AHC: Earliest recoilless rifle?

[phx1138]

Thinking about WW2's RCLs & their high use of smokeless powder got me wondering if black (or brown) powder couldn't be substituted, & that made me wonder when an RCL weapon might first be produced. Hence this thread.

It strikes me most likely in the 19th Century, when rifling is driving up internal pressures. Maybe even an accident shows the way. However, it doesn't seem out of the question for somebody to look at rockets & wonder if they couldn't be adapted.

Thoughts?

 

[piratedude]

I'm not sure blackpowder is powerful enough to get away with a recoilless rifle but even if it can im not sure if they'd have a use for it. They came about in OTL because continuing to make bigger anti-tank rifles was no longer practicable and honestly getting earlier tanks to facilitate their need is a thread (or a dozen) of it's own.

The only other context i can think of for needing something like it is a naval one, trying to equip things like torpedo boats to punch above their weight.

Failing that, it seems like a hammer in want of a nail

 

[phx1138]

I'm not sure blackpowder is powerful enough to get away with a recoilless rifle but even if it can im not sure if they'd have a use for it. They came about in OTL because continuing to make bigger anti-tank rifles was no longer practicable and honestly getting earlier tanks to facilitate their need is a thread (or a dozen) of it's own.

The only other context i can think of for needing something like it is a naval one, trying to equip things like torpedo boats to punch above their weight.

Failing that, it seems like a hammer in want of a nail

I don't think the chemistry of BP limits them, considering there were some quite large-bore cannons OTL; the limit for them was metallurgy of the chambers, not the amount of powder.

Heavier artillery is always desirable, if you don't hit a practical limit: I'm wondering if that, or the early trials with rifled guns, might not lead to an accidental invention.

That not happening, you might be right. Something like a steam gunboat, or maybe TBD (DD)? Maybe something DD-sized but with large-bore guns, instead of torpedoes, for anti-cruiser ops?

 

[Deleted member 83898]

Perhaps you can invent the Davis gun a few decades earlier.

Maybe something similar to the Davis gun could be created for anti-balloon use in the Franco-Prussian War? The Prussians had the Ballongeschutz, but perhaps they might take a different approach to anti-aircraft weaponry, using a shoulder-mounted recoilless rifle operating on the same principle as the Davis gun (when elevated to engage a balloon, the backblast would be directed into the ground; a manageable risk)?

You could even have the Prussians attach these new weapons to their own hot air balloons, the idea being to create an aerial perimeter around Paris, through which any French balloon could not pass without coming within range of a Prussian balloon.

 

[bpbruce]

Perhaps you can invent the Davis gun a few decades earlier.

Maybe something similar to the Davis gun could be created for anti-balloon use in the Franco-Prussian War? The Prussians had the Ballongeschutz, but perhaps they might take a different approach to anti-aircraft weaponry, using a shoulder-mounted recoilless rifle operating on the same principle as the Davis gun (when elevated to engage a balloon, the backblast would be directed into the ground; a manageable risk)?

You could even have the Prussians attach these new weapons to their own hot air balloons, the idea being to create an aerial perimeter around Paris, through which any French balloon could not pass without coming within range of a Prussian balloon.

The Davis gun looks cool. Thanks.