90mm recoilless

[39mto39g]

Anyone ever fire a 90mm.
I did one time.
It has a round kinda like a 106,only alot smaller, with a bunch of holes in the case.
You load it from the back end. The back end swings open and you put the round in. When you fire it the bottom of the shell case breaks apart and flys out the back of the tube.
Recoilless, is not quite the name I would give this thing. Its like pulling both barrels on a double barrel 12 gage , maybe worse.
I remember shooting it from one hill to the next. about 300 yards, Pretty accurate, I don't know if it was luck or what but I hit a dry patch of ground I was aiming at. I only shot one so I have nothing to go by. I would guess it was excellent marksmanship.

Ron

[Bill Farnie]

At FSB Currahee 1969

[39mto39g]

Bill
Yea that be the one. Did ya pull the trigger, I bet not standing like that?
Ron

[Robert Ryan]

Remember the 90 didn't have to carry one.

[39mto39g]

RR
I don't think they took those to the field. We didn't anyway. They were for defense of a firebase, They were kinda a Mobile 106, that you could take a bunch of firepower to where you wanted inside the perimeter. 106's and quad 50's were stationary on a FB. But then I only seen a small part of the country and a small segment of time.

Ron

[Seascamp]

Was on the wrong end of two 75 mm RR rounds at a time. Hits were starboard side aft, two motor launches got rendered to bits of this and that, then it was ?sweepers man your brooms?. There was a fuel fire from the launches as well, but that didn?t last all that long once the Damage Control Men with foam nozzles were on it.
Speculation was that the 75 mm RRs were probably captured in Korea and found their way to VN. Very powerful explosive warheads for sure, and lots of frag zipping around. Return fire was from mount 31, a twin 3/50, and a 0-4 level rail mount M2 50 Cal.
That seemed to dampen the enthusiasm for additional 75 mm shooting. The shooters were on sea facing down slope side of a hill so it was not a big challenge to have the last and final say in the confrontation. Really dumb place to set up, but I suppose they had the revolutionary spirit n' zeal and all that, were going for it, and got there, real quick.

Scamp

[39mto39g]

Sea
Yea a 75RR would do some damage. They were Tri pod mounted and used the tripod from a water cooled Browning 30 cal.
You guys on boats were SOL when taking fire, unless you were quick and accuate. Good going.
Ron

[Bill Farnie]

Yea Ron I did fire it and maybe not the exact position in the pic but I was standing up. The recoil wasn't bad at all but the 90mm RR had one hell of a back blast when the shell ejected. I first fired it with my boonie hat on and it felt like someone smacked me hard in the back of my head. After that I wore my steel pot and that helped alot.

[39mto39g]

Bill
I guess pulling the trigger's on a double 12 gage isn't all that bad, (I did it once) But firing a 90 from a standing position, I don't thing I would have done more than once, And yes it had a large backwash.
The thing I remember about the 90 was that I thought it used a 90 mm round. We were working with some tanks that were 90mm and when they sent a round down field, (damn) . 90mm yes, tank round, not even close. I was standing there looking at this round with a bunch of holes in the case, wandering, WTF over. But it was surprisingly accurate and delivered a pretty good punch. Much better than a LAW and way more maneuverable than a 106. . I wish I could have fired 1 more round.
Ron

[SuperScout]

Some time in early '68, we imported a new battalion Executive Officer, MAJ Bill Reidl, who being an armor officer, was quite piqued that his APC only had a .50 cal as the main weapon. Tread-heads are kinda like that sometime, always wanting more firepower!

So off to the motor pool he goes, and with the help of some excellent welders, created a mounting system for the 90 to fit into the track commander's hatch. After a few hours of tinkering, he and his driver went to the berm at Camp Bearcat, checked for friendly downrange, checked the potential back-blast area, and test fired the sucker. Holy Moly! Every particle of dirt, dust, and anything larger than an atomic particle was blown off the back of the track! Smiling like the proverbial sh*t-eatin' skunk, here comes the XO all pleased with himself.

Things rocked along for the better part of two months before the XO got a chance to use his firepower in actual combat. In May, our battalion was deployed into Saigon to participate in the counter offensive of what became known as the "mini-Tet." This operation, incidentally, became part of Keith W. Nolans latest book, House to House. MAJ Reidl formed up group of folks to counter-attack a bunch of Charlies that were trying to flank our battalion position, leading the charge across a dry rice paddy, and the 90 mm barking like a big dog going to a small dog fight. That extra firepower was the major factor in breaking the back of the VC force, thereby eliminating the threat to our Command Post.