War and Military Atlas

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M40 recoilless rifle

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The M40 recoilless rifle is a portable, crew served 105mm, marketed as 106mm to avoid confusion with an earlier failed design, recoilless gun made in the United States by Watervliet Arsenal, entering service in 1955. A breech loaded, single shot weapon fitted with an M8C .50 caliber spotting rifle and fired from wheeled or ground mounts for direct fire only, it was intended chiefly as an anti tank weapon but could also be used against personnel, and it saw extensive use in the Vietnam War before being succeeded by the BGM-71 TOW missile.

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