The Army Is Bringing Back a 70-Year-Old Gun for New Fights [Karl Gustav]

Popular Mechanics ^ | May 23, 2016 | Kyle Mizokami

[Carriage Hill]

I’m amazed that the loader pulls that fired shell out bare-handed. That’s gotta leave a mark.

[fella]

Don’t hold it for long.

[Carriage Hill]

Ouch. Guessing he grabs it by the rim and pulls fast.

[arthurus]

Sounds like the Original RPG.

[skepsel]

Something like that happened to me as well, loudly announcing “BLACK BLAST AREA CLEAR” as a black drill sgt walked the line behind me. He just laughed and shook his head at the dumb recruit.

Most of our drill sgts’ energy was taken up with a guy named Bailey, poor guy was just a Sad Sack who couldn’t do anything except serve as a bad example, always late, rumpled, unshaven, dirty and out of step.

We’d be learning a weapon, step-by-step disassembly, don’t do anything until told and “SPROING!”, a spring would shoot across the class room and three drills would be chewing Bailey’s butt like dingoes eating something alive, lol. He really caught hell for cranking the turret of a tank so that the tube smashed against a roof pillar inside a shop bay!

[Ancesthntr]

Something tells me that Gook Joe knew EXACTLY what he was saying.

[Rockingham]

That rearward blast is also a giveaway of one’s position to the enemy. Tactically, this requires the shooter to get under cover or move position.

[fella]

I’ve wondered why there is no counter fire when watching those videos of wire guided missiles being fired from the ISIS war.

[Rockingham]

Modern ground attack missiles tend to use propellants that do not generate an easily visible smoke trail, especially in the early stages of flight.

[fella]

The back blast kicks up a lot of dust, and the operator has to stay with the site to guide the missile in. A well placed launcher can cut back on the dust cloud but the normal muzzie is to lazy for that kind of detailed work. The videos at liveleak and youtube usually show large dust clouds.

[Rockingham]

Western armies teach their troops to conceal themselves. Arab troops, with few exceptions, are poorly trained and poorly led.

[archy]

Known to the Brits as *Charlie Gee* or *Charlie gut-ache* due to its 40-pound or thereabouts [NOT *14* pound] weight.

They were reasonably accurate, though not as precise as the Korean-era US 57mm recoilless, due in part to the heavier round requiring more careful range estimation due to its drop in flight. The Swedes sometimes fielded a neat little optical rangefinder good out to 800 meters or so with it, nowadays you can get a golfer's/bowhunter's electronic laser unit accurate to a meter for a hundred bucks or so.

Like the US M67 90mm recoilless, repeated firing overheats the things. After firing five rounds from our 90's, we were supoposed to observe a half-hour cooldown period.

[archy]

I would note some of these “appeared” in the Donbas during recent combat.

The Canadians of Princess Patricia's Light Infantry found them right handy in Afghanistan as well. Their contribution: station a rifleman with a magazine load of tracer close alongside the Charlie-Gee gunner at night, and when the tracers start bouncing, the big fella lets off.

Real quickly, the other folks learn that when a half-magazine or so of tracers comes your way, something even bigger may quickly follow. Discretion being the better part of valor, that gives them an excellent reason to hunker down and quit firing.

Sometimes there are a pair or more of Patricias probing by fire, sometimes just one guy working as an outpost guard with a rifle and some tracers. But guessing wrong can be real messy.

[Travis McGee]

Is there a special “time out flag” to put up when your tube is too hot, to keep it fair?

[archy]

Is there a special “time out flag” to put up when your tube is too hot, to keep it fair?

I've always liked these. They don't help much with the incoming mortar rounds, though.

[Travis McGee]

That’s give a good time out.