M67 recoilless rifle.

Recoilless Rifle mechanism and method of operation.

A recoilless gun or recoilless rifle (RCL) is a lightweight form of weapon that allows the firing of a heavier projectile than would be practical with a recoiling weapon. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles, smoothbore variants are recoilless guns; this distinction is often lost, and all are called recoilless guns. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The M67 recoilless rifle was a lightweight, portable, crew-served 90mm weapon intended primarily as an anti-tank weapon made in the United States by the department of the U.S. army. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (726x719, 35 KB) Summary Diagram of layout and method of operation of a Recoilless Rifle. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (726x719, 35 KB) Summary Diagram of layout and method of operation of a Recoilless Rifle. ... The bayonet is used as both knife and spear. ... Rifling of a Canon de 75 modèle 1897 A 35 caliber Remington, with a microgrove rifled barrel with a right hand twist. ...

Roles

Normally used for anti-tank roles, the first effective system of this kind was developed during World War II. Recoilless rifles are capable of firing artillery-type shells at a range and velocity comparable to that of a normal light cannon, although they are typically used to fire larger shells at lower velocities and ranges. The near complete lack of recoil allows some versions to be shoulder-fired, but the majority are mounted on light tripods and are intended to be easily carried by a soldier. In practice, they are frequently deployed in heavily vegetated areas that can be difficult to negotiate while carrying the weapon. Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... The velocity of an object is simply its speed in a particular direction. ... A small cannon on a carriage, Bucharest. ... An early naval cannon design, allowing the gun to roll backwards a small distance when firing The recoil when firing a gun is the backward momentum of a gun, which is equal to the forward momentum of the bullet or shell, due to conservation of momentum. ...

The typical recoilless gun functions very much like a conventional gun. The projectile and propellant are supplied as a single round and loaded into the breech. When fired, however, instead of all the propellant blast following the projectile out the barrel, a large portion is allowed to escape to the rear, providing an inertial force to counter the inertia of the projectile. Since recoil has been mostly removed, the heavy and complex gun carriage and recoil damping mechanism can be dispensed with. Despite the name, it is rare for the momentum to completely balance, and real world recoilless rifles do recoil noticeably. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental laws of classical physics which are used to describe the motion of matter and how it is affected by applied forces. ...

Unlike a rocket launcher, which fires fin-stabilized rockets from a smooth bore, recoilless rifle rounds resemble conventional artillery shells. They generally have a rifling band to engage the rifled launch tube, spin-stabilizing the projectile, hence the term "rifle". The "case" area of the shell can be perforated to vent the propellant gases which are then directed to the rear, as the base of the shell disintegrates. Shoulder-launched weapons avoid the problem of recoil by directing all exhaust out the rear of the launch tube A shoulder-launched missile weapon is a weapon that fires a projectile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by one person, and fired while held on one... The driving band is part of an artillery shell, a band of soft metal near the middle of the shell, typically made of copper or lead. ...

The Armbrust recoilless gun, and its successor the MATADOR, uses a unique design that combines a rocket-like projectile (finned to allow a smoothbore barrel) with a recoilless gun firing mechanism. The fin stabilized Armbrust projectile is packaged in a "cartridge" containing the propellant charge and a countermass of shredded plastic. Upon firing, the projectile is propelled forwards and the countermasss is propelled backwards. Unlike conventional recoilless rifles, where the countermass is hot gas, dangerous in a confined space, the Arbrust's shredded plastic countermass is harmless at a distance more than a few feet from the breech, allowing firing in enclosed spaces. Armbrust (German: Crossbow) is a lightweight unguided anti-tank weapon developed by Germany, who later sold its manufacturing rights to Singapore, and equips two men in every seven-man Singapore infantry section with an anti-tank capability. ... The MATADOR LAW MATADOR is an unguided tube launched rocket developed by Singapore. ...

History

The first recoilless gun was developed by Commander Cleland Davis of the US Navy, just prior to the First World War. His design connected two guns back to back, with the backwards-facing gun loaded with lead balls and grease of the same weight as the shell in the other gun. His idea was used experimentally by the British as an anti-Zeppelin and anti-submarine weapon mounted on an O/100 bomber aircraft. During the Second World War the Swedish company Carl Gustav developed a small 20 mm device, the 20 mm m/42; the British expressed their interest in it, but by that point anti-tank rifles were already out of date. USN redirects here. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul... Painting of the famous Zeppelin Hindenburg. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Inside of the Argonaute, showing the typical obstructed, tiny space of a post-WWII diesel attack submarine. ... The Handley Page Type O was an early bomber aircraft used by Britain during World War I. At the time, it was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. ... Carl Gustav is a Swedish armaments firm, now owned by Bofors, and properly named Bofors Carl Gustav. ...

In the Soviet Union development of recoilless weapons ("Dinamo-Reaktivnaya Pushka" (DRP), roughly "dynamic reaction cannon") began in 1923. In the 1930s many different types of weapons were built and tested with calibers ranging from 37 mm to 305 mm. Some of the smaller examples were tested in aircraft and through some limited production and service, but development was abandoned around 1938, possibly as a side effect of Great Purge. The best-known of these early recoilless rifles was the Model 1935 76 mm DRP designed by L.V. Kurchevski. A small number of these mounted on trucks saw combat in the Winter War. Two were captured by the Finns and tested; one example was given to the Germans in 1940. The Great Purge (Russian: , transliterated Bolshaya chistka) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s. ... Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[3][4] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead...

The first recoilless rifle to enter service in Germany was the 7,5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 ("light gun" '40), a 75 mm gun developed to give German airborne troops some useful anti-tank support before the Panzerfaust, was a simple unrifled recoilless gun and became widespread. The 75 was found to be so useful during the invasion of Crete that a larger 105 mm version was developed on the same basic pattern. Interestingly both of these weapons were loosely copied by the US Army, reversing the flow of technology that had occurred when the Germans copied the Bazooka. The US did have a development program and it is not clear to what extent the design was copied, as there were in fact differences. The Japanese had also developed a portable recoilless anti-tank rifle which they had reserved for the defense of anticipated invasion of the mainland. As it was, however, these weapons remained fairly rare during the war though the US versions of the 75 started becoming increasingly common in 1945. U.S. paratroopers jump into Australia on a military training exercise. ... 4 Panzerfausts in the original casing, displayed in Helsinki Military Museum Panzerfaust. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... The bazooka weapon was one of the initial anti-tank weapons based on the High Explosive Anti-tank (HEAT) shell to enter service, used by the United States Armed Forces in World War II and the Korean War. ...

By the time of the Korean War recoilless rifles were found throughout the US forces. The "original" US recoilless rifles were the 57 mm and 75 mm followed by a 105 mm. The new models replacing these were the 90 mm and 106 mm. The Soviets likewise enthusiastically adopted recoilless rifle (actually recoilless "guns" as they were smoothbore) technology in the 1950s, most commonly in calibers 73 mm, 82 mm, and 107 mm. Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Canada Australia The Netherlands France Philippines Turkey Ethiopia Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung Il Kwon Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Kim Il-sung Choi...

The British, whose efforts were led by Denis Burney, inventor of the Wallbuster HESH round, were developing recoilless designs. Burney demonstrated the technique with a recoilless 4 gauge shotgun. His "Burney Gun" was developed to fire the Wallbuster shell against the Atlantic Wall defences but was not required. He went on to produce many designs including a man-portable 3.45" (88 mm) recoilless rifle, the Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 in pushed into experimental service in late 1945. Post-war work developed and deployed the BAT series of recoilless rifles culminating in the 120 mm L6 Wombat (Weapon of Magnesium, Battalion Anti-tank). Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney, was a British aeronautical engineer and private inventor. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... A pump-action and two semi-automatic action shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a clay trap, and three boxes of clay pigeons. ... German coast artillery in the Pas-de-Calais area, with laborers at work on casemate. ... A British recoiless weapon, designed by Sir Dennis Burney during the Second World War. ... The L6 Wombat, (Weapon Of Magnesium, Batallion, Anti-Tank) was a 120 mm calibre recoilless anti-tank rifle used by the British armed forces. ...

A Polish SPG-9M is loaded. Polish Ministry of Defence photo.

Lightweight SPG-9 73 mm and B10 82 mm heavy recoilless rifles are still in service in the Russian army in airborne units, and are found quite commonly around the world in the inventories of former Soviet client states, where it is usually used as an antitank guns. Image File history File links Grenade_launcher_SPG-9M.jpg‎ Ciężki granatnik przeciwpancerny SPG-9 Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Grenade_launcher_SPG-9M.jpg‎ Ciężki granatnik przeciwpancerny SPG-9 Source: http://www. ... The SPG-9 is a tripod-mounted, 73 mm recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. ... The SPG-9 is a tripod-mounted, 73 mm recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. ... B-10 recoiless rifle in Batey ha-Osef Museum, Israel. ...

M-113 damaged by Vietcong 57-mm recoiless rifle

As the wire-guided missile became more and more popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the recoilless rifle started to disappear from the military. The last major use was the Ontos tank, which mounted six of the US 106 mm on a light (9 ton) tracked chassis first developed for use by the US Army airborne troops in 1950. However the Army considered them useless, and the Marines picked them up instead, albeit only 176 of them. They used them to great effect as a fire support vehicle during the Vietnam War. The crews continued to report the Ontos was a very effective fighting vehicle in this role, but the military brass continued to argue for heavier designs, and in 1970 the Ontos was removed from service and most were broken up. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1124x1408, 661 KB) M113 AFTER HITS BY VIET CONG 57-mm. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1124x1408, 661 KB) M113 AFTER HITS BY VIET CONG 57-mm. ... The M113 during the Vietnam War The M113 is an armored personnel carrier family. ... A Viet Cong soldier, heavily guarded, awaits interrogation following capture in the attacks on Saigon during the festive Tet holiday period of 1968. ... A wire-guided missile is a missile guided by signals sent to it via thin wires reeled out during flight. ... 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. ... U.S. paratroopers jump into Australia on a military training exercise. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

Today the only remaining front-line recoilless rifle in the armies of most industrialized Western nations is the famous Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, an 84 mm man-portable anti-tank weapon. Similar in conception and use to the Bazooka, the weapon differs primarily in using rifling for stabilization rather than fins, and does not include the complex breech that is the mark of most RCL designs. First introduced in 1946, it is still in widespread use throughout the world today, and has even been re-introduced into the US Marine Corps as an anti-bunker weapon. The US-made,M40 106 mm recoilless rifles, usually mounted on jeeps or similar small vehicles, are very common in the armies of many poorer countries, where they serve in the role of tank destroyers. Carl Gustav recoilless rifle The Carl Gustav is the common name for the 84mm recoilless rifle anti-tank weapon from the Carl Gustav company in Sweden. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... 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... A self-propelled anti-tank gun, or tank destroyer, is a type of armoured fighting vehicle. ...

Perhaps the oddest adaptation of a recoilless rocket was the M-388 Davy Crockett, which used a recoilless rifle to launch a tactical nuclear warhead, deployed by the United States in the 1960s. Davy Crockett mounted to a recoilless rifle on a tripod The M-388 Davy Crockett was a tactical nuclear recoilless rifle projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War. ...

Older discarded 75 mm weapons are still used by the U.S. National Park Service as a system for avalanche control, an interesting case of swords to plowshares. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... A Himalayan avalanche. ...

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