Light Anti-armor Weapon (LAW) rocket launcher.
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- A light, hand-held antitank weapon. 1963 US troops used it in Vietnam, in 2022 Ukrainians are still using it. From the Vietnam War to Today, busting tanks and taking out the bad buys.
Unfun fact: In addition to being a disposable rocket launcher, the M72 LAW also doubles as a booby trap device!
Viet Cong soldiers would stuff the discarded rocket tubes with primed pineapple grenades one at a time, as the tube would help hold the grenade spoon in place after the pins are removed.
The tube of grenades could be lifted over the tree branches with a series of ropes. When its connected tripwire system was set off (or triggered via manual rope pull by a Viet Cong soldier), the tube would swing downwards under gravity and a rain of grenades would be unleashed under centripetal force from its open end, leaving a trail of explosive destruction onto American patrols or convoys.
That’s cool. Thanks for sharing.
I found one of these in Charlotte North Carolina when the mailman moved to a new house and asked me to help him it was sitting right next to his bushes
Nice find!!!
@@FlyingKSports not something you normally find sitting next to the bushes in the suburbs so he called the ATF first
@@cliffcorbitt9494 never call the ATF.
First time i personally used that weapon i real action was november 1991.
I fired one in an ambush sat up by us, my shot hit a T55 on the side of the turret, distance 100-120 meteres.
That tank was hit by 4 of them within a few seconds in our ambush.
Those hits made them think about it and the tank reversed out of there.
I heard several more "66s" (as we called them) beeing fired, but i did not stick my head up to see if they hit, as a BMP gave covering fire against us with its autocannon.
That tank would surely have taken damage, but it was certanly not imobilized.
Its by the way a bad thing if a tank is imobilized i stead of knocked out, they have a nasty habbit of using thier firepower against us poor infanterists, even when we try to get away.
Dont count on those things to knock out anything, than light armour.
Sorry for my bad english.
That was great! Thank you for sharing that.
I've always wanted a tube but have not seen one as nice as this one here. Besides the front sight missing or broken the end cap and safety pin is usually missing and the rubber covering the trigger was either ripped or dry rotted, some look like they were ran over by tank then you have the huge Demilled hole. Definitely cut down on size and speed vs the bazooka that needed a secondary person to load the rocket in the back and connect the leads then clear the back and if I remember correctly double tap the soldier firering. It could be reused but still long bulky and crude wooden parts. You definitely did not want the light bulb illuminated when they were connecting the Leads.
Great video, but you made a little mistake in your demo. It's the same mistake made in "The Enforcer."
The correct instructions are in the drawing that you showed in the video. When you pull on the front and back to extend the weapon, your hands on on the SIDES of the tube, NOT with your right hand on the BACK opening of the tube. If it malfunctions, it would blow your hand off.
A funny story. When I was in the Army (1975-1979), I was stationed at Fort Ord, CA for 2 1/2 years. I was down at Fort Hunter Liggett on TDY for a field problem operating in the control tower on the post. They had a movie theater, and were coincidentally showing "The Enforcer." All of us in the audience were obviously GI's. When they showed the LAW scene, and the actor made the mistake of extending it, with his hand over the blast end, the entire audience erupted in booing, laughing, and yelling. We ALL knew it was the wrong thing to do!
Also, the LAW is not a crew-fired weapon, it is an individual weapon. So, the operator is responsible to make sure the backblast area is clear of any "friendlies" or anything else that might be damaged by firing it. In the movie, the "soldier" glances behind him and sees Tyne Daly standing right behind him, but doesn't tell her to move, and goes right ahead and fires the damn thing!!! Luckily, Dirty Harry is there to pull her out of harms way. In real life, if he killed her, he would be charged with manslaughter at the least, and court martialed.
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve got one as well, very cool and unique treasure to have. Once you flip the back cover off though, are you able to re-attach the sling and strap back on?
It goes right back on.
my grandfather have this rocket launcher but idk how to open it he use this when the nam war
Sucks it’s just a single use
Maximum Overdrive made me want one when i was 3 lol
Love that movie!
It is not a rocket. The M-72 round just travels a ballistic trajectory, with no rocket firing after the launch. It is a recoilless gun, and that huge backblast is what drives the round down range.
The new M-72 FFE has a greatly reduced backblast, so it can be fired from an enclosed space or a narrow street (which would have been handy in Falluja).
They also have different rounds for different missions.
Cool
From my understanding it is a rocket launcher because the propellant is launched with the projectile
My man, I'd rather have three LAWs in a bundle on top of my ruck and an RPG and three rounds. Same survivability either way, and a good LAW gunner can get his three rounds off faster and more accurately to greater effect, and if he survives, he no longer has a useless tube with him.
"with coupler" If you don't know what that is....good luck. Been there, done that, used it.
The original and still the best. Lightweight, heat seeking, shoulder firing and fu*king disposible.
But could you re-use it or is the "shell" for one time use? :D
It’s one and done. These are disposable. That’s how I got it.
I remember this thing from that movie Fallling Down when he shoots it into the construction zone lol
In one of the Dirty Harry movies they spent a lot of time on it.
Forrest Gump carried one! He never used it, but he had one. Yup, Mr. Gump could have taken out a tank.
Once I Read you’re comment, I remembered him having it on his pack. I forgot all about that!
That launcher has a 1985 date code on it
Cool. I did not know that.
How the heck do you have a rocket launcher?
I think it’s de-milled they are only made to be fired once and after that they are useless, u can actually order used/ fired ones online for around 3-4 hundred $
I got really lucky and was in the right place at the right time. They're not impossible to find, I've seen them on Gunbroker before.
If you're an American citizen with a clean record and live in an NFA-friendly State, you can own a live one as an explosive-type destructive device. Since it's an explosive weapon it's controlled as both an NFA firearm (a destructive device) and a piece of explosive materials, though, so you need not only a $200 tax stamp but also a Federal Explosives License (FEL). And, most importantly of all, you'll need to find an appropriately-licensed vendor willing to sell you one (which will never happen). There's an entire subreddit called r/NFA if you want to learn more.
After looking at hundreds throughout the years that has to be the most intact and best condition tube I have seen. Everything from the front sight being intact and undamaged all the way to the trigger not being cracked, ripped or damaged with even the back cap and safety pin. That probably cost you over $800 at the very least I've seen ones and worst conditions go more. Plus I don't see the huge hole for demilling purposes. Where did you get and if you don't mind me asking how much did you pay? Beautiful piece.
Thanks for the compliments. I got very lucky with that one. It was a gift from my brother. He was able to have the pick of a large supply. He grabbed the nicest one.
@@FlyingKSports sounds like you have an awesome Brother sir. That's a kind of gift I'd like to find under the tree. Wishing you and your family a safe and happy Holidays.
Shot few of those in my army training here over seas. It doesn't make that much of a sound to shooter, but when you stand 50m away from it, it's like a dynamite exploded next to you regarding the sound. Really easy weapon to use and thought how to use every soldier at basic training here were I'm from.
I have the tube. Never been able to fire a live one.
@@FlyingKSports There are training rockets for those aswell. So you can re-use the tube. Not sure if military grade stuff is legal to purchase anywhere though :)
my dad used the LAW when he was in the army in 1987
They were not new then! They've been around forever!
Doesn't look like this guy ever trained with one of these in the army.
Great share takes me back a few years thank you
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Why m72law cannot be reloadable?
Its not constructed to fire multiple times. It probaby could, but they dont make the rockets separately either
Trainer M-72s are reusable, but they have lower firing pressure, so the stress on the fiberglass tube is lower. With the full-up round, there is a chance that the pressure of 1 firing will cause some delamination of the fiberglass, reducing the safety margin.
Also, it is not designed to be reloaded in the field, the round is locked in place and ready for fast firing, unlike the older bazooka.
MEHMET TEĞMEN +1
I have a question….I’ve looked at a lot of these launchers online and have found that the over abundance of them are ALL disposable. Wouldn’t you want to make it so your launcher is reusable? I’m just curious why they don’t use more reusable launchers
US doctrine wanted to spread out AT capabilities under the assumption a AT dedicated soldier conducting a attack on enemy armor would likely become a casualty. So they didnt think it wise to have a single specialist carrying all the ammo/gear for it. Hence single shot, disposables.
It has its flaws tho and they did eventually end up adopting the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle which has better AT capabilities, optics, and reloadable.
Personally I think the Russians knew the way to go with their AT setup even though they did end up making copycats M72's and adopted our doctrine partially, with their ammo types they can easily perform AT and grenadier capabilities. US had/has some rockets that are anti-infantry but theyre more a prototype holdover from the Cold War in storage that sometimes sees the light of day, Carl Gustav does have smoke rounds that can be used tho.
Tank doesn’t go blow with that
It’s good for lightly armored vehicles and other objects.
@@FlyingKSports Mainly well used against fortifications and unarmored vehicles, will probably need a few against armor. It struggled heavily against armor back in its day and although I think they improved its capabilities I dont think it has managed to maintain the arms race well against armor capabilities. Newer generation systems like the AT4 are gonna be more effective if its compared to one shot advantage.