The Goose

Friday, December 30th, 2011

The M3 Carl Gustaf — the Goose, to its friends — is effective out to 1,000 meters, which is why American troops are using it in Afghanistan, where they’re facing long-range machine-gun and RPG ambushes.

Although it looks like an old-fashioned bazooka, it’s not a rocket-launcher but a so-called recoilless rifle; it shoots an artillery-style shell, but doesn’t fully contain the back blast.

When America introduced the original bazooka, the Germans quickly copied the design, but increased its size, to create the successful Panzerschreck. Then the Americans copied German recoilless-rifle designs.

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