I should stress that the actual thing is a bit bigger....;-)
I should stress that the actual thing is a bit bigger....;-)
Well this is really testing my memories (mostly unpleasant )
I am inclined to agree with your dad and as Ade says it did rattle your teeth (or as my instructor put it "it's like a kick in the love spuds )
I was never (fortunately) employed in an A/T role but we all got the training back then.
The L14A1, Gun 84mm, Infantry Anti Tank (I think that's the correct nomenclature) or "Carl Gustav" aka "Charlie G", was an absolute pig to have anything to do with. The gun complete (less rounds which were carried by the Number 2 of the two man team) weighed around 36lbs if memory serves me, so half as much again as the GPMG. Part of the training included a fairly realistic "Tank stalk" which entailed "stalking" a tank in open country over about half a mile before getting into a firing position within 300yds. On the tank was an instructor and if he saw you the test was a fail. In my case this was on the Otterburn training area (Northumberland in the North of England) in the blazing hot summer of 1976. I still have nightmares
Obviously the HE round was very expensive and very dangerous so range practice was done initially with the Adaptor Sub-Calibre L1A2 (again from memory but it was fairly well bashed into us!) which was very similar in appearance to the heat round and was loaded exactly the same way. It was re-useable and had an internal mechanism into which was inserted a 6.5mm (?) tracer round (making it a Sec 1 firearm in it's own right) before drills were carried out which made the procedure very much like the real thing except for the absence of back-blast.
The next stage up was the TPTP (Target Practice Tracer Projectile), I don't recall the full nomenclature, which wasn't re-useable but was more expensive than the sub-calibre though it gave a closer impression of the full size round when fired. If you didn't do well with the sub-calibre you didn't go on to the TPTP.
What you have here I believe is what is generically called HE Substitute which like most large calibre weapons is a nature that almost fully replicates the behaviour of the HE round but without the HE "Finish". I don't recall seeing these used so maybe it came along after my time with the Charlie G.
At the culmination of training 5 pairs of us out of about 150 were chosen based on scores with the TPTP to take part in a demo with HE rounds. I was the number 1 in my pair and truthfully I would not care to repeat the process. Maybe it is an acquired taste but not for me especially if there was any danger of a tanks main armament sending something back in return
The British Army deleted the weapon in the '90s but it has been very much updated and is in prolific use world-wide.
As an aside, a major issue for those close to the firing point was back-blast and the precautions were constantly drummed into us. There was a training poster typical of the period which carried the warning "CHECK YOUR BACK-BLAST AREA" and in typical squaddie humour I recall seeing the poster misused by placing it on the inside of toilet cubicle doors at eye level when seated in the "firing position"
Thanks for the memories
Regards
Mark
Last edited by Watchdog; 05-26-2021 at 12:31 PM. Reason: Typo
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
I fired one on a number of occasions, it was not that bad but it was loud! The Charlie G is still in use today with a much improved HEAT round and a very clever A/ Pers HE round. The Germans have got it and love it and I would not be shocked if we got it soon as well. Oh and the rarest of them all was the EOD round that we used in the 70's - 80's although for something with a recoiless back blast how do you fire an Ilum into the air without scorching yourself?
R
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