OT- Recoiless Rifle

[Bishop746]

The 9mm is a lethal round in the hands of someone capable of accurate shots into center mass, as do most high velosity rounds. This requires an incredible amount of training and practise time devouted to just the handgun. Police departments and most regular infantry units do not have the money or time to devote to that amount of training to one weapon when there is so much training to do.

The 9mm produces a very narrow crush cavaity; any round that does not hit a vital organ or the head will produce less bleeding and less muscle and tissue damamge. The .45 is not a wonder weapon either, but it allows more "room" so to speak for poor shots because a non-lethal shot will still produce a larger crush cavaity and tissue damage.

"Stopping Power" in most weapons is a myth like the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. It has a very small grain of truth to it but it persists. I read the opinion of one Army doctor who had spent twenty years studying battle wounds and in his opinion there is no reason for a human being to fall down after being shot by a pistol unless it severes the spinal cord or damamges the brain. He believes people fall as a defense mechanism or by "programming" because thats what we've have seen and heard what happens to people when they are shot.

[SGTGunn]

The common perception that the handgun is a useless weapon in combat has been severly challanged by the operational experiences in Iraq. Since 90% of the fighting in Iraq has been CQB (close quarters battle) in heavily built up terrian, soldiers have been using (and carrying) handguns far more than in past conflicts. Having a handgun to transition to when your primary weapon fails during a CQB situation can be life saving. The problem with 9mm is that due to the absurd restrictions of the Hague Convention US military forces cannot use controlled expansion rounds (i.e. hollow points). There are some fairly effective 9mm controlled expansion loads out there, but the US military is stuck with FMJ ball ammo, which in 9mm has a very poor track record. I suspect the reason for the return to .45 ACP is that the .45 230gr FMJ is probably the most effective non-"hollow point" pistol cartridge available. Which of course, was the very reason the US Army adopted the .45 in the first place - when thier issue .38 Colts repeatedly failed to stop the drug crazed charge of a bolo wielding Moro insurgent.

Adrian

[pdoktar]

Like the .223 couldn´t stop the drug-crazed somali militia in mogadishu 1993..

[pdoktar]

Where will the US get all the needed .45s? Will they be newbuilt, or from some stock of old M1911s? Think what it´ll cost. Unbelievable. Where will they sell the "bad" 9mm Berettas? Waste of money say I.

A F-22 Raptor may be more cost-efficient than converting their pistol caliber. At least they´ll get the best aircraft there is, that is wise geopolitically and scientifically for new air research for both military and commercial uses.

[Basileus]

Getting back to recoilless rifles...

The distinction between rocket launchers and recoilless rifles is that the rocket round carries the propulsion motor with it while the RR propellant is in a cartridge case like a conventional gun round and only the warhead (some rounds have vestigial guidance fins) travels to the target. A recoilless rifle round looks a lot like an artillery shell with a multitude of holes drilled along the length of the propellant case.

The M3 MAAWS replaced the 90mm M67 recoilless rifle in the US Army Rangers. US Army engineers replaced their M67s with Javelin missiles and the M141 Bunker Defeat Munition, also known as SMAW-D (disposable one-shot SMAW).

The problem with recoilless rifles and rocket launchers like the SMAW is the considerable backblast, which precludes their use from within enclosures. Since this is a facet of urban warfare, the US Marine Corps took all their Predator antitank missiles and had their tandem HEAT warheads replaced with HEDP bunker buster warheads, making them SRAW-MPVs. The SRAW-MPV is able to be fired from within enclosures due to a soft launch, and is about the same size as a Dragon missile. The SRAW-MPV warhead has a blast penetrator that can punch man-sized holes in triple-brick walls, and a delayed action grenade that blows up after penetration. A similar warhead is fitted to the new TOW Bunker Buster missile used by Stryker brigades.

Basileus

[Bishop746]

Thank you Basileus. That was a point I was alittle hazy on. Now, forgive me but I have to ask this. If the recoilless rifle is closer to a an artillery round than a rockett than how can this weapon be termed "recoilless". Or am I reading to much into the name.

[Basileus]

Bishop746 said:
If the recoilless rifle is closer to a an artillery round than a rockett than how can this weapon be termed "recoilless". Or am I reading to much into the name.

The recoilless round resembles an artillery round in rough appearance only; it functions somewhat differently. The array of holes in the propellant cartridge case vents a good deal of the expanding gases sideways into a curved chamber called the venturi. The gases are compressed by the venturi, increasing its velocity substantially (Bernoulli's principle). As the hyperaccelerated gas proceeds out the back of the weapon, it creates a force equal to the energy of the warhead leaving the front of the weapon (hence the massive backblast, usually much larger than most rocket or missile launchers). This balancing of recoil forces, one facing forward and the other backwards, means the weapon itself doesn't require a heavy mount and recoil mechanism, and many are light enough for a soldier to fire from his shoulder while standing upright. This is where the term "recoilless" comes from, the lack of recoil effects on the weapon and firer.

Basileus