When someone really had a problem, they sent in the big guns to fix it. That might mean a recoilless rifle to fight off a tank, a bolt action rifle that can take down charging dangerous game or oversized cutaway guns to train thousands and thousands of troops during World War 2.

A DPMS VRS rifle with a Ligamec Corp. Ultralite .50 BMG single shot upper receiver, a scope, and case.

A World War 1 Problem Required Big Guns

Tanks! The British unleashed its first tanks in September of 1916. They were slow and unreliable but a shock to German troops. The Germans started attacking the lumbering behemoths with steel-cored armor-piercing bullets that were used against pillboxes and armored bullet shields.

The German military approached Mauser about making an anti-tank weapon when resources were strained. The decision was made to upscale the Mauser 98 to take a 13.2mm shell that was capable of penetrating 15mm armor. An additional locking lug was added. The Mauser Tankgewehr Model 1918 was the first purpose built, large-caliber weapon for fighting tanks. A pistol grip was added from the Mauser 98 design since the anti-tank rifle would be fired differently than the 98.

“You could fire the tankgewehr twice per man – one for each shoulder.”

This Mauser Tankgewehr Model 1918 bolt action anti-tank rifle is 66.6 inches long and weighs more than 40 lbs. The World War 1 13.2mm ammunition is a rarity and would make the Tankgewehr a registered destructive device, so this weapon was converted to .50 BMG.

In full production by May 1918 they were issued to regiments where troops were most likely to encounter tanks. A two-man crew would carry 132 rounds and wait until the tank was within 300 meters before engaging. Even if the shells didn’t penetrate the armor they created spalling and damage inside the tank. The gun itself had heavy recoil that left users complaining of headaches, temporary deafness, nausea, bruising and dislocated shoulders.

Mauser made 14,700 before the armistice. After the war, Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles to possess anti-tank weapons so thousands of them were destroyed, but some were sent to other nations as reparations.

A British Boys Mark I bolt action anti-tank rifle in the original .55 caliber.

Cutaways of Big Guns

During World War 2, the Army had to train its soldiers quickly on the guns that would protect them. An arsenal of training aids was created that included posters, training films and over-sized versions of the guns they would be firing like the Browning Automatic Rifle, M1 Garand and M2 Carbine.

Two separate lots are available for the M2 Carbine cutaway trainer. They measure 71 inches in length and show the right side of the stock and the mechanical parts cut away to show their inner workings. They both have hardwood stands.

A training manual about the BAR cutaway – designated the Device 3-F-3 – stated, “Device 3-F-3 demonstrates the complete cycle of performance of the operational piece. This includes loading and unloading, extraction and ejection of simulated cartridges, action of hammer, trigger, safety, clip latch, change lever and sear, movement of gas piston, and operation of the buffer spring.”

These big guns were given official designations. The training aid for the M2 Carbine was designated the M21, the M1919 machine gun was the M22, the BAR eventually became the M23 and the M1 Garand trainer was the M24.

Two separate lots are available for Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle classroom cutaways. The training aid is 95 inches in length, made of alloy with brown painted “wood components” and red highlighted areas cut away to show the inner workings.

The training aids allowed soldiers to see the inside of the weapon and how the system operated with the cutaway areas on these big guns were marked in red. These big guns were designed in 1943 by the Army and Naval Research Special Devices Center. Manufacture of the oversized cutaways went to J.H. Keeney & Company of Chicago. Following the war, they were made by Dellenbarger Machine Company of New York City.

This cutaway training model of the U.S. Model 1919 Browning machine gun is made of alloy with cutaway areas marked in red.

Similar to the World War 2 these big guns were made during the Vietnam War for the M14, M16 and M60 machine guns. The problem was they were delicate and easy to damage with no spare parts available. Training aids for the Garand and BAR became obsolete after World War 2 so they became surplus and found their way into Army/Navy surplus stores and gun stores.

These cutaway training models of the M16 are about 78 inches long and are made of construction with cutaway areas to show the inner workings of the rifle.

Big Guns Are Serious Anti-Tank Weapons

England started World War 2 with the Boys rifle and the No. 68 rifle grenade for anti-tank weapons. They could defeat light tanks but were ineffective against medium tanks. An early version of the PIAT (Projector, Infantry Anti-Tank) grenade launcher was large, firing a 9 kg projectile, but it required a crew of at least three so the decision was made to size it down. The PIAT had a self-cocking design except for the first round, however, the firing spring was so stiff that crews were trained to carry it cocked but unloaded.

Introduced in the Tunisia campaign in North Africa, the PIAT also saw action on D-Day and Market Garden. Six Victoria Crosses were awarded for PIAT actions including Major Robert Cain who destroyed six tanks during Operation Market Garden and Ganju Lama of the Gurkha Rifles who defeated several Japanese tanks at the Battle of Imphal. It was used by the Poles in the Warsaw Uprising.

The British PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) grenade launcher has a plastic pistol grip, canvas cheek rest and steel buttplate.

The PIAT was more complicated than the Bazooka or Panzerschreck. The PIAT fired by a spigot driven by the heavy spring that ignited the propellent as well as guided the projectile for a split second. About 115,000 were made by 1944 and they were issued for the Allied invasion of Sicily. Standard operating procedure was to fire from short range when possible since its maximum direct fire range was only 115 yards compared to the Bazooka’s 275-yard range. Early complaints were about its lack of precision and reliability.

More Big Guns for Fighting Tanks

Anti-tank weapon design deservedly received a lot of attention during World War 2 as the metal monsters supported infantry. Germany’s Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 (Rocket Tank Rifle) is better known as the Panzerschrek (“tank terror”). Depending on the source, its design was either cribbed from Bazookas captured in North Africa or on the Eastern Front where it was sent to the Soviet Union as a Lend-Lease weapon.

The Panzerschreck increased the projectile size from the American 2.36 inches to 3.46 inches (88mm) for more penetrating power. It was a bit unwieldy at about 5 feet long 20 lbs. It also had a shield to protect the user from the rocket blast when fired. The German shoulder-fired weapon found its way into a number of World War 2 video games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty.

This Panzerschreck is in modern “Afrika” style tan paint finish. Included in the lot is U.S. M18 recoilless rifle and Spanish Instalaza-style shoulder fired rocket launcher. All three have been deactived.

The U.S. M18 recoilless rifle was a 57mm shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon used in World War 2 and Korea. Designed to be carried by two soldiers, it was 44 lbs. firing shells that weighed 5.3 lbs. each. It fired a number of different charges, from high explosive to anti-tank, smoke and training rounds. It was effective at 490 yards.

Sent to Europe in March 1945 then to the Pacific Theater, the M18’s first action was with the 17th Airborne near Essen, Germany as well as Italy’s Po Valley. Used in the Battle of Okinawa it was effective against the well dug-in Japanese troops. In the Korean War it was too weak to stop Soviet-built T-34 tanks but was effective against the machine gun emplacements.

The U.S. M18 recoilless rifle It is part of a lot that includes the aforementioned Panzerschreck and the Spanish Instalaza-style shoulder fired rocket launcher. All three have been deactivated.

Modern Military Big Guns

Mecar SA of Belgium designed the RL-83 “Blindicide” rocket launcher that found use in the Congo in the early 1960s and by Israeli Defense Forces in the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The name is a French mashup of the words for “armored car” and “kill.”

An improved design of the Super Bazooka, the Blindicide has an aluminum barrel and detachable shield to protect the user. It has an effective range of about 400 meters.

This pair of RL-83 “Blindicide” rocket launchers have tan paint finish with Israeli-style nomenclature tags and hardwood case. They are deactivated.

Big Guns for a Last Resort

A-Square Company founder Arthur Alphin, whose company manufactured the Hannibal bolt action rifle, was approached in 1993 by a Namibian professional hunter who wanted a bigger, badder rifle after a near-death experience with an elephant. Alphin designed the monstrous .577 Tyrannosaur cartridge, and the Hannibal, with an Enfield action, to fire it. The big and bulky rifle has a larger stock, recoil pad and three Mercury recoil reducers to ease the toll on the shooter’s shoulder. Alphin said in a video interview with Field & Stream the gun’s recoil was than a Weatherby Mark V in .460 Weatherby, equating it to a big shove.

This stout bolt action rifle, the Hannibal from A-Square Company fires one of the largest cartridges made, the .577 Tyrannasaur, as an insurance policy against charging dangerous game.

Scott from Kentucky Ballistics on YouTube reported that A-Square made 24 Hannibal rifles, and 12 went to Africa and 12 stayed in the United States. When asked in the interview with Field & Stream if he’d received any testimonials about the gun and the .577 Tyrannasaur, Alphin said one hunter told him, “You could see the look of surprise on the buffalo’s face before it fell over.”

Big Guns for Sale

One thinks of artillery as the big guns, but even infantry soldiers and hunters occasionally use them, too, to train, to destroy enemy armor and for protection for charging game. Take a look at these big guns and the rest of Rock Island Auction Company’s Oct. 4-6 Sporting & Collector catalog and ask yourself how big can you go?

Sources:

“The Arsenal of Democracy’s Oversized Training Guns,” by Tom Laemlein, The Armory Life

From the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum

The M18 Recoilless Rifle obliterated Enemy Machine Gun Nests in Korea, by Ryan McLachlan, War History Online