The M40 recoilless rifle was a lightweight, portable, crew-served 105mm (N.B. The weapon is commonly described as being 106mm, but it is in fact 105mm, the 106mm designation was designed to prevent confusion with the incompatible 105mm ammunition from the failed M27) weapon intended primarily as an anti-tank weapon made in the United States. It could also be employed in an antipersonnel role with the use of the antipersonnel-tracer flechette round. It can be fired primarily from a wheeled ground mount. The air-cooled, breech-loaded, single-shot rifle fired fixed ammunition. It was designed for direct firing only, and sighting equipment for this purpose was furnished with each weapon. Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ... The bayonet, still used in war as both knife and spearpoint. ...

The M40 primarily saw action during the Vietnam War and was later replaced by the BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile system. The Vietnam War was fought from 1957 to 1975 between Soviet and Chinese-supported Vietnamese nationalist and Communist forces and an array of Western and pro-Western forces, most notably the United States. ... A TOW missile being fired from a Jeep. ...

Description

The M40 is shaped like a long tube with a 0.50 cal spotting rifle above. On the left hand side, there is an elevating wheel, in the centre of which is the trigger wheel (rotated forward to fire the spotting rifle, backward to fire the rifle). The mounting is a tripod, but the front leg has a castoring wheel. On top of the mount is a traverse wheel. On the centre of the traverse wheel is a locking wheel, when the wheel is down, the rifle is locked in traverse, and can only be moved right and left with the traverse wheel.

The whole mounting can be placed on a M151 Jeep for mobile use. It has also been mounted to Land-Rover's, M113 's, HMMWV's. Land Rover was the name of one of the first British civilian all-terrain utility vehicles, first produced by Rover in 1948. ... M113 - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... This article refers to the Military HMMWV, not the civilian Hummer sold by General Motors General Characteristics (Humvee) Manufacturer: AM General Length: 4. ...

A special vehicle called Ontos carried 6 M-40's. It was used only by the US Marine Corps. Ontos M50A1 The 50-cal spotting rifles can be seen on the upper guns The Ontos, technically the 106mm Self-propelled Rifle M50, was a light anti-tank vehicle developed in the US in the 1950s. ...

Ammunition

Ammunition for the 106 mm rifle was issued in complete fixed cartridges. The term "fixed" means that the projectile and the cartridge case are crimped together. This insures correct alinement of the projectile and the cartridge case. It also permits faster loading because the projectile and the cartridge case are loaded as one unit. The rear end of the cartridge case is made of frangible material that is completely destroyed when fired. The projectiles used are preengraved, that is, the rotating bands are cut to engage the rifled bore.

Types of ammunition include: HEAT, High Explosive Plastic-Tracer (HEP-T), and Anti-Personnel-Tracer. A red-hot iron rod cooling after being worked by a blacksmith. ... ...

The ammunition for the 0.50cal spotting rifle is not .50 BMG. The round used is a special round designed to simulate the flight path of the 106mm ammunition. The . ...