Hit sprites arn't always true, you need to film and watch it in slow motion to see this. It may look like a side hull penetration shot because of the hit sprite being so big, if you zoom in and slow it down, it could easily glanced off the armor even from the rear (which is most common) secondly the side.
Most don't realize armor does work in game, for example I ran out of ammo in a Panther and had my lower hull covered, at 1200 yards out 4 tanks were bouncing rounds off me left and right, I positioned myself to cause them to glance off on purpose.
One of them whined about it saying the tank was "indestructible" since every hit was "a kill shot" when in fact it wasn't even close.
I did finally die waiting for supplies, but I did glance at least 40 rounds.
You have to film and review it, this is the best example of it, you can follow the round and see EXACTLY where it hits, hit sprites lie to much, they don't tell you exactly where you hit.
That being said the most common time I miss is the same reason, usually I fired just above the side hull of tanks and it glances off - but with the hit sprite it acts like a kill shot.
