20mm Recoilless Launcher?

[john_smith]

Just a weird idea I had...I recently came across some rifled 12 gauge slugs consisting of a round nose lead slug embedded into a rifled plastic jacket or sabot (non-discarding). I couldn't find a larger caliber version of those but a 10 gauge (said to be the largest shotgun calibre that ammo is serial-produced for) would be about 20mm AFAIK.
Would it be possible to construct a larger explosive shell from a section of pipe of slightly smaller diameter than the gun barrel, supported on 2 or more of such drilled out sabots and launch it from a recoilless type weapon? What I'm actually aiming at is a version of German WWII Fliegerfaust anti-aircraft rocket launcher (a number of barrels in a pepperpot type configuration, firing standard 20mm shells propelled by rocket motors) using recoilless instead of rocket principle.

[DBSP]

To tell you the truth I don't know what you are talking about, I know what launcher you are referring to but I haven't got a clue to what you are wanting to build.

"Would it be possible to construct a larger explosive shell from a section of pipe of slightly smaller diameter than the gun barrel, supported on 2 or more of such drilled out sabots and launch it from a recoilless type weapon?"

Do you wan't to make a new casing for the sabots and fire it from a recoilless laucher or what?

I don't know if it's only me, but I can't make out what you you have actually written.

[john_smith]

A 4-6" piece of pipe filled with explosives, with those rifled sabots on both ends to make the thing spin...this fired from an open barrel or with some sort of countershot.

[James]

   I think what's being proposed is a 20mm recoilless pistol with a 4 to 6 inch barrel. The round would be plastic jacketed. Possibly some rounds would even be explosive.

[FragmentedSanity]

John - To better illustrate your idea try including a small pic - it dosent have to be fancy or to scale - just something to give us an idea of what your trying to achieve.

Right now it sounds like you want a 20mm pipe bomb launcher. But I could be wrong too.

Sounds too me like what your proposing is 1) constructing a 20mm recoilless launching device, which is designed to fire a 2) shell - 4-6 inches in length - that is filed with explosives and capped at each end with rifled sabots. Im assuming these shells have a rocket motor of sufficient power to actually launch your round attached somehow.

So basically as BDSP said "...you wan't to make a new casing for the sabots and fire it from a recoilless laucher..."

As for if it would work - well probably.. if you tinker with it long enough, But I doubt youll ever get enough power out of it to be worthwhile. But - feel free to prove me wrong :p
FS

[SMAG 12B/E5]

I beleive that the system that you are speculating on is impractical. The short barrel that you wish to use will not allow you to acheive much impulse from your propellent. The use of countermass is not very versatile and is dangerous in many situations. The use of rifled sabots is not as reliable as other systems such as fin-spin stabilized. The system may be much more applicable to a larger bore system and only in a narrowly-defined application.

[cmbtengr]

The sabbots are deadly enough! If you are trying to make a recoiless rifle there is plenty of information online to find. ANYThHING that obstructs the barrel of any shotgun needs to be well thought out, it is very easy to make a barrel explode with ANY type of obstuction.I agree by making the barrel shorter that your accuracy will suffer. I would not attempt this project with a metal pipe!!! Ther are projectiles that you can make that would fit your need. There are also comercial products available. I will not advertise for anyone but use your head and look in most gun publications and you may find what you need.