B-10 recoilless rifle

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B-10 recoilless rifle
B-10 recoiless rifle in Batey ha-Osef Museum, Israel.
Type	Recoilless rifle
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1954 to 1980s
Used by	Soviet Union, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Egypt, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Syria, Vietnam
Wars	Vietnam War
Production history
Variants	Type 65
Specifications
Weight	85.3 kg (71.7 kg without wheels)
Length	1.85 m (travel position).
Barrel length	1.660 m
Crew	4

Caliber	82 mm
Action	Single shot
Carriage	Two wheeled with integrated tripod
Elevation	-20/+35°
Traverse:	250° in each direction for 360 total.
Rate of fire	5 to 7 rounds per minute
Effective range	400 m
Maximum range	4,500 m
Feed system	Breech loaded
Sights	Optical (PBO-2)

The B-10 recoilless rifle (Bezotkatnojieordie-10) (It is also known as RG82 in East Germany) is a Soviet 82 mm smoothbore recoilless rifle. It could be carried on the rear of a BTR-50 armoured personnel carrier. It was a development of the earlier SPG-82, and entered Soviet service during 1954. It was phased out of service in the Soviet Army in the 1960s and replaced by the SPG-9, however it remained in service with parachute units at least until the 1980s. Although now obsolete it was used by a large number of countries during the Cold War

1 Description
2 Variants
3 Ammunition
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Description

The weapon consists of a large barrel, with a PBO-2 sight mounted to the left. It is mounted on a small carriage, which has two large wheels, which can be removed. The carriage has an integrated tripod, from which the weapon is normally fired. A small wheel is fitted to the front of the barrel to prevent it touching the ground while being towed. It is normally towed by vehicle, although it can be towed by its four man crew for short distances using the tow handle fitted to either side of the muzzle.

The tripod can be deployed in two positions providing either a good field of fire or a low silhoutte. Rounds are inserted into the weapon through the breech, and percussion fired using a pistol grip to the right of the barrel.

The PBO-2 optical sight has a 5.5x zoom direct fire sight, and a 2.5x zoom sight for indirect fire.

[edit] Variants

Type 65 - Chinese version that weighs only 28.2 kg with a tripod mount and no wheels.
Type 65-1 - Chinese version that can be broken down into two parts for long distance carrying.

[edit] Ammunition

A cutaway BK-881 HEAT round.

BK-881 - HEAT-FS 3.87 kg. 0.46 kg of RDX. GK-2 PIBD fuze.
BK-881M - HEAT-FS 4.11 kg. 0.54 kg of RDX. GK-2M PDIBD fuze. 240 mm versus RHA. Muzzle velocity 322 m/s.
O-881A - HE-FRAG 3.90 kg. 0.46 kg of TNT/dinitronaphthalene. GK-2 fuze. Muzzle velocity 320 m/s. Indirect fire maximum range 4500 m.
Type 65 (Chinese) - HEAT 3.5 kg. 356 mm versus RHA. Muzzle velocity 240 m/s.
Type 65 (Chinese) - HE-FRAG 4.6 kg. Warhead contains approx 780 balls - lethal radius 20 m. Muzzle velocity 175 m/s. Max range 1750 m.