Take small caliber high explosive antitank cartridge as research platform, establish 35mm diameter warhead model. Numerical simulation for the process of shaped charge jet forming and penetrating the target has been done through explosion mechanics analysis software AUTODYN. Effect of liner thickness, cone angle and charging length-diameter ratio on shaped charge jet performance has been analyzed. And the optimal combination of the structural parameters of the shaped charge has been determined by orthogonal optimum design. Results show that optimized shaped charge structure can penetrate 105mm steel target under simulation conditions and the maximum penetration depth of main charge in the explosion test is 100mm, the average value of penetration depth is 86.67mm. The minimum and average of relative error between results of static explosion test and numerical simulation are 4.76% and 17.46% respectively. The research results can provide theoretical and technical support for the optimization design and engineering application of small caliber shaped charge.