The ordinary infantryman had to make do with the reversed bullets which were far less effective and had to be used closer to the target. The K bullet round was more expensive to produce, and therefore it was generally only issued to snipers and other advanced marksmen, who could use it more effectively. This had about a 30% chance of penetrating the 8 mm armour of current tanks if it struck the armour at a perpendicular angle. It had an increased propelling charge and a steel cored bullet. The next development was a special armour-piercing bullet, the K bullet (in German 'Patrone SmK Kurz 7.92 mm'), which too could be fired from the regular infantry rifle. This used the same cartridge and bullet as the regular round, but the bullet was reversed and an increased propelling charge was used. The first attempt at boosting penetrating power was the so-called ' reversed bullet'.

Though tanks and armoured cars were vulnerable to artillery, mortars, and grenades, infantry was at a significant disadvantage when facing armored fighting vehicles, since they had no effective direct fire weapon.

Most armored cars were similarly invulnerable, but troops rarely faced armored cars, as they could not navigate the landscape of trench warfare very well. The first tanks, beginning with the British Mark I, launched against the German trenches in World War I were nearly impregnable to ordinary rifle fire. The anti-tank rifle would follow the same route - a large bullet with a high velocity and the ability to penetrate armor. High powered rifles had appeared in the 1800s for big-game hunters. Among the weapons used against the early armored vehicles were high powered rifles. The introduction of armored cars and tanks resulted in the development of the first anti-tank weapons. It wasn't until soldiers met armored vehicles on land that the conflict of infantry firearms and armor began. The tug of war between armor and projectiles had been developing for a long while among naval vessels - since the advent of the Ironclad. Vehicle armour became too thick to be penetrated by rigid projectiles from rifles that could be carried by a single soldier, and anti-tank rifles were replaced with shaped charge weapons of which the most well-known is the bazooka.

The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks into the Second World War, when they were rendered obsolete. TOCrightAn anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks.

Wz 35 anti tank rifle