World War II Database

Country of Origin	United States
Type	Recoilless Gun
Caliber	75.000 mm
Length	2.080 mm
Weight	75.070 kg
Ammunition Weight	6.53 kg
Range	6.360 km
Muzzle Velocity	302 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe M20 recoilless rifles were developed per the request of the Small Arms Division of the United States Army Ordnance Department as a response to the development of mobile infantry tactics in WW2. The resulting 75-millimeter weapons were ready for testing in 1944, and production of the now-designated M20 recoilless rifles began in Mar 1945. Compared to conventional weapons of this size, they were much lighter in weight due to the lack of recoil systems; this was achieved with a mechanism that vented propellant gases from the rear of the weapon. They were first used during WW2 by the US Army against both German and Japanese forces, firing HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) shells, but the first war to see large numbers of them being employed was the Korean War. They were slowly phased out of service between the Korean War and the Vietnam War, but a number of them remain in service with the US National Park Service for avalanche control purposes.

Source: Wikipedia.

ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Jul 2010

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