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. The Carl Gustav was first introduced in 1946, and while similar weapons of the era have generally disappeared, the Carl Gustav remains in widespread use today, and is even being introduced into new roles. Troops often refer to it as the 84 or Carl G.

The Carl Gustav was first introduced into Swedish service in 1946, filling the same role as the US Army Bazooka, British PIAT and German Panzerschreck. Unlike these weapons, however, the Carl G used a rifled barrel for spin-stabilizing its rounds, as opposed to fins used on the other system. In addition, the use of the recoilless firing system allowed the Carl G to contain considerably more propellant, firing its rounds at 290 m/s, as opposed to about 105 m/s for the Panzerschreck or Bazooka.

The result is considerably better accuracy at longer ranges; the Carl G could attack targets at 700 metres, easily besting the Bazooka, PIAT, and Panzerschreck. At these ranges the weapon was only effective against large non-moving targets; the slow speed of the projectile made attacking moving targets something to be done at ranges out to 400m, still at least twice that of the competing systems.

The basic weapon consists of the main tube with the breech-mounted recoil damper, with two grips near the front and a shoulder plate. The weapon is fitted with iron sights, but is normally aimed with the attached 2x optical sight with a 17 degree field of view. Luminous front and rear adaptors are available for night work with the iron sights. The Carl G can be fired from the standing, kneeling or prone positions. When fired on flat surfaces the weapon is normally supported by a bipod attached in front of the shoulder piece. A small operating handle ("Venturi Lock") "cracks" the "Venturi" to one side for reloading. The weapon is normally operated by a two-man crew, one carrying and firing the weapon, the other carrying and reloading ammo.

The Carl Gustav was soon being sold around the world, and became one of the primary squad-level anti-tank weapons for most of the Western European armies. In 1964 an improved version, known universally as the M2, was introduced and quickly replaced the original version. An even newer M3 version was introduced in 1991, which used a thin steel liner containing the rifling, made strong by a carbon fibre barrel on the outside, and all external parts were replaced with aluminum or plastic versions. This reduced weight considerably, the empty weapon falling from the M2's 14.2kg to the M3's 8.5kg.

Improvements to the ammunition have been continuous, and while the HEAT rounds have less effect against modern armor, the weapon has found new life as a bunker-buster with a High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) round with less armor piercing capability but much more explosive. Straight high explosive (HE), smoke and starshell (flare) ammunition is also available. Flares have to be fired at a very steep angle, creating a danger for the gunner as the backblast from the propellant charge might burn him. For that reason several armies, including the Swedish, have retired the flare rounds.

In recent years the weapon has found new life in a variety of roles, the British and US special forces use the M3's in the bunker-busting role, while the German army maintains small numbers of M2's for battlefield illumination. Many armies continue to use it as an anti-armor weapon however, and against the majority of threats faced on the modern battlefield, namely 1950s and 60s era Soviet tank designs or even lighter vehicles, the weapon remains one of the world's best.

The Carl Gustav was used in the bunker-busting role by soldiers of Canada's famed Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment in anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. They developed a new system for firing at night, which involved a night-scope equipped spotter firing tracers at the target, the Carl G gunner then aiming at the spot where the tracer rounds hit. While practicing this technique several members were killed in a friendly fire incident by a bomb dropped from a USAF fighter.

Specifications

For M2:

• Calibre: 84mm
• Length: 1130 mm
• Weight: 14.2 kg (18.5 kg loaded)

For M3:

• Calibre: 84mm
• Length: 1070 mm
• Weight: 8.5 kg (12.5 kg loaded)

Ammunition:

(Canadian designations are used, others are similar, replacing the "FFV")

• FFV441 is a HE Shrapnel round, useful in a "lobbed" trajectory to 1,000m, which can be fused to fire on impact or airburst.
• FFV469 is a smoke round fired like the FFV441, with a range of about 1,300m.
• FFV502 is a dual-use HEDP round.
• FFV551 is the primary HEAT round, with a range of about 700m, effective against moving targets at up to 400m. Penetration is 400mm of rolled steel armor.
• FFV552 is a practice round with the same ballistics as the 551.
• FFV545 is an illuminating starshell, fired straight up to 2,300m, providing 400m radius illumination.
• FFV651 is a newer HEAT round using mid-flight rocket assistance for ranges up to 1,000m. In theory it has less penetration that the *FFV551, but it includes a new stand-off probe for the fuse to improve performance against reactive armor.