There's a guy up the road a couple of miles from me, who has a rather large collection of militaria. His dad was a Marine, and has passed, but he did the collecting and restoring. Many of these pieces are used in parades, or for specialized photo shoots, and even get used as movie props.
He had this one out in the driveway today, cleaning it up for an upcoming photo shoot . It's a Vietnam-era M40A2 Recoilless Rifle, mounted on a M38 Jeep. It is still functional, and he fired it for me while I was there. It doesn't have the huge fireball, of course, just fires a primer round through it, but it sounded like a super-loud 12 gauge shotgun. The rifle has its M8 12.7x77 spotting rifle on top, which is also still functional.
The gun is a breech-loader, and has a vented breech for the propellant gases to exit. It isn't a rocket, but uses a ventilated cartridge. You can see a shell partially in the picture above under the tripod. The rear legs of the tripod fit in the back corners of the jeep body and clamp in place. The front leg of the tripod fits between the seats and has a wheel on it. Supposedly, four men can lift the tripod in place, and then place the 11-foot barrel in place. The gun can also be operated out of the vehicle, just sitting on the tripod. Forgotten Weapons has a great video, link below.
The owner of this rig has a small tracked weapons carrier, another Jeep with a M2 on a pylon mount, and a Power Wagon ambulance, and a wall full of small arms that have been demilitarized and are used for props. He's also got another M2 with a scope hanging on the wall, fully functional in single shot
(2) 106mm M40 Recoilless Rifle, History and Firing - YouTube
(2) A Gun For Aiming: M8C .50 Caliber Spotting Rifle - YouTube
He had this one out in the driveway today, cleaning it up for an upcoming photo shoot . It's a Vietnam-era M40A2 Recoilless Rifle, mounted on a M38 Jeep. It is still functional, and he fired it for me while I was there. It doesn't have the huge fireball, of course, just fires a primer round through it, but it sounded like a super-loud 12 gauge shotgun. The rifle has its M8 12.7x77 spotting rifle on top, which is also still functional.
The gun is a breech-loader, and has a vented breech for the propellant gases to exit. It isn't a rocket, but uses a ventilated cartridge. You can see a shell partially in the picture above under the tripod. The rear legs of the tripod fit in the back corners of the jeep body and clamp in place. The front leg of the tripod fits between the seats and has a wheel on it. Supposedly, four men can lift the tripod in place, and then place the 11-foot barrel in place. The gun can also be operated out of the vehicle, just sitting on the tripod. Forgotten Weapons has a great video, link below.
The owner of this rig has a small tracked weapons carrier, another Jeep with a M2 on a pylon mount, and a Power Wagon ambulance, and a wall full of small arms that have been demilitarized and are used for props. He's also got another M2 with a scope hanging on the wall, fully functional in single shot
(2) 106mm M40 Recoilless Rifle, History and Firing - YouTube
(2) A Gun For Aiming: M8C .50 Caliber Spotting Rifle - YouTube