why is the recoilless rifle a bazooka?

[TamTroll]

honest question.

Picked up a RR for the first time a few missions ago and saw... yeah this is a straight up bazooka, why is it called a "Rifle" then? IDK about you but when i think "Rifle" i think something like an Assault Rifle or a Hunting Rifle, a long-barrel gun made for hitting targets far away accurately. Is a Bazooka technically a Rifle somehow?

From the name alone, i'd expect a "Recoilless rifle" to be some long Auto or semi-auto assault rifle capable of unleashing many shots in rapid succession with no aim penalty due to recoil, to repeatedly hammer down distant targets.

Buuhhht instead it's a single-shot Bazooka... why? What's the point in not having recoil if you can't take a second shot before reloading anyways?

[ccdu5000]

I'll take op's clown awards please, thank you.

[TamTroll]

Originally posted by ccdu5000:

I'll take op's clown awards please, thank you.

It's a legitimate question, if there's something i'm missing then please fill me in

[Wutever]

Originally posted by TamTroll:

Buuhhht instead it's a single-shot Bazooka... why? What's the point in not having recoil if you can't take a second shot before reloading anyways?

Because you don't want to experience the recoil that a round almost the size of your head produces. That's why real life rocket launchers have open backs and create backblast (that can kill people standing behind you).

Also, it's not really a rifle. Recoilless gun would be more accurate, but I guess somebody named it like that historically and it stuck.

Edit: never mind, the Carl Gustaf's barrel is actually rifled. Learn something every day, I guess.

[ccdu5000]

Originally posted by TamTroll:

Originally posted by ccdu5000:

I'll take op's clown awards please, thank you.

It's a legitimate question, if there's something i'm missing then please fill me in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_8.4_cm_recoilless_rifle

[Hadradavus]

The Recoilless Rifle is heavily derived from the real-life Carl Gustaf, which you might better know as the MAAWS. The "recoilless" is derived from the open back, which freely allows for the exhaust gases to jut out, creating a counter-force that functionally nullifies the felt recoil of firing such a high-caliber round (the Carl Gustaf is an 84x245mm; that is to say very very chonky for an infantry-based system), that would otherwise be transmitted to the operator to lethal effects (Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction). The barrel of the weapon is rifled (to stabilize the round in flight), and it uses a recoilless system, hence Recoilless Rifle (a smoothbore version would be a "recoilless gun").
The difference between it and a Bazooka is the projectile being fired. Both the Bazooka, the RPG-7, and any other tube-based rocket launcher which use a recoilless firing method by allowing for some of the propellant and exhaust gases be shot out of the back, is that those weapons fire a rocket, while the Carl Gustaf fires essentially a giant bullet.

[KaraPenguin]

A very fair observation! The name Recoilless Rifle comes straight from a real life equivalent.

There are two names for the weapon based on traits it has. One is the Recoilless Launcher/Gun and the other is the Recoilless Rifle. The sole difference between the two being that the Rifle has rifling in the barrel (grooves that make the projectile spin, therefore gaining stability).

All versions of the Recoilless Rifle/Launcher/Gun are artillery pieces, meant to launch shells with high velocity with as minimal recoil as possible through varied means. The reason for mitigating recoil is to avoid having the bulky and complex mechanisms that a standard artillery weapon would have, allowing for bigger projectiles in a smaller weapon. Recoilless Rifles are often MUCH lighter and smaller than other comparable-in-power weapons.

[TamTroll]

Originally posted by Hadradavus:

The Recoilless Rifle is heavily derived from the real-life Carl Gustaf, which you might better know as the MAAWS. The "recoilless" is derived from the open back, which freely allows for the exhaust gases to jut out, creating a counter-force that functionally nullifies the felt recoil of firing such a high-caliber round (the Carl Gustaf is an 84x245mm; that is to say very very chonky for an infantry-based system), that would otherwise be transmitted to the operator to lethal effects (Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction). The barrel of the weapon is rifled (to stabilize the round in flight), and it uses a recoilless system, hence Recoilless Rifle (a smoothbore version would be a "recoilless gun").
The difference between it and a Bazooka is the projectile being fired. Both the Bazooka, the RPG-7, and any other tube-based rocket launcher which use a recoilless firing method by allowing for some of the propellant and exhaust gases be shot out of the back, is that those weapons fire a rocket, while the Carl Gustaf fires essentially a giant bullet.

Originally posted by KaraPenguin:

A very fair observation! The name Recoilless Rifle comes straight from a real life equivalent.

There are two names for the weapon based on traits it has. One is the Recoilless Launcher/Gun and the other is the Recoilless Rifle. The sole difference between the two being that the Rifle has rifling in the barrel (grooves that make the projectile spin, therefore gaining stability).

All versions of the Recoilless Rifle/Launcher/Gun are artillery pieces, meant to launch shells with high velocity with as minimal recoil as possible through varied means. The reason for mitigating recoil is to avoid having the bulky and complex mechanisms that a standard artillery weapon would have, allowing for bigger projectiles in a smaller weapon. Recoilless Rifles are often MUCH lighter and smaller than other comparable-in-power weapons.

Ahh gotcha thanks!

so sounds like Rifle is less "A type of gun" and more of "An effect the barrel produces" or something of the sort i guess?

I am not a gun nut, the entirety of my knowledge comes from video games, sorry :P

[Hero Unit]

Originally posted by ccdu5000:

I'll take op's clown awards please, thank you.

It's not a clown post you're being rude. It's a legitimate question.

An RR looks like a rocket launcher but it's not firing a rocket. It's using gunpowder to fire a projectile similar to how a normal rifle does. The difference is the projectile is much larger and has a recoil system that vents half the gas out of the back of the tube and half forward, so recoil is counteracted.

A rocket launcher is something like the RPG-7. Although it's a little confusing because the rocket from an RPG starts off with a conventional gunpowder charge but then continues its flight with a rocket that propels the warhead. The projectile fired from an RR does not have a rocket assist once it leaves the barrel.

It can be confusing though because some RR platforms do have rocket assisted ammunition, but don't try to wrap your head around it too much it's not that big of a deal.

tl;dr RR fires a big bullet using a gunpowder charge similar to a rifle, it just's recoilless due to how it vents gas.

[St0rmFury]

I asked the same question when I played the first game

[JimmyD]

Originally posted by TamTroll:

so sounds like Rifle is less "A type of gun" and more of "An effect the barrel produces" or something of the sort i guess?

I am not a gun nut, the entirety of my knowledge comes from video games, sorry :P

It's still a type of "gun" as the projectile is a shell (you pull the casing out the back after firing). The projectile is basically a big explosive bullet (or a man portable artillery launcher I suppose)

This is different from a bazooka, which is also a recoilless design (the thrust is sent out the back) but is firing a rocket propelled grenade, like the soviet RPG. The entire projectile is launched from the tube.

[petrichor]

Originally posted by ccdu5000:

I'll take op's clown awards please, thank you.

MODS!!! I got banned for commenting like this a few weeks ago for "BEGGING FOR POINTS", this guy didn't even know that this OP's question was a legitimate question, not everyone knows about gun knowledge like this pretentious guy, this guy simply "BEGGING" for jester by your standards? Right? Don't tell me you guys won't ban him??

[Fritösen]

It's a recoilless rifle, not a bazooka. A bazooka fires rockets, a recoilless rifle fires bullets.

[Mitzuriki]

Bazooka fires a rocket and require an electronic igniter to fire. It also leave smoke traces since it uses a rocket and has slower trajectory

Recoiless Rifle on the other hand rely on traditional gunpowders. Releasing a blast at the back of the tube makes it recoiless. This weapon existed since WW2. 57mm M18 Recoiless rifle used by the US.

The munitions are also different. Bazooka uses HEAT warhead,while Recoiless Rifle uses shells. HEAT usually high penning and does more damage usually. But can be easily countered by objects like Side skirts or fences (seen on German Panzer IV H and T-34-85E)

Recoiless Rifle doesn't care about those objects. They're usually high penning,but tends to ricochet instead.

[Katitoff]

Because that is how Americans chose to name it when they invented it in WW2.

[Hariman]

Because it's designed to launch a very large projectile with no recoil, so it's man portable and VERY powerful.

Look up how it works in real life.