PIATs were used as late as the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and Korean War. Still, you are right because it's been over 65 years since the last one was fired in combat. I doubt it was used past 60s tho
Glad you enjoyed it. Once I get another round made for her I'll make another firing video where I will aim at something, had a few other shots that I filmed but people were there and a barking dog was there too so I haven't uploaded that (the day the projectile hit a rock and damaged the tube). That is unless they add her to the list of prohibited weapons up here too.
A contemporary (1944-45) Canadian Army survey questioned 161 army officers, who had recently left combat, about the effectiveness of 31 different infantry weapons. In that survey the PIAT was ranked the number one most “outstandingly effective” weapon, followed by the Bren gun in second place.
Yeah I was reading documents in the archives that said that the higher up in rank the mentions were the more effective the PIAT was seen as being. Regardless of how well or poorly it performed (especially with the original fuze) the moral boost the troops had knowing that they had tools to destroy tanks available to them close by made these weapons worth it.
It's really cool to see such a rarity up and running, especially firing of it! Me and a buddy work on a little mod for a game called Running With Rifles and this was a PERFECT video to rip the sound of a spigot mortar esque weapon from, especially with the snow dampening any echo! Rarely get a video as good as this of something so specific firing with such good sound quality, so that just adds to how cool this is.
In the comparison of the PIAT against the American M1 to M9 bazooka, the German Panzerschreck bazooka, and the German Panzerfaust anti-tank bomb dispenser, there was no clear winner. None of the anti-tank infantry weapons held a clear SUPERIOR position over the others. The reason was that each infantry anti-tank weapon held one clear, distinct advantage that made it desirable over the overs given the user's preference. The PIAT's distinct advantage was its capability for being used just about anywhere without lethal backblast nor giving away the firer's position. The PIAT could be used indoors. The American bazooka clearly held the range advantage in 200 yards for the M1 series to 220 yards for the M9 series. The German Panzerschreck held a lower range of 150 meters or so. The Panzerfaust held the distinction of being used by only one operator, was disposable, and the very image of simplicity to use. The bazookas were the next easiest to learn and use. Post-war the Americans kept their bazooka relevant by introducing a larger, more effective model, the M20 Super Bazooka, whose shaped charge warhead could penetrate six inches of plate armor. The British Army took the expedient step of adopted the M20 as an interim infantry anti-tank weapon until a new, domestic anti-tank weapon could be designed. The West German Army would in the 1960s introduce a modernized Panzerfaust, the highly effective Panzerfaust III with a reusable launcher tube. The Soviets adopted the WW2 German Panzerfaust 250 design which did had not gone into production. The result was the iconic, ubiquitous, world-known RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launcher, capable of penetrating six inches or more of tank armor.
The superbazooka came from the panzerschreck which was the Germans upgrade to the American bazooka . Getting a larger diameter on the shaped charge increased the armor penetration. Meaning that although the bazooka had a decent range it was the least "powerful" of the weapons. As you said they didn't really have much of an advantage over the others. And in the end evening their range was listed as a certain distance taking shots at those ranges were no where near accurate enough to guarantee a kill. Also just a side note the pzf250 was probably what became the RPG-2 and then the 7 was an upgrade to that. That was a good overview of the different systems. Thanks for the response.
If you could compare the P.I.A.T.'s recoil to anything that you've shot what would you say it is? Also like your vids as well since you have interesting accessories and know how they work.
My friends grandfather was a German tank driver in ww2 (He was conscripted) He said that those things scared the hell out of the tank crews. they made so little noise and gave no warning. they also were rarely only one of them. They had no idea where the shot had come from as well. Really cool to see one fire.
Interesting. Armourers bench would probably enjoy hearing about that. He seems to have alot of stories from the people using it, but none from the people getting fired at.
I usually did what it had to especially when they switched to the 426 fuze. It wasn't a great anti tank weapon but at that time none of them really were.
I'm curious about your loading data. Originals used Cordite, but the Brits also used Cordite to load the .303 Cartridges (some minor production using smokeless nitrocellulose powder in the MkVII "Z") And whether the propellent cartridge gets ejected out the tailfin tube during the launch process?
I was digging through some documents and found the load size and type of powder that was used. Unfortunately the powder isn't used anymore but I was able to find an old powder table like Lee has in their reloading book, which showed the powder, so I cross referenced some powders next to the one used and they showed up on lee lists and were still being made. Tested that and It worked properly. My issue is the cartridges I'm using are not right, so although they do come out the back they tend to not hold their shape like the real ones, and it does "spit". Winter project is to make original style 2 piece cartridges.
@@Stray03 I assumed there could be some way to calculate the grain weight ratio between Cordite then whatever smokeless, all very interesting stuff. Especially that 2 pc crimped copper/brass propellent capsule. I thought, first, maybe try turning the rim off of a high brass casing, or have the capsule fit in a DOM chamber, then another length of DOM inserted behind it, secured by 3 or 4 set screws, to keep the capsule from flying back at the Gunner, and, to increase the chamber pressure to make the powder gas expansion more efficient to push the projo further.
Not a weight it is a cork. when the PIAT is cocked the spigot goes into the launcher and leaves a nice hole for dirt to get into. their solution was that.
As a teen in the 70's I dry fired our PIAT from my shoulder ...standing... after I stopped seeing stars (I thought the cartoon stars were just for effect, they are real) and got up off my back and put her away and let it be....Soft recoil...HA, not without a buttstock rubber insert it isn't. No wonder they joked about awarding the Victoria Cross to the Chap in WWII for killing two tanks while firing it from his shoulder. That long spring inside the housing really does kick like a Mule!
It kicks but not as badly as everyone makes it seem. If I had to compare it to another firearm maybe a 10 gauge shotgun but "slower". A .300 win mag is less plesant to shoot.
When I was in the CA Cadet Corps, we actually had one of these in our armoury... we had no idea what it was at the time. But, we did know it was a heavy beast!
History looks upon the PIAT as a bit of a joke but it could be fired rapidly (if it re-cocked) and could be used from an enclosed space without knocking down the wall behind you or giving your position away, oh and it had a kick like a mule (if you were firing or receiving it)
Powder? you're firing it with explosives? I was thinking that the PIAT used only spring launching mechanism... but I guess that couldn't be enough energy could it. I guess that big spring is only for the firing pin and then it still requires additional explosive force to launch?
I explain that in one of my videos. That spring was for recoil management. the piat is a spigot mortar. It fires like any other mortar does using a cartridge. Problem is if you put a mortar firing a 2.5lb projectile on your shoulder and fired it, you wouldn't be firing a second one. The spring softens the recoil. Think of the spring spigot mechanism like the bolt on a sten. And no not firing with explosives, firing with smokeless powder like shotguns or rifles.
I dont know where that came from but it is a very widely held belief from people who see the piat. Probably one of the main mistakes people make when describing it too.
@@Stray03 yeah my friend owns the launcher. If the fit is loose enough I'll look at making a metal sleeve. The model is so light it wouldn't need much powder at all
Thanks for watching. I'm hoping to get more shooting in so that I can get a real feel for how useful it actually was. Hoping that I can get a few things standardized so that the rounds always act the same.
Really inspiring to see you bringing one back into use with your training rounds. Although, had a laugh wondering how long it took you to find it in the snow
Lol. Almost lost it once when not shoulder firing and one took a while to find because it skipped off the hard ground and moved 4 feet away the hole it made in the snow. Usually the round stayed near the hole though.
@@Stray03 I'm telling you my friend.... I was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 4 years, perhaps that is the official version but I know what we did with it. 🤣🤣👍👃
this weapon seems a hell of a lot better than Its generally described, for instance the range is surprisingly decent considering the advantage of stealth you would have from not producing a backdraft, also It looks like the recoil is very manageable. you cant beat seeing the actual experiene of firing one... well done
Yeah it isn't so bad. Some of the early panzerfausts had less range than this did and a bigger smoke signal. The bazooka fired a bit farther but the warhead diameter was smaller so less penetration. The panzerschreck had the best range and good penetration but was huge, piat was the only one that didn't have a backblast. We have a lot of people who look at these weapons in the time of NLAWS, and javelins and think that the range is crap. To today's standards yes, but when you think that these were basically the first weapons that could take out a real tank without physically being up against it you realize how much better they were than what they had.
@@Stray03 plus it had a really serious warhead, you could fire this from inside a crowded room in a building, to be honest some of the tanks engaged in the Ukraine were not far off this range, I mean its ok having range on this kind of weapon but the man using it has to actually see what he's shooting at, I would feel blessed to have one of these in WW2 If a tank was rolling by, I mean you are in with a chance of staying hidden after you fire the thing, thats a big deal to me.
@@Stray03 oh nice. any chance some kind of shotgun blanks would work as propellent? I also have an original PIAT practice round (the type that is made to be the same as the live rounds, not that I would ever fire it, I paid $500 for the damn thing lol i.imgur.com/c2Qsx0f.jpg) and it would be really cool to model practice rounds after it as well. I don't know much about reloading so any info to point me in a good direction would be great.
There is a guy who was working on making reusable ones shaped like the real ones. Last time I spoke to him he was still at 3.5 lbs weight problem with the original ones was that they were one time use. You can tell if you have a fired example or a unfired example by if the tail has a bulge in the area just before the warhead. You can use a 12 gauge shell but don't just grab any blank. Piats are expensive toys to destroy. I took 2 years to find the right load that I am confident in firing. That being said sharing it would be an issue because I dont know what condition other piats are in. I completely took apart my piat and I even I examined my main spring for the proper lengths so I know the launcher is sound. Can't say that for other ones.
One of the lingering myths about the piat is that it is spring powered. It is basically a mortar with a recoil reduction system made up of a big spring. There is a charge in the back of the piat bomb and when you pull the trigger a giant firing pin/spigot goes forward and sets off the cartridge.
It isn't bad but it isn't as accurate as the original due to cartridge and retainer. I'm going to be working on that when I get a chance. I want to see the accuracy that it should have.
Yeah unfortunately this one and one a company posted on RUclips are the only 2 I have seen fired recently. They were developing practice rounds for people to buy but I don't know what they ended up doing with that project.
The original probably slightly better than mine due to the construction of the cartridge mine has and the plastic retainer. I'll have to shoot more with it to give a fair idea, but I haven't managed to put it on a 4x4 target at 80 yards yet in 8 shots with it. Ranging issues not windage.
Lol gotto love the youtube algorithm. Too bad there are so many horrible history channel type videos on it to sort through. Sure beats "reacts to", or "tries for the first time" videos though.
It's tough but the 200 lbs is if you were to completely compress the spring I assume. It is pretty tough by the time it gets to the locking point but I doubt it is more than 120-150 by that point. I never measured it though.
I dont blame you Id be jealous too. I used to see the diagram for the piat on the gun parts Corp catalogue as a kid and always wanted one. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to get one in working condition some 25 years later lol.
@@Stray03 I am a fan of the gun and have been researching it for a video game so came across your video yeah. Good to know that the bomb sliding out the gun was a myth as i've seen it claimed loads of places that you can't aim downwards due to that. I'm also interested in the White Phosphor munition for the weapon if you have any info on it.
Don't have much info on the smoke round for it. Saw a few pictured of the modified 2 inch mortar bombs that were made for it but they never really implemented any of them IIRC. I'm no expert on that though.
@@Stray03 Afaik there was a WP bomb that looked similar to the HEAT bombs, theres a few photos of it online, but presumably it didnt enter service as its not mentioned in any account or manual afaik.
People look back with today's glasses. The reality was that hand held AT weapons were short range. Sure I could lob it 350 yards but if I can't hit a vehicle it doesn't really help. 100 yards was a long shot for all of the weapons and usually they waited for them to get closer. AT was still the job of guns at less scary ranges.
Hello, I am a television producer, who has made and is still further developing documentaries on 'Churchill's Toyshop". I see you have made a 'propulsion only' copy of the PIAT. I have an original training round of the PIAT spigot bomb. We plan to reverse engineer it for a televison series and see how it works - we are over in England. Any intelligence you can supply on the weapon will be greatly appreciated! Regards, Jason Oates, Transistor Films
Depends on what you want to know about it, I can answer specific questions , but If you are looking for someone with a lot of knowledge on the complete system that can give you a full rundown I would talk to the historian Matthew Moss who runs the channel/site Armourers Bench, he is on your side of the Pond, and has written a book on, and is probably the leading expert on overall use of the system.
@@clandestinetechnologies2460 glad you enjoyed it. I made a few more cartridges and retainers for her. I would like to set up a "life size" target for the next trial to see if I can hit the thing. I'd love to chrony it but Im worried about accidental hits with such a large projectile.
@@Stray03 Sounds good. You could even do a tank silhouette like the side view of it. Sheet metal over plywood? I was wondering how the trajectory is. They look like the are flying straight without much tumbling. My guess is minimum 300fps to 400fps but that's a guess!
@@clandestinetechnologies2460 should be just over 300fps. Originals travelled at around 100m/s apparently. According to the manuals the practice round had a flatter trajectory than the real round and had to have the targets set out about 10 yards further than the sights were set for iirc.
That was around the 70 yard range. It would normally be more accurate too. At 80 yards yu can hit basically a 3x3 foot square maybe even a 2x2. You could stretch it to 110 in direct fire mode but count on worse accuracy. Indirect on buildings 320 was about the max. So yes close. But the panzerfaust had the same issue, and the bazooka and panzerschreck was only slightly better at 150 to 200 approx yards
@@Stray03 just what the British army called them, simply because they had a small charge, the P in piat stands for projector, some people later on called it a HEAT projectile others a grenade.
Americans: Rockets. Germans: Better rockets. Japanese: Copied rockets. British: “A SPRING! A SPRING! A marvelous THING! Seriously, though, what is the propellant charge? I wonder if a blank shotgun shell would work.
I think you are honestly the first one to fire a Piat in decades after the war was over.
PIATs were used as late as the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and Korean War. Still, you are right because it's been over 65 years since the last one was fired in combat. I doubt it was used past 60s tho
Getting that up and running is a magnificent achievement, thanks for taking us along for the experience.
Glad you enjoyed it. Once I get another round made for her I'll make another firing video where I will aim at something, had a few other shots that I filmed but people were there and a barking dog was there too so I haven't uploaded that (the day the projectile hit a rock and damaged the tube). That is unless they add her to the list of prohibited weapons up here too.
@@Stray03 God Trudeau sucks so much. The thing is so forgotten though the cabinet would never include it. Cool video man.
LPC will always play games. Yeah I think it is forgotten enough not to get included for now.
I concur
I've seen many WW2 weapons fired on RUclips but PIAT is smh so rare there's no other video of firing it.
A contemporary (1944-45) Canadian Army survey questioned 161 army officers, who had recently left combat, about the effectiveness of 31 different infantry weapons. In that survey the PIAT was ranked the number one most “outstandingly effective” weapon, followed by the Bren gun in second place.
Yeah I was reading documents in the archives that said that the higher up in rank the mentions were the more effective the PIAT was seen as being. Regardless of how well or poorly it performed (especially with the original fuze) the moral boost the troops had knowing that they had tools to destroy tanks available to them close by made these weapons worth it.
Not just tanks but these little babies could just enemy cover and emplacements. Give em a good scare too
@@miguelangelcifuentescruz9465 and even used as light mortars
It's really cool to see such a rarity up and running, especially firing of it! Me and a buddy work on a little mod for a game called Running With Rifles and this was a PERFECT video to rip the sound of a spigot mortar esque weapon from, especially with the snow dampening any echo!
Rarely get a video as good as this of something so specific firing with such good sound quality, so that just adds to how cool this is.
Glad you enjoyed it and that It was useful to you.
Aha... I was here for the same reason: for my Blitzkrieg Arnhem mod. :)
Thanks for the great demo!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice! You could paint some of those projectiles bright orange to make them easier to find.
It will be original white come summer.
and some streamers too
Not a bad idea. How shock proof is the setup?
Amazing to see one in action! Great work. I have emailed you about it, hope you don't mind.
I answered the email.
Very cool! Made me smile to see one in action.
Glad I was able to deliver. Once I rebuild my practice round for it I will post more videos.
Did you hit any panzers or a pillbox BTW?
Lol. No next time out Ill set up a plywood target at the range the manual says to and see how that goes.
In the comparison of the PIAT against the American M1 to M9 bazooka, the German Panzerschreck bazooka, and the German Panzerfaust anti-tank bomb dispenser, there was no clear winner. None of the anti-tank infantry weapons held a clear SUPERIOR position over the others.
The reason was that each infantry anti-tank weapon held one clear, distinct advantage that made it desirable over the overs given the user's preference. The PIAT's distinct advantage was its capability for being used just about anywhere without lethal backblast nor giving away the firer's position. The PIAT could be used indoors. The American bazooka clearly held the range advantage in 200 yards for the M1 series to 220 yards for the M9 series. The German Panzerschreck held a lower range of 150 meters or so. The Panzerfaust held the distinction of being used by only one operator, was disposable, and the very image of simplicity to use. The bazookas were the next easiest to learn and use.
Post-war the Americans kept their bazooka relevant by introducing a larger, more effective model, the M20 Super Bazooka, whose shaped charge warhead could penetrate six inches of plate armor. The British Army took the expedient step of adopted the M20 as an interim infantry anti-tank weapon until a new, domestic anti-tank weapon could be designed.
The West German Army would in the 1960s introduce a modernized Panzerfaust, the highly effective Panzerfaust III with a reusable launcher tube.
The Soviets adopted the WW2 German Panzerfaust 250 design which did had not gone into production. The result was the iconic, ubiquitous, world-known RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launcher, capable of penetrating six inches or more of tank armor.
The superbazooka came from the panzerschreck which was the Germans upgrade to the American bazooka . Getting a larger diameter on the shaped charge increased the armor penetration. Meaning that although the bazooka had a decent range it was the least "powerful" of the weapons. As you said they didn't really have much of an advantage over the others. And in the end evening their range was listed as a certain distance taking shots at those ranges were no where near accurate enough to guarantee a kill.
Also just a side note the pzf250 was probably what became the RPG-2 and then the 7 was an upgrade to that.
That was a good overview of the different systems. Thanks for the response.
If you could compare the P.I.A.T.'s recoil to anything that you've shot what would you say it is? Also like your vids as well since you have interesting accessories and know how they work.
Like a hangfiring .300 win mag or a .375h&h but smoother and coming from a 36 pound piece of steel. If it was lighter Im sure it would be aweful.
I saw that snow and thought this was BFV but nope, this alpha chad got the real thing
Does the PIAT spring re-cock itself to fire the next charge as it is supposed to by design?
Yes it does.
Thanks for firing a few rounds. Great to see one working.
When I get my lathe working properly ill try to get a few more on camera.
A nice addition to my collection of sounds.
My friends grandfather was a German tank driver in ww2 (He was conscripted) He said that those things scared the hell out of the tank crews. they made so little noise and gave no warning. they also were rarely only one of them. They had no idea where the shot had come from as well. Really cool to see one fire.
Interesting. Armourers bench would probably enjoy hearing about that. He seems to have alot of stories from the people using it, but none from the people getting fired at.
The PIAT looks like it can be a really fun production toy, its so simple that it can be made to launch almost anything with a bit of adapting.
True. Almost like an RPG but without that pesky back blast.
a piat stopped a German counter attack at the Pegasus Bridge area, could possibly have stopped D Day so a pretty effective weapon actually
I usually did what it had to especially when they switched to the 426 fuze. It wasn't a great anti tank weapon but at that time none of them really were.
I'm curious about your loading data. Originals used Cordite, but the Brits also used Cordite to load the .303 Cartridges (some minor production using smokeless nitrocellulose powder in the MkVII "Z") And whether the propellent cartridge gets ejected out the tailfin tube during the launch process?
I was digging through some documents and found the load size and type of powder that was used. Unfortunately the powder isn't used anymore but I was able to find an old powder table like Lee has in their reloading book, which showed the powder, so I cross referenced some powders next to the one used and they showed up on lee lists and were still being made. Tested that and It worked properly. My issue is the cartridges I'm using are not right, so although they do come out the back they tend to not hold their shape like the real ones, and it does "spit". Winter project is to make original style 2 piece cartridges.
@@Stray03 I assumed there could be some way to calculate the grain weight ratio between Cordite then whatever smokeless, all very interesting stuff. Especially that 2 pc crimped copper/brass propellent capsule. I thought, first, maybe try turning the rim off of a high brass casing, or have the capsule fit in a DOM chamber, then another length of DOM inserted behind it, secured by 3 or 4 set screws, to keep the capsule from flying back at the Gunner, and, to increase the chamber pressure to make the powder gas expansion more efficient to push the projo further.
What is the chain with the little weight on it for?
Not a weight it is a cork. when the PIAT is cocked the spigot goes into the launcher and leaves a nice hole for dirt to get into. their solution was that.
@@Stray03 Oh, that makes sense.
If there’s a hole in your gun, plug it
As a teen in the 70's I dry fired our PIAT from my shoulder ...standing... after I stopped seeing stars (I thought the cartoon stars were just for effect, they are real) and got up off my back and put her away and let it be....Soft recoil...HA, not without a buttstock rubber insert it isn't. No wonder they joked about awarding the Victoria Cross to the Chap in WWII for killing two tanks while firing it from his shoulder. That long spring inside the housing really does kick like a Mule!
Fantastic work! You should really paint that practice round orange for your own convenience.
Thanks. I'll be painting it white come summertime It will show up better.
Bring up the PIAT!
Excellent to see, well done. What did the recoil feel like ?
It kicks but not as badly as everyone makes it seem. If I had to compare it to another firearm maybe a 10 gauge shotgun but "slower". A .300 win mag is less plesant to shoot.
When I was in the CA Cadet Corps, we actually had one of these in our armoury... we had no idea what it was at the time. But, we did know it was a heavy beast!
Lol definitely not light. I'd hate to have to carry it around all day.
Wow These seem to be potentially more effective than I ever imagined
Yeah They were not as bad as they were made out to be. It had its flaws but also had advantages over other weapons of the time.
@@Stray03 I mean smoke Or anything it seems to be really good at hiding the position of the shooter I like it!
Yeah. Definitely much better for hiding than firing a black powder loaded panzerfaust.
@@Stray03 Damn im military nerd myself but I did not know that they were black powder fired
@@Stray03 That’s a sub
History looks upon the PIAT as a bit of a joke but it could be fired rapidly (if it re-cocked) and could be used from an enclosed space without knocking down the wall behind you or giving your position away, oh and it had a kick like a mule (if you were firing or receiving it)
I like your period correct ww2 motocross helmet.
Lol yeah I do have a Canadian ww2 helmet but as I was more worried about protecting eyes and face I figured the full coverage was better.
Powder? you're firing it with explosives?
I was thinking that the PIAT used only spring launching mechanism... but I guess that couldn't be enough energy could it. I guess that big spring is only for the firing pin and then it still requires additional explosive force to launch?
I explain that in one of my videos. That spring was for recoil management. the piat is a spigot mortar. It fires like any other mortar does using a cartridge. Problem is if you put a mortar firing a 2.5lb projectile on your shoulder and fired it, you wouldn't be firing a second one. The spring softens the recoil. Think of the spring spigot mechanism like the bolt on a sten. And no not firing with explosives, firing with smokeless powder like shotguns or rifles.
the original projectile used a 20 gauge shotgun round with no rim. Buy David Lister's book on the subject.
Amazing piece of history that you just fired!
Yes it is. Interesting piece of anti-tank weaponry from the beginning of relying on shaped charges instead of velocity to destroy heavy armor.
Were can I find the replacement spring for a PIAT?
Maybe parts places like egunparts? (Numrich) apart from that get lucky?
How does it work? Does the projectile have a propellant charge? Or is it like a spring powered launcher?
Yes it has a propellant charge. The spring is for felt recoil reduction. It is a shoulder fired mortar basically.
@@Stray03 Huh, interesting. I thought it was just a spring powered launcher all this time
I dont know where that came from but it is a very widely held belief from people who see the piat. Probably one of the main mistakes people make when describing it too.
The channel The Armourer's bench is publishing a new book on the PIAT
Yeah I saw that a few days ago. May buy a copy.
Did you use a 12 gauge shell for the propellant?
used the modified high brass from one with my own load
@@Stray03 i found your other video. I thought about trying this with a round i 3d printed but then realized the tube would likely burst
@@phantom12321800 even the original explosive round would bulge. I dont know if you could make a hybrid maybe.
@@Stray03 yeah my friend owns the launcher. If the fit is loose enough I'll look at making a metal sleeve. The model is so light it wouldn't need much powder at all
Nope. Unfortunately wont recock it though. Will still be cool to fire though.
Now that is pretty cool! Wow, well done.
Thanks.
Congrats on finally getting her up & running brother. She's a beauty! 👍👍🇨🇦
Thanks, yeah she is. Cant wait to shoot her more.
@@Stray03 hell yeah, if ya got it get some time behind it.
Thanks for sharing this. Incredible!
Thanks for watching. I'm hoping to get more shooting in so that I can get a real feel for how useful it actually was. Hoping that I can get a few things standardized so that the rounds always act the same.
@@Stray03 I'd love to see more!
Awesome work!! Well done!!
Amazing. Well done Sir
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Really inspiring to see you bringing one back into use with your training rounds. Although, had a laugh wondering how long it took you to find it in the snow
Lol. Almost lost it once when not shoulder firing and one took a while to find because it skipped off the hard ground and moved 4 feet away the hole it made in the snow. Usually the round stayed near the hole though.
I have those exact same gloves in there the best winter gloves I have especially with the proper inserts
Apart from the Canadian army ones these are probably my favorite all use ones.
@@Stray03
I know exactly what Canadian ones you were talking about because I am one and they are amazing.
You can even wipe your snot on the back.
😆
@@1joshjosh1 Lol, yeah it was for drying your face but I guess it works for that too lol.
@@Stray03
I'm telling you my friend.... I was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 4 years, perhaps that is the official version but I know what we did with it.
🤣🤣👍👃
@@Stray03 (infantry)
All that power from a spring???
No.
this weapon seems a hell of a lot better than Its generally described, for instance the range is surprisingly decent considering the advantage of stealth you would have from not producing a backdraft, also It looks like the recoil is very manageable.
you cant beat seeing the actual experiene of firing one... well done
Yeah it isn't so bad. Some of the early panzerfausts had less range than this did and a bigger smoke signal. The bazooka fired a bit farther but the warhead diameter was smaller so less penetration. The panzerschreck had the best range and good penetration but was huge, piat was the only one that didn't have a backblast. We have a lot of people who look at these weapons in the time of NLAWS, and javelins and think that the range is crap. To today's standards yes, but when you think that these were basically the first weapons that could take out a real tank without physically being up against it you realize how much better they were than what they had.
@@Stray03 plus it had a really serious warhead, you could fire this from inside a crowded room in a building, to be honest some of the tanks engaged in the Ukraine were not far off this range, I mean its ok having range on this kind of weapon but the man using it has to actually see what he's shooting at, I would feel blessed to have one of these in WW2 If a tank was rolling by, I mean you are in with a chance of staying hidden after you fire the thing, thats a big deal to me.
Definitely a good thing. I haven't decided which one I would want to have with me if I had to choose. They all have good and bad traits.
I would love some info on the round, It would be neat to make some myself to try and fire my PIAT. I have the practice round tray as well.
Not much to say about it. Solid piece of steel weighing about 2.5 lbs in the case of the practice reusable ones.
@@Stray03 oh nice. any chance some kind of shotgun blanks would work as propellent? I also have an original PIAT practice round (the type that is made to be the same as the live rounds, not that I would ever fire it, I paid $500 for the damn thing lol i.imgur.com/c2Qsx0f.jpg) and it would be really cool to model practice rounds after it as well. I don't know much about reloading so any info to point me in a good direction would be great.
There is a guy who was working on making reusable ones shaped like the real ones. Last time I spoke to him he was still at 3.5 lbs weight problem with the original ones was that they were one time use. You can tell if you have a fired example or a unfired example by if the tail has a bulge in the area just before the warhead. You can use a 12 gauge shell but don't just grab any blank. Piats are expensive toys to destroy. I took 2 years to find the right load that I am confident in firing. That being said sharing it would be an issue because I dont know what condition other piats are in. I completely took apart my piat and I even I examined my main spring for the proper lengths so I know the launcher is sound. Can't say that for other ones.
@@Stray03 Fair enough, I will have to do some research into it. Thanks for replying.
Good luck. They are pretty fun to fire.
There's no charge in firing a piat is there? It's all spring isn't it?
One of the lingering myths about the piat is that it is spring powered. It is basically a mortar with a recoil reduction system made up of a big spring. There is a charge in the back of the piat bomb and when you pull the trigger a giant firing pin/spigot goes forward and sets off the cartridge.
No boom?
I wish. Govt tries to ruin all the fun.
Wow, someone brought up the PIAT!
How is the accuracy?
It isn't bad but it isn't as accurate as the original due to cartridge and retainer. I'm going to be working on that when I get a chance. I want to see the accuracy that it should have.
How did you git that ?😂💙
Bought it. Legal in this country.
Thanks 😁
The only way anyone will get to hear what a PIAT sounded like these days.
Yeah unfortunately this one and one a company posted on RUclips are the only 2 I have seen fired recently. They were developing practice rounds for people to buy but I don't know what they ended up doing with that project.
Same kevlar jacket I own!
.25 playback speed is amazing. You can see the dummy round actually flying.
Most of my videos people try to set for 2x...
First time I watched this in "slow-mo" It is interesting to see the tail wobble on the first shot.
what do you recon on accuracy?
The original probably slightly better than mine due to the construction of the cartridge mine has and the plastic retainer. I'll have to shoot more with it to give a fair idea, but I haven't managed to put it on a 4x4 target at 80 yards yet in 8 shots with it. Ranging issues not windage.
you must beable to make a Grape shot canister for this rig its gotta be doable.
Yeah it probably could. I think it would require a piece be made to install on it rather than just a simple projectile.
AWESOME VIDEO!!!!!
Great Video
Day of defeat: use the piat!
I
watched one PIAT videos from Ian (forgotten weapons) and now my recomendation is full of PIAT videos dating back to early ww2,
Lol gotto love the youtube algorithm. Too bad there are so many horrible history channel type videos on it to sort through. Sure beats "reacts to", or "tries for the first time" videos though.
@@Stray03 i know right, i love the Piat man, such an interesting weapon, how hard is it to recock it, i heard its a 200lb pull
It's tough but the 200 lbs is if you were to completely compress the spring I assume. It is pretty tough by the time it gets to the locking point but I doubt it is more than 120-150 by that point. I never measured it though.
I am exceedingly jealous :P
I dont blame you Id be jealous too. I used to see the diagram for the piat on the gun parts Corp catalogue as a kid and always wanted one. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to get one in working condition some 25 years later lol.
@@Stray03 I am a fan of the gun and have been researching it for a video game so came across your video yeah. Good to know that the bomb sliding out the gun was a myth as i've seen it claimed loads of places that you can't aim downwards due to that. I'm also interested in the White Phosphor munition for the weapon if you have any info on it.
Don't have much info on the smoke round for it. Saw a few pictured of the modified 2 inch mortar bombs that were made for it but they never really implemented any of them IIRC. I'm no expert on that though.
@@Stray03 Afaik there was a WP bomb that looked similar to the HEAT bombs, theres a few photos of it online, but presumably it didnt enter service as its not mentioned in any account or manual afaik.
so with this range, its barely better than a pazerfaust.
People look back with today's glasses. The reality was that hand held AT weapons were short range. Sure I could lob it 350 yards but if I can't hit a vehicle it doesn't really help. 100 yards was a long shot for all of the weapons and usually they waited for them to get closer. AT was still the job of guns at less scary ranges.
Shot landed, panzer unaffected. Send reinforcements.
Very interesting.
Hello, I am a television producer, who has made and is still further developing documentaries on 'Churchill's Toyshop". I see you have made a 'propulsion only' copy of the PIAT. I have an original training round of the PIAT spigot bomb. We plan to reverse engineer it for a televison series and see how it works - we are over in England. Any intelligence you can supply on the weapon will be greatly appreciated! Regards, Jason Oates, Transistor Films
Depends on what you want to know about it, I can answer specific questions , but If you are looking for someone with a lot of knowledge on the complete system that can give you a full rundown I would talk to the historian Matthew Moss who runs the channel/site Armourers Bench, he is on your side of the Pond, and has written a book on, and is probably the leading expert on overall use of the system.
Awesome!!!
Hey can't let you have all the fun with your toys, without getting mine up and running.
@@Stray03 dude I thought about that monster alot today and your success. Congrats man!
@@clandestinetechnologies2460 glad you enjoyed it. I made a few more cartridges and retainers for her. I would like to set up a "life size" target for the next trial to see if I can hit the thing. I'd love to chrony it but Im worried about accidental hits with such a large projectile.
@@Stray03 Sounds good. You could even do a tank silhouette like the side view of it. Sheet metal over plywood? I was wondering how the trajectory is. They look like the are flying straight without much tumbling. My guess is minimum 300fps to 400fps but that's a guess!
@@clandestinetechnologies2460 should be just over 300fps. Originals travelled at around 100m/s apparently. According to the manuals the practice round had a flatter trajectory than the real round and had to have the targets set out about 10 yards further than the sights were set for iirc.
Way cool!
Nice!
The recoil looks pretty stout
Not too bad though. I could get used to it as it isnt a quick hard hit.
No HE ? very disappointed
Blame my gov't for not letting me have the real stuff. Lol
My I please be one of your "other people"? Please, oh please, oh please.
Lol. I need to make another round for her. So have to get my lathe working.
I heard and read these things were a bitch to reload amd fire by the soldiers.
If you are not the right size yes. I have a video of me cocking it.
Ok, definitely you had to be real brave if that was the PIAT range...
That was around the 70 yard range. It would normally be more accurate too. At 80 yards yu can hit basically a 3x3 foot square maybe even a 2x2. You could stretch it to 110 in direct fire mode but count on worse accuracy. Indirect on buildings 320 was about the max. So yes close. But the panzerfaust had the same issue, and the bazooka and panzerschreck was only slightly better at 150 to 200 approx yards
get some targets out there, see If you can hit them :)
Yeah when I make consistent cartridges I definitely will.
@@Stray03 maybe try and make a copy of the actual rocket projector
Yup just have to make some tooling to do it. Not a rocket though.
@@Stray03 just what the British army called them, simply because they had a small charge, the P in piat stands for projector, some people later on called it a HEAT projectile others a grenade.
@@Stray03 If I had the dimensions I could probably make one for you, I'm a fabricator welder, although I am in the uk which is pretty useless
Amazingg
Sweet!
Giant nerf gun this is
Deadly one
Mortar RPG
Americans: Rockets.
Germans: Better rockets.
Japanese: Copied rockets.
British: “A SPRING! A SPRING! A marvelous THING!
Seriously, though, what is the propellant charge? I wonder if a blank shotgun shell would work.
Sort of. It is hotter than shotgun load data. I use cut down high brass 12 gauge shells as improvised cups. Not ideal due to their thinness though.