How did he blow up the tank with just his pistol?

Definitely not the plane. You didn't see it fire a single shot. Only person shooting the tank was Hanks. Must've hit the gas tank. Iv seen it in movies before.

the tank and the gun and the war itself are just hallucinations representing his sexual frustration. The gun is his dick, the tank is the girl he likes, and the war and saving private ryan are his excuses for why he doesn’t talk to her.
After he saves Ryan and thinks about all the people who died to save him, he realizing that’s he’s actually gay and ryan was his gf all along

Is this real?

yes

he died there
everything after this point is in his imagination
he dreamt all of it in the few seconds he was dying

Tiger tanks had notoriously leaky fuel systems. That is why they were were raped by T-34s on the Eastern Front.

Through the machine gun port, it hit the primer of a HE shell

Jesus user, have you been living under a rock? This is the standard interpretation.

Typical American propaganda.

.45 stopping power