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Big guns: Army soldiers to get powerful new Swedish-made tank-stopper
FoxNews.com ^ | 3/11/14 | Perry Chiaramonte

Posted on 03/11/2014 2:57:21 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo

The U.S. Army is bringing in the really, really big guns.

Regular units will soon be issued a Swedish-built "recoilless" rifle that can fire an 84-mm. projectile nearly a mile and has the power to take out a tank. The 15-pound guns, which soldiers hold just above the shoulder to fire, were previously only issued to Special Forces. But after soldiers in Afghanistan repeatedly complained that insurgents were wise to the limitations of their M-16 rifles, the Pentagon has decided to make the Swedish-made Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS)-- or the M3 Carl Gustaf for short-- standard issue.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: carlgustaf; maaws; tanks
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To: AppyPappy; Bender2

I always have loved Saabs


21 posted on 03/11/2014 3:23:04 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" ~ Ronald Wilson Reagan)
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To: Mariner

Please stand at 500 meters and let me try out the poodle shooter on you.


22 posted on 03/11/2014 3:28:55 PM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: Terry L Smith

Tank armor has become impervious to the reckless rifles of yore.


23 posted on 03/11/2014 3:29:00 PM PDT by RitchieAprile
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To: AppyPappy

Saw these weapons in use watching an episode on the American Heroes Channel about the battle for Hue. Lots of recoilless rifle shots and an Ontos or two tooling around.


24 posted on 03/11/2014 3:30:24 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Screw the farmers. I can get everything I need at the grocery store.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

Hey that’s pretty cool. Looks kinda like a STEN except with the magazine in the bottom, and not as cheap.


25 posted on 03/11/2014 3:37:31 PM PDT by OKSooner ("As the riders went on by him, he heard one call his name...")
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To: Hugin
A smooth-bore rifle?

He ain't buyin' musket. Ix-nay in front of the ops-cay...

26 posted on 03/11/2014 3:42:27 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Hugin
Yeah...jumbo shrimp and all. Still, me likey...me want one.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

27 posted on 03/11/2014 4:18:48 PM PDT by wku man (We are the 53%! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXN0GDuLN4)
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To: AppyPappy
Naaaaaaah...you have to embrace the recoil, welcome it. Make friends with it. Feeling the recoil of a .30-06 round is living.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

28 posted on 03/11/2014 4:23:47 PM PDT by wku man (We are the 53%! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXN0GDuLN4)
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To: Mariner

Here’s what I found on the range of the M3

150 m against tanks
700 m against stationary targets
1000 m against stationary targets w/rocket-boosted ammunition


29 posted on 03/11/2014 4:30:31 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Fai Mao
“Sort of the ultimate bazooka.”

Ah, not quite. A “bazooka” is a rocket launcher and a smooth bore. It fires a spin stabilized rocket, usually anti-tank (HEAT), but also HE, TP, and WP Smoke.

The Carl Gustav is an 84mm recoilless rifle with a rifled barrel. The round has a pre-engraved rotating band and the rifling spins the round — just the the projectile from a rifled firearm. The Carl Gustav fires HE, HEAT, APERS, WP Smoke, and TP rounds. Recoilless rifles have greater range and accuracy than the smooth bore bazooka.

30 posted on 03/11/2014 4:47:12 PM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: AppyPappy

Why does the USA have to buy things from Sweden? Can’t we make a good weapon? Next thing we will be buying Rafeal fighters from France and Lepard Tanks from the Germans.


31 posted on 03/11/2014 4:50:54 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: MasterGunner01
Correction: The bazooka uses a fin stabilized rocket; the recoilless rifle round is spin stabilized. [I got ahead of myself as I was typing.}
32 posted on 03/11/2014 4:52:19 PM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

They are old technology and can be bought cheaper than we can make them.


33 posted on 03/11/2014 4:53:24 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: AppyPappy
Its about time they let other units use the Gustav in combat. This RR was used effectively by the SF troops in the fight for Sperwan Ghar in 2006. The Gustav gave the US troops an advantage.
34 posted on 03/11/2014 4:57:01 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Armed forces also had the M-67 90MM Recoilless rifle in inventory. Max effective range 400 meters max range 2300 meters weight 37 lbs. Stadia range finding reticle in the telescopic sight. Fires a HEAT and canister round We had them in Vietnam and in my National Guard 19-77 TOE MP unit


35 posted on 03/11/2014 5:16:38 PM PDT by DMZFrank
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To: AppyPappy

The M72 66mm LAW HEAT round was pretty effective against NVA fighting positions and bunkers and everybody could carry 3 or 4 of them each. It was even fairly effective against the side and rear armor of main battle tanks (NOT the front) if you remembered that the minimumum arming distance for the rocket’s fuse was 10 meters or so. Any closer and the unarmed rocket would just bounce off.


36 posted on 03/11/2014 5:25:07 PM PDT by DMZFrank
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I know a Swedish guy, who retired from Aimpoint. He said they sold over a million sights to the Army and Marines, so we have been getting stuff from Sweden for awhile.


37 posted on 03/11/2014 5:28:35 PM PDT by Mark17 (Chicago Blackhawks: Stanley Cup champions 2010, 2013. Vietnam Vet 70-71 Msgt US Air Force, retired)
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To: DMZFrank

Oh no doubt they were better than nothing. But the military scrapped them immediately.
Anyway, the Russkies flooded the world with RPG;s and they were easy to pick up.


38 posted on 03/11/2014 5:31:23 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: junta
"Please stand at 500 meters and let me try out the poodle shooter on you"

Sure, as long as I can use a M1A in return.

I'd take that bet any day, as long as I had something to win by it.

39 posted on 03/11/2014 6:41:37 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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