In terms of the most effective gun, its the 12.7mm high-velocity machine gun in the ventral turret of the Il-4...
It makes out of range shots nearly impossible due to its range coming so near to the mg151/20's on German planes and the hispanos on the brit planes.
It's rate of fire is roughly 1500Rpm; only 300rpm short of the russian 7.62's on the I-16 and the Il-4.
It will chew though the armour of anything short of an Il-2/10 with ease and due to its high penetrative power, almost guarantees a kill on any logical pursuer.
Personally I hate 'tail gun-Charlies', particularly the ones that boast about cheap kills.Though saying this, I have to admit that the Il-4 is my favourite night fighter (on sim of coarse) and I find it to be an effective heavy interceptor due to its incredible rate of climb and of coarse the massively effective ventral gun: just climb up and park uself ahead and in front of a B17 and watch all that russian steel puncture the canopy and ignite the fuel tank...
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