The Lahti L-39 and Solothurn S-18-1000 exemplified this issue, both barely portable at over 100 pounds (~50kg) to be able to fire the 20×138mmB anti-aircraft gun cartridge. However, as tank armor improved at a rapid pace during World War 2, the concept hit a brick wall in that a rifle that could fire an effective anti-tank cartridge would have to be so large and heavy that no soldier could carry it. This took the form of an outsized rifle firing a special armor-piercing high-velocity cartridge which could penetrate the thin armor of the early tanks easily: as these vehicles were centered around a massive unprotected engine block and lacked meaningful damage control capabilities, a penetrating hit could quite easily stop a tank in its tracks: a lucky shot that set off the ammunition of a "male" tank could even destroy it outright. A long-range, infantry-portable solution was sought. Other plans required the use of heavy and inaccurate artillery guns, which could not easily be pulled up to the front lines for accurate direct-fire aiming.
However, these systems required stripping away the tank's infantry protection before it could be attacked at all. Early attempts mostly consisted of improvised demolition charges such as the "bundle charge" German soldiers made by attaching six additional warheads to their standard hand grenade. The question of what to do about armored vehicles was raised as soon as they appeared: this was particularly true for Germany, as Britain could simply deploy tanks to take on tanks. They were produced from towards the end of the First World War to the early years of the Second.
Anti-tank rifle is an obsolete class of of firearm designed to defeat armored vehicles.
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