Lucky wrote:
Fifty that's even more than I imagined. Is the design based off the original Carl Gustav rifle?
It's even
*LOUDER* than you can imagine.
No, it's not based off the Swedish m/42 Carl Gustav 20mm Recoilless Rifle. Although that is a reasonable guess, given the development date.
The m/42 is more representative of the German and Russian recoilless guns, in that it uses a blow-out-disk base with a single rear nozzle. I believe it's got more muzzle energy per pound of gun than any other rifle ever made. See Tony William's authoratative site for details:
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/gustav.htm
The designer of WWII British recoilless guns, Sir Dennis Burney, used a perforated shell casing, but with multiple rear nozzles to protect the breech from gas erosion.
In the USA, the two main designers, physicist Dr. William J. Kroeger, and the leader of the engineering team, C. Walton Musser, lent their names to the quintessential American recoilless type: the "Kromuskit" (a play on "musket"
). The Kromuskit-style guns also use perforated cartridge casings, but in addition employ pre-engraved rotating bands on the projos, special nozzle subtleties to improve accuracy and maintenance, and intentionally "deformable" barrels to improve sealing properties. These were common features on almost all American recoilless guns.
The American M67 90mm Recoilless Rifle was the one that used the blow-out disk base, and in that way it was similar to the m/42 Carl Gustav. Anyhow, it was the Russians who first built a recoilless gun based on this general principle, and used them in 76.2mm caliber against the Finns in The Winter War. So if anything, the Swedes learned from the Russians (and the German 75mm Light Gun 40).
Now that we've got *that* out of the way, here's another "Evil Black Shotgun" to keep things topical:
That's my Serbu Super-Shorty, in 12ga.
For Lucky's edification, I threw in a live 20mm round for the m/42 Gustav recoilless. Note the incredible amount of powder required, compared to a conventional 20mm Hispano round of similar muzzle energy. The 9mm Para round is for size comparison. BTW, the m/42 20mm ammo uses a 9mm Para blank as a primer.
at 20' 
