Grenade launcher "Karl Gustav": description with photo, history of creation and performance characteristics

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Today, the Royal Swedish Army is armed with anti-tank grenade launchers, both disposable and reusable. The most effective weapon belonging to the first type is the AT-4 model, the second is the 1948 Carl Gustaf hand grenade launcher. In the technical documentation, it is listed as M/48 Granatgevar Carl Gustaf. This model is abbreviated as Grg m/48. You will learn about the history of the creation of the Carl Gustaf m / 48 grenade launcher, its design and performance characteristics from this article.

Introduction to the tool

M/48 Granatgevar Carl Gustaf is a Swedish hand-held anti-tank dynamo-reactive (recoilless) grenade launcher, which implies reusable use. The Karl Gustav grenade launcher has been in service since 1948.

About purpose

With the help of the Karl Gustav grenade launcher (photo of this weapon below)armored targets, fortifications, equipped and non-equipped enemy firing positions are destroyed. In addition, using Grg m / 48 they put up smoke screens and highlight the area. Also, the Karl Gustav grenade launcher is used in cases where it is necessary to eliminate large concentrations of enemy manpower.

About the history of creation

The basis for the Carl Gustaf grenade launcher was the Pvg m/42 Carl Gustaf anti-tank rifle, widely used by soldiers of the Royal Army in World War II. The first development had a caliber of 20 mm. Armor-piercing blanks were used as projectiles.

However, it soon turned out that such ammunition has low efficiency. Therefore, the Swedes focused their attention on a recoilless system in which caliber armor-piercing shells with HEAT warheads could be used. Swedish design engineers Gerald Jentzen and Hugo Abrams worked on the design of the new gun. Like m / 42, work on the new grenade launcher was carried out at the Stads Gevarsfaktori Carl Gustaf factory. In 1948, the first model of the Carl Gustaf M1 anti-tank gun was released. In the same year, the Swedish army was armed with it.

About device

The Karl Gustav grenade launcher is a single-shot, dynamo-reactive anti-tank gun that produces minimal recoil when fired. Grg m / 48 has a rifled barrel, a mechanical trigger mechanism, for which a manual safety is provided. With the aim ofto ensure convenience during shooting, the Swedish gunsmiths introduced two pistol grips into the design of the grenade launcher. By means of the front grenade launcher is held by a fighter. The rear handle controls the fire. In addition, the design of the anti-tank gun includes a shoulder rest, a bipod and a special handle for carrying the Grg m/48. The location of the trigger mechanism was the right side of the grenade launcher, folding mechanical sights - the left. The grenade launcher on the left is equipped with a special bracket, through which the gun can be equipped with an optical sight using a laser rangefinder. There are two people in the regular combat crew: the shooter and the loader.

If you need to fire one shot, then one fighter can do it. Loading a grenade launcher begins with the folding of its breech. To do this, it is lifted and brought to the left side. In order to prevent unplanned shooting, the Swedish designers installed a special fuse in the anti-tank gun. If the shutter is not completely closed after loading the ammunition, then the shot will not work.

On the effectiveness of Grg m/48

According to experts, using the Karl Gustav grenade launcher, you can hit a tank if it is located at a distance of up to 150 m. The indicator of aimed fire for a stationary target has been increased to 700 m. from Grg m / 48 is destroyed from a distance of 1 thousand m.

About application

Since 1970the armies of many countries are armed with improved modifications of the Grg m / 48. These grenade launchers were widely used in several armed conflicts, namely in the war in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Fourth Islamic War, as well as in the civil wars in Libya and Syria.

What does the gun shoot with?

Destruction of the target from Grg m/48 and its modifications is carried out by means of unitary ammunition, in the design of which there is a grenade and an aluminum sleeve. Its rear part is equipped with a plastic knockout bottom, the task of which is to provide the projectile with the necessary pressure at the initial stage of the shot, and then to release gases through the nozzle. At the bottom of the sleeve, there is a place for a flammable primer on the side. To combine the percussion mechanism with the primer, a special chamfer was placed at the edge of the sleeve, thanks to which the ammunition, falling into the barrel, occupies one single position. According to experts, a wide variety of ammunition has been created for the Grg m/48 and its modifications.

As a result, this weapon is considered a multi-purpose grenade launcher, and not a purely anti-tank one. Thanks to this fact, "Karl Gustav" is very popular in the armies of many states. Due to the versatility of the grenade launcher, infantrymen can solve a wide range of combat missions with its help.

You can shoot from this gun with anti-tank, multi-purpose, tactical, anti-personnel, auxiliary, training standard and sub-caliber ammunition. For themcumulative, high-explosive fragmentation, shrapnel, smoke, lighting and other types of grenades have been developed. Sweden, Belgium and India became the manufacturing countries of such shells.

TTX "Karl Gustav"

Grg m/48 grenade launcher has the following performance characteristics:

• By type, this weapon belongs to hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.
• Producing country - Sweden.
• The gun weighs 8.5 kg. If you install a bipod to it, then the mass will increase to 9 kg. With an optical sight, the grenade launcher will weigh 16.35 kg.
• The total length of the 84 mm grenade launcher is 106.5 cm.
• Combat crew consists of two soldiers.
• Grg m/48 can fire up to 5 shots within a minute.
• Fly and rear sight open type.
• The aiming range varies from 150 to 1 thousand meters.

About modifications

The 1948 Carl Gustaf M1 grenade launcher is the base model. It served to design the following patterns:

Carl Gustaf M2 is considered a more advanced model. Designed in 1964. Swedish designers managed to reduce the weight to 14 kg. The anti-tank hand gun is equipped with a double optical sight. In the technical documentation, it is listed under the index M2-550 or FFV 550

• M3 (Grg m/86) is the third model from 1991. The weapons engineers replaced the steel barrel with a thin-walled liner (steel rifled liner), which was mounted in a fiberglasscasing. Thanks to this design solution, the mass of the grenade launcher is reduced to 10 kg. Like the American M16 automatic rifle, Grg m / 86 was equipped with a special carrying handle. This sample has an improved triple optical sight.
• M4. Represents the fourth improved model of 2014. The Karl Gustav M4 grenade launcher weighs no more than 6.8 kg. Unlike the previous version, the M4 uses a liner made of titanium. The material for the casing was carbon fiber.

Which countries use?

According to experts, in addition to Sweden, several dozen states have Carl Gustaf manual recoilless rifles. In the UK, these grenade launchers in 1964 were replaced by American M20 guns, which are also called "bazookas". The British used Swedish grenade launchers until the 1980s. Since that time, English infantry has been performing fire missions using disposable LAW80 grenade launchers. A similar situation has developed in Japan. There, Swedish grenade launchers replaced American bazookas in 1979. In addition, gunsmiths in Japan are engaged in licensed production of Carl Gustaf. The gun is listed as FT-84. In 1970, the United States purchased the first experimental batch of Swedish hand-held anti-tank guns. After 20 years, Carl Gustaf was adopted. Among American soldiers, the weapon is known as the RAWS M3. In addition to Sweden, Japan, Great Britain and the USA, the armies of Australia, Austria, Belize, Brazil, Greece, Denmark, India, Ireland, Canada, Kuwait, Latvia, have modifications of Carl Gustaf,Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Libya, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Estonia, Chile, etc.