Is this a Hetzer with a QF 75 mm ?

[Monochromelody]

Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, is a famous late-war Jagdpanzer. 

On the very early version of Hetzer, it did got a muzzle brake, but such device was removed on later models. 

After war, Switzerland bought some Hetzer from Czechslovakia, named as G-13. Muzzle brake became standardise on G-13. 

But, have you ever seen a Hetzer with a muzzle brake like this? (below)

Some source like Tanks-Encyclopedia describe this as "early production Hetzer with muzzle brake" but I really can't tell which German KwK or PaK have such British style muzzle brake, like those on Cromwell tanks. 

There are two possible reason for this strange version: 

1. A very early Hetzer lost its muzzle brake and the crew found a British vehicle wreckage, ie. Cromwell or Churchill or even AEC armour car, took the muzzle brake as an ad-hoc replacement. 

2. A very early Hetzer lost its main gun and the crew found a British QF 75 mm gun, and fit it into the gun cradle. The QF 75 mm gun uses exactly the same ammunition as the M3 75 mm gun. 

Further pics: 

Is there any evidence in Patton museum about this vehicle? 

[DIADES]

Definitely strange.  Very unlikely to be a British muzzle brake on a German gun.  British Imperial threads, German Metric threads.  My first thoughts were complete wrong gun but it seems to fit the mantlet.  Could be a proper German brake that had failed at first flange (casting defect) and cleaned up on a lathe for some limited use?  I will look/think on!

[Lord_James]

Looks like a Cockrill Mk.3 to me. Speaking of which, do any of the German PAW guns have a muzzle break like that? 

[Priory_of_Sion]

Is this not the same muzzle break on this L/43 armed Pz IV? Small differences in shape(if there are any visible to eyes better than mine) may just be due to inferior German production being unable to produce uniformed pieces of technology with each piece being slightly off from whatever holotype is considered the norm. 

[Scolopax]

I think Priory is right.  The muzzle brake on this Jagdpanzer 38t's has trapezoid-shaped slots and an end that is somewhat rounded, like that on the KwK 40 L/43 above.  The slots on the QF 75mm's are more circular and the end of the brake is flat. 

 

I can't say that I've ever seen or heard before of the Jagdpanzer 38t's PaK 39 getting a muzzle brake .  Did some of the early ones have gun barrels with threaded ends still?  The earlier Jagdpanzer IVs shared the same gun and had muzzle brakes.  They were all double baffled ones as I far as I'm aware though, with the exception of this thing:

 

 

 

Enlarged

 

 

 

 

 

First thought was that it lost the outer baffle, but there doesn't appear to be any physical damage indicative of such.

 

[DIADES]

Only wikipedia but " The KwK 40 L/43 was mounted on the Panzer IV from April 1942 until June 1943. All 225 vehicles of the Panzer IV F2 mounted the L/43 with a ball shaped muzzle brake. About a 1,000 out of the 1,687 vehicles of the Panzer IV Ausf. G mounted the L/43 with a double baffle muzzle brake."  and  " As with the 7.5 cm Pak 40, the muzzle brake of the KwK 40 and StuK 40 went through a series of design changes. Five types of muzzle brakes were used, gradually increasing the area of exposure to the blast. The designs progressed from tubular type double baffle muzzle brakes to single baffle ball shape muzzle brakes, which proved to be insufficient in reducing recoil, followed by a double flange type from May 1943. The front flange and rear disk type was used from March 1944, followed finally by the double disc type."

 

This is about the Pak 40 and its cousins but it seems certain that all similar guns went through the same evolution - and the Pak 40 and Pak 39 are both Rheinmetall guns..  So we are seeing straight forward evolution