot weapon which fires the 14.5ÃÂ114 mm round, which was able to penetrate German tanks such as the Panzer III and early models of the Panzer IV. Although unable to penetrate the frontal armor of late-war German tanks, it could penetrate their thinner side and top armor at close ranges as well as thinly armored self-propelled guns and half-tracks.
Developed soon after the outbreak of the war with Germany in July-August 1941 and put into production on the 22nd of September on the Kovrov Arms Factory, PTRD utilized the cartridge that was initially developed for the . The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet had a muzzle velocity of . The bullet had a steel core and could penetrate around of armor at , and of armor at . During the initial invasion, and indeed throughout the war, most German tanks had side armor thinner than (Panzer I and Panzer II: , Panzer III and Panzer IV series: , Panzer V Panther (combat debut mid-1943): ). The same ammunition came to be used by the later semi-automatic PTRS-41.
Guns captured by the Germans were given the designation 14.5 mm PzB 783(r). After World War II the PTRD was also used extensively by North Korean and Chinese armed forces in the Korean War. During this war, William Brophy, a US Army Ordnance officer, mounted a .50 BMG (12.7 mm) barrel to a captured PTRD to examine the effectiveness of long-range shooting. Furthermore, the US also captured a number of PTRDs in the Vietnam War. The weapon proved effective out to .
PTRD is a single-shot bolt-action rifle, but with automatic opening of the bolt and extraction caused by the short recoil of the barrel akin to the German PzB 38, which was likely examined by Degtyaryov very early in the design process (as described in his postwar memoirs). Its bolt and cock-on-close firing mechanism show similarities to the Japanese Type 30 rifle, which was exported to the Russian Empire during WW1.