[fitzink84]

While agree with your words, fitz, I wholly disagree with a one man carry 57mm weapon. Although, maybe I am shortsighted, 70 years ago no one thought a 370 MT nuclear bomb was possible. However, I have a large amount of physics knowledge, and I can not think of a possibility where one guy can shoot an 80mm weapon.

So do I!  nobody (maybe a troll) could carry that thing around a battle field by themselves. and certainly nobody in their right mind would shoot it form any position other than prone!! I figure in the 70's they have circumnavigated these setbacks with technological hoodoo and made the man portable tank killer a possibility. IDK just a guess.

[Prodigy]

Agreed, like I said maybe I am short sighted. As a scientific person, I cannot guess 2070s tech. But 80mm man portable weaponry eliminates the need for battle rifles or automatics. Why use anything else? An infantryman can kill tanks at will.

[Mäx]

@ max search for assault cannon. you will find a lot of sci-fi bs, mostly Gatling guns, this recoiless rifle is the closest thing to an anti tank "gun" that one person can shoot, which fires small tank rounds. the current M1 Abrams fires a 120mm round. so a 57mm round is "small" in comparrison.

The most well know assault cannon(and the basis for the ones in SR) is the Cobra Assault Cannon from Robocop, witch is a dressed-up Barret .50 caliber sniper rifle.

And from historical weapons, various anti tank rifles like Lahti L-39 and Carl Gustav m/42 are a lot closer to assault cannons then recoiless rifles of the type you posted.

[Sacredsouless]

Agreed, like I said maybe I am short sighted. As a scientific person, I cannot guess 2070s tech. But 80mm man portable weaponry eliminates the need for battle rifles or automatics. Why use anything else? An infantryman can kill tanks at will.

80mm weaponry? You mean mortars? You can in fact carry it, its heavy but you can carry it. Fire from the hip, maybe if you are a troll. Otherwise, no. Frankly I'm certain it could be turned into a semi-automatic weapon though it would have a minuscule magazine and be fairly heavy.

Oh, and there is examples of 25mm weapons, they are different forms of grenade launchers that are being tested and getting all the kinks worked out of. This is ignoring the fact that we already have a few grenade launchers for the normal 40mm variety.

[Prodigy]

Yes i am well aware of how much a SAW weighs unfortunately. And realistically an M240B is usually mounted, not single man carried. Calling a mortar man-portable is not true. One man does  not carry it. At least not for any length of time.

Where are you getting that mortars weigh 20 pounds? An M6-640 is 49 pounds without ammo, and thats just a 60mm version (currently used in Afghanistan, btw). A single soldier carries it...all of maybe 50 meters to the firing position, off of the truck it came on.

The reason a SAW is man-portable and the M240B isn't usually is because of ammo weight. 300 rounds of 5.56mm ammo is significantly less weight than 300 rounds of 7.62mm ammo. How much do you think 80mm ammo weighs?

I'll answer that. An 81mm mortar weighs 2kg (roughly 4 pounds) each. Even a troll will have a heck of a time carrying even 10 rounds. Plus the roughly 70 pound weapon itself. Soldiers only carry 30-35 kg of gear at a time. Why? Because fatigue matters. A troll may double that, but this 80mm weapon alone is that doubled weight.

Again, though, I am not considering future tech breakthroughs. Anything is possible.

[Inconnu]

Am I the only person who wants to make a 1.8 caliber all of the sudden? "You a splode."

[Ted Fast]

Am I the only person who wants to make a 1.8 caliber all of the sudden? "You a splode."

I could use one of those to keep all the dire-penguins around here in check.

[CanRay]

C9 Gunner's Loadout Weight in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, if you care to know which unit this guy is/was in.

[Prodigy]

Funny enough, Inconnu, the weapons we are talking about here are bigger than that. 1.8 cal is only 45 mm. Roughly the size of our current grenades.

[Prodigy]

Also, that Canadian guy is getting screwed. The average American only carries 90 lbs of gear in total. Over 100 lbs and you will get super fatigued. That being said, there are many reports of soldiers being over-burdened. C'est la vie.

[CanRay]

Also, that Canadian guy is getting screwed.

Considering the Canadian Armed Forces, this is no surprise whatsoever.

[Sacredsouless]

Yes i am well aware of how much a SAW weighs unfortunately. And realistically an M240B is usually mounted, not single man carried. Calling a mortar man-portable is not true. One man does  not carry it. At least not for any length of time.

Where are you getting that mortars weigh 20 pounds? An M6-640 is 49 pounds without ammo, and thats just a 60mm version (currently used in Afghanistan, btw). A single soldier carries it...all of maybe 50 meters to the firing position, off of the truck it came on.

The reason a SAW is man-portable and the M240B isn't usually is because of ammo weight. 300 rounds of 5.56mm ammo is significantly less weight than 300 rounds of 7.62mm ammo. How much do you think 80mm ammo weighs?

I'll answer that. An 81mm mortar weighs 2kg (roughly 4 pounds) each. Even a troll will have a heck of a time carrying even 10 rounds. Plus the roughly 70 pound weapon itself. Soldiers only carry 30-35 kg of gear at a time. Why? Because fatigue matters. A troll may double that, but this 80mm weapon alone is that doubled weight.

Again, though, I am not considering future tech breakthroughs. Anything is possible.

My mistake, I read and quoted incorrectly. The mortar I linked weighs around 90 pounds though its newer iteration drops that to about 70. And frankly, ammo weight doesn't matter much for the 5.56 to 7.62 discussion. Any weight saved by carrying the smaller round is generally negated by the extra gear one then brings. Plus as CanRay showed various military members often carry in excess of the 30-35 kg (roughly 66 to 77 lbs) "limit" anyway. Hell, all the times I've been stuck marching I don't think my pack weighed in a single pound lighter than 80. That's not counting the weight of my rifle, flak jacket, and helmet. You end up tired and happy to hit the rack, but you still hop up the next day and carry on with w/e your mission is.

Anyway, I'm still certain we could design and field a 80mm weapon that is as easily portable as a common rifle, or at worst a machine gun. Though there will probably have to be some kind of materials breakthrough. IE some new super light metal that is stronger than everything else we have. Though we could just keep to the M32 MGL we have. 6 shots of 40mm, only about 12 pounds. Ammunition is small enough it shouldn't be an issue.

[Prodigy]

Soooo...after talking to some guys I know, a man-portable 80mm weapon is more than feasible even today. Let's just say these guys REALLY know what they are talking about. So I am changing my argument. Not about the weight though. Barring lightweight super metal tech (although it is probably possible), mortars weigh a whole lot. But the actual feilding of an 80mm weapon that a troll could carry is definitely possible.

[CanRay]

I still pity the person carrying the baseplate.

[Prodigy]

That guy or the ammo bearer. Which would probably be one and the same person.