PIAT website

[Colin]

http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/mediawiki-1.5.5/index.php?title=Projector,_Infantry,_Anti-Tank

 

[TheIndifferent1]

Cool. I didn't know Canadians used it, I always thought it was just the Italians. Learn something new every day

 

[Scarecrow]

Looks like a crummy design. I think the germans had it perfect for AT rockets.

 

[sf]

Interesting site. A Bridge Too Far is still the best movie to recapture the PIAT in action on camera.

PIAT continued to play a part in regional conflicts after WW2 and saw actions in the 48 Arab/Israeli war as well as being used by Vietcong well into the early 60's.

 

[Gibbs505]

As it was fired by a spring, it did not leave a 'signiture'. The troops liked that although they hated the spring!!

it was also good for 'house busting'.

 

[John Sukey]

If you are not tall enough, you can rupture yourself cocking it.
If you do not plan to fire it. you CANNOT simply pull the trigger and "dry fire " it as it will damage the launcher. You have to REVERSE the cocking sequence, easing down the spring.
If you do not have a death grip on it when you fire, you can break your jaw or at least lose some teeth.
You are cautioned to put your head down immediatly on firing as the tube of the bomb acts like a barrel on impact, launching that ballistite cartridge back the way it came.

I wopuld love to fire mine, but the guvmint won't let he have anything but a drill round

 

[koldt]

I can't get the site to open, rats . I'll try later.

Also to note, Ernest "Smokey" Smith used a PIAT to battle the tank crews and as you know, was awarded his VC.

 

[stencollector]

As it was fired by a spring, it did not leave a 'signiture'. The troops liked that although they hated the spring!!

The PIAT was fired by both a spring and a propellant/charge. And it wasn't nearly the bear that everyone thinks to ####....yes it's not like any other rn of the mill weapon, but I can do it, and my bud who is only 165 pounds can do it.

There was a subcal adapter that would let you fire a 2" mortar for training purposes. Basically it was a wooden tray. We tried it with a sandfilled mortar round, without it's ballistite cartridge, and the round doesn't go 10 feet. We never tried it with a ballistite because there isn't enough info on whether it was intended to fire this way.

15 years ago you could buy a PIAT launcher for about $300. The rounds would go from $20 to $60. Today, the launcher will run you between $1000 to $1500, and each round will go between $250 to $400. These things are better than the stock market for investment purposes