Table Of ContentRearming the
A PALADIN PRESS BOO
66mmLight
ISBN 0·87364-764-5
Anti-Tank
Weapon
ISBN 0-87364-764-5
J ..9000 0
Fred Brown
9"780873"647649
LAW amiDisorder
Rearming the 66mm Light Anti-Tank Wenpon
by Fred Brown
Copyright 0 1994 by Fred Brown
ISBN 0-87364-764-5
Printed in the United Slates of America
Published by Paladin Press, a division of INTRODUCTION: 1
Paladin Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 1307,
Boulder, Colorado 80306, USA.
PART ONE: Overview 3
(303) 443 -7250
Direct inquiries and/or orders to the above address. PART TWO: Using the LAW 9
All rights reserved . Except for use in a review, no PART THREE: Rearming the LAW 23
portion of this book may be reproduced in aoy form
without the express written permission of the publisher.
APPENDIX: Warhead 47
Neither the author nor the publisher assumes
aoy responsibility for the use or misuse of
information contained in this book.
.....,. --- . III
II
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il
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:/
Ii 0, your arsenal of homemade weapons is
almost complete. You've got handguns, rifles,
machine guns, and grenade launchers; CN
gas, CS gas, and Mace; mantraps and booby
II
traps. You've maybe even knocked up a few
i missiles. But what about the LAW? No, not the guys who
I chased you last Saturday night, I'm talking about the
Light Anti-tank Weapon, M72, 66mm type.
The LAW is available in inert, fired, or deactivated
II
form on the surplus/collector/underground market and
"
I 1
II
is surprisingly easy to rearm. This little manual
describes how to do just that, showing in illustrated,
step-by-step form how to disassemble, rebuild, and
rearm the weapon's internal firing components and con
struct a suitable projectile.
In the United States, surplus LAWs are likely to be
found with the designations M72AI, M72A2, M72A3,
and Practice Launcher M190. In Europe the same system
is likely to be found with a designation such as RK
66mm HEAT LIA2Bl or LNCHR & RKT 66mm HEAT
LIA3B!.
Be warned. This manual is forinformation purposes
only. You should never mess with propellants, projec
tiles, rocket launchers, igniters, explosives, raw fish, 0
poisonous toadstools without first checkingwith Mom
and Dad that it is safe. Always wear gloves, goggles, safe
ty boots, a hard hat, clean socks, and a tic. This ensures
that if you do blow yourself up you will be smartly
dressed for the funeral.
When dealing with improvised exploding things (lETs),
it pays to check periodically for missing body parts, e.g., a
finger. These bits are often the first to disappear when an
experiment goes wrong. Count and make a note of the
numberoffingers you havenow, forfuturereference.
riginally developed in the mid--l960s for
the U.S. Army, the M72 66mm LAW is
a veteran of many conflicts. Although it
is now obsolete or obsolescent in its
original form by virtue of the improve
ments in tank armor, an enhanced version (the
M72E4(S(6 series, manufactured by the Tall ey Defense
Systems(Raufoss consortium) is still in production at
the time of this writing. The M72E4 has an armor-pene
tration capability of 355 millimeters. In the U.S. Army
2 LAW AN D D ISO RDER ...............................................................................................................................
3
:11
11,1
III 1
the 84mm M1361AT4)has taken over the role of the
that runs down to a propellant igniter in the base of the
III M72 LAW. The British army replacement [for the 66mm
rocket itself. Upon firing, flame from the primer travels
"
LAW and the 84mm Carl-Gustaf) is the 94mm LAW80.
through the tube to the igniter, causing the rocket motor
propellant to start burning.
l CONSTRUCTION
r THE ROCKET AND WARHEAD
II The M72 series 66mm LAWsaresingle-shot, fire-and
discard systems. Each unit consists of two concentric
A typical 66mm rocket comprises an MI8 HEAT
f'
I tubes.The outer tube is fiberglass and carries the rear
,I (High Explosive Anti-Tank) warhead, tetryl booster,
sight cover, rear and front sight assemblies, safety han
M412 PIBD (Point Initiating, Base Detonating)fuze, and
"I dle, trigger housing, and triggerassembly.
the M54 rocket motor. The design of this motor is such
The inner tube is of aluminum construction and is
that all the propellant is burnt before the rocket leaves
I1II
designed so as to slide telescopically along a channel
the tube. This technique is known by the acro nym
assembly riding within an alignment slot in the trigger
ilil ABOL, derived from the phrase IIAll Burnt On Launch."
housing assembly.The channel assembly contains a fir
Systems utilizing the ABOL principle do not require a
ing-pin-rod system.
blast/heat shield around the front of the tube as was
When the inner tube is extended, as for firing, the
common in early bazooka-type anti-tank launchers in
channel assembly locks it in the fully open position. The
which the rocket motor was still burning fiercely when
last inch or so of travel of the inner tube as it is extended
the projectile left the tube.
,
causes the firing-pin-rod assembly to cock the weapon.
It is perhaps worth noting here that systems such as
I the RPG-7 and its variants employ an alternate tech
THE FIRING SYSTEM
nique in which a small charge "kicks" the projectile out
,I:,
of the tube to a safe distance in front of the firer before
The trigger takes the form of a rubber-covered bar,
the rocket engineproper starts itsburn.
III/ which must be depressedfirmly to release thecocked fir
Attached to the nozzle of the LAW rocket are six
ing-pin-rod assembly.This cannot be done until the safe
spring-loaded fins. These are folded forward along the
ty handle is pulled out to the arm position. The firing.
11 11 nozzle/motor section when the rocket is in the tube.
pin assembly is contained in a housing mounted on the
I Upon leaving the tube these fins springout to stabilize
I1
I top rearsection of the innermost tube.
the rocket in flight. Initial velocity of the rocket is
When the trigger is depressed the spring-loaded firing
around 158 meters per second [rn/sec).
pin rod is released and moves backward, causing the
1 The HEAT warhead section of the rocket is of a taper
1;1 point of the firing "pin" to pass through a small horizon
ing cylindrical design containing a shaped charge based
I tal exitslot and strike the primer.The pin is then with around 3/4 pound of explosive (originally Octal) and a
drawn back into thehousing.
copper cone liner. Upon impact a piezo-electric crystal
Theprimer itselfis contained within aprimer block
assemblyin the PIED fuze is crushed, causingan electri
in the form of a cylindrical nylon insert mounted in the
cal current to be generated. The current travels along a
Ii firing-pin housing. Attached to this block is a flash tube
connecting wire to the fuze, which explodes, detonating
!
~
II 4 ,"- ~.~.~ LA~W AND D,SORDfR. OVERVIEW 5
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,
,
,.
~FS CB SL TB RS RSI-I
;( 1t....
SP FZ CC LW TA
FIGURE3: Crosssectionof 66mm LAW rocket
FIGURE 1: Crosssection of the M72 66mm LAW system
PB Primer block FZ Fuze
IT Inner tube FS Front sight
F5 Spring-loaded fin TB Tetryl booster
OT Outer tube TS Transportation safety pins
FT Flash tube WB Warhead body
RSH Rear sight housing RE Rear end-cap IG Igniter LW Lead wire (running from TA to FZ)
RS Rear sight CB Close-down button
FL Fin lugs CC Copper cone
(temperature compensating) PB Primer block housing
SP Stud plate HE High explosive
TB Trigger bar SF Spring-loaded fins
PG Propellant grains NC Nose cap
SL Safety lever (folded forward)
CT Closure threads TA Terminal assembly ("LUCKY")
the booster charge of tctryl and, via this, the main
FB shaped charge. The coppercone is converted into a high
ly penetrating jetof plasma.The difference between the
M72Al and M72A2 is simply the improved armorpene
tration of the latter.
THESIGHTS
The rear sight of M72Al and later-series systems
II
FIGURE2: Exterior of the 66mm LAW rocket incorporates a spring-loaded aperture plate that compen
sates automatically for temperature variations. A rubber
I WH Warhead section (black with RL Round lock (transit safety)
cover is fixed to the top of the sight. The front sight con
caliber and model designatio n, RM Rocket motor housing
ammunition lot number, and (anodized aluminum) sists of a central, vertical range line indicating ranges
type of warhead in FB Fuze and booster section from 50 to 350 meters in 25-meter increments. Range
yellow lettering) (anodized aluminum) estimation is facilitated by two diverging stadia lines,
NC Nosecap FS Fins (6, spring-loaded) which willbracket a 6-meter (20-foatJ-long target at that
CL Closure
range. The range-finding system assumes that the target
is twice as long as it is high. Provision for aim-off (lead)
on a moving target takes the form of crosses,which are
7
6 LAW AND DISORDER .O...V...E..R...V..I.E..W...........................................................................................................
H •••••••••••••••••••• ••••• u •• ~ _••••••••• ••••• •••••• •••••••• ••• ••••••
I:
visible on the extreme left and right of the sight plate.
These give the correct lead for a directly crossing target
traveling at 24 kilometers per hour [km/h], or 15 mph.
THE TRAINING LAUNCHER
Introduced for the purposes of realistic instruction,
the training launcher consists of a normal M72A1 tube
containing a telescoping M190 subcaliber launcher
assembly and the M73 35mm subcaliber rocket. The
subcaliber insert is reusable. Sighting and firing proce
dures are the same as for the tactical weapon.
The M73 35mm rocket consists of a detonating war
head, rocket motor, motor closure, and igniter assembly.
The warhead is made of rigid plastic and contains
approximately 1.5 grams of MBOcomposition mixture.
The front part of the motor closure contains a base deto
nating fuze and an M26 stab primer. When the rocket
strikes a target an inertia-driven firing pin strikes the
primer,therebysettingofftheheadcharge. Although pri
marily a spotting charge producing noise, a flash, and
smoke, this will penetrate approximately3 millimeters
of steel plate or 20 millimeters of soft wood .
Therocket motor casing itself is metal and contains
three tubular grains of M7 propellant. Stabilization in
flight is provided by six molded plastic fins.
The followingsection is a reprint of the U.S. Army
LAWusermanual.It containsfull details of how to arm,
aim, and fire the system, as well as the actions that should
be taken in the event of a misfire. This information
applies totubesofAmerican andEuropean manufacture.
8 LAW AN D DISORDER ................................................................................................................................ 9
AlA !iti~1~;~~Ji~~11.lllljli"~I[~ll~.ll
ABRIEf DESCRIPTION'
1,·,,1
WEAPON DATA
Tactica.l Pracllco
M72Al M72A2 . M72A3 Launcher M190
",,/R ackel M73
Wo ight S.l ·Lb •. s.r-ue, S.•Lb•.
Coto; Identification
Launch. r 00 00 00
Firing In,truc.tion label 0W0h i,B. acPkrgi nro,lunnod W00h itB. acPkrignrtoi ungn d 0W0h itBo acPkrignrtoinugn d
Modol. 14t
No , Dote 00 W/Y. l1ow 00 W/YoUow 0 0 WI Yollow
Mfg 14bo l Printing Printing Printing
I Wa rhoad M72 (Hoot) M72Al (Hcal) Sporting eha rgo
Campl. to L..n9th
(Clo.od) Nominal 24.7-ln. 24.7-ln. 25.3-ln.
'III (Opon) Naminol 34.7· ln. 34.7· 1". 35.4-1" .
Diameter 4.9-'n. 4.9-ln. 4.9.ln.
.~
it;
I'
p M72A2 OPM12A3
.1;
i
WEAPON
ON
RIGHT
SIDE
LABELS
::'~:f~:~ ;: :;
AND
EXTERNAL VIEW AS ISSUED (NOT EX TENDED)
U.5.ARMY
,orU I,JOIP. ~(T .. Ito
EXTHIDEO (READY FOR USE)
~s1rc\.WlQGt. DlUUI'P.. .- 4100' r.... .· 1ItUa ,'
LABEL FOR
PRACTICE IT EM
,j ~
I NOTE EXTERNAL VIEW OF TACTICAL AND PRACTICE WEAPON ARE IDENTICAL
10 LAW AND DISORDER USING THE LAW 11
. . . ...... . . ................... ........................&• ••• • •••• ••• •• •••• •• • •••• • ••••••••••••••••• • •••• • •••• ••• •• ••• •• ••••••
..
A PU l l FLAP {~~: ; '"
W AT NOSE EN D
,I THIS PAGLfE I 'TIN 'T LI AN NTIKO HALLY OF BA RRIER BAG
AND OPE N T O EXPO SE
CONTA IN ER EN D
III
Irl ;1.
PULL PR EPA RED TEAR
{) ST RIPS O FF CO I'lTAINER
END AND REMO V E COVER
O REMOV E
, C l;S H IO N ING
A ND W EAPON
Following applies to tactical weapon only.
I"l
i SERVICE UPON CHAPTER 2 FOLLOWING APPLIES TO TACTICAL AND PRACTICE WEAPONS
RECEIPT OF MATERIEL OPERATION ~i~HJ::"'11 EACH WEAPON SYSTEM
FOR
"c"";;:",t" ",-
CRACKED TUBE FRAYED SLING
DENTED PARTS LOOSE OR BENT REAR HOOK
O KEEP MARKING "NOSE END" MISSING PARTS LOOSE OR DAMAGED SAFETY MECHANISMS
O F BOX FACI NG LEAS T LOOSE PARTS BLURRED OR INCORRECT NOMENCLATURE
HAZARDOUS AREA
A STANO TO SIDE
T RIGG ER SAFETY HANDLE MUST
V Of NOSE l!No
BE IN SA FE POS ITION
MA RKING.
o
REACH OVER
U TOP OF BOX
AN D UN FASTEN
WI RE HOOPS
!llllllllllllllllllllll tl \llllllllllliiilllll ,',!!:!
l ~b0T0 ~ ~N~O~T TU~SIEOO XSRH CAHOR~P~ ~S I1'1 1I'!1
~Iilll~ililli ~!~11~III!~~! --
WARNING
II1I I Ill!ii
t: [Ii 00 NOT EXTEND LAUNCHER UNTIL READY FOR USE.
II
12 LAW AND D ISORDER U S ~NG THE LAW 13
........... ... ~ •• ••••• ••• _•••••••• ••••• ••••• ••••• ••• •u - _•• ••_•• •••••• ••• -••
'11 BACK BLAST DANGER ZONES
,II
11
FUR TACTICAL WEAPDNS ONLY. I 40 METERS I
Il
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cr:
'"
I-
w
::E
...
/ LAU NCH ER~L
IF TIME PERMITS / +
I U,
I (CBHREOCKKE NIG, NCIRTA ECRK FEODR ODRA SMPALGITE)
I
TARGET N
(SEE INSTRUCTIONS FOR I
RElvIOVING CARRYING SLING) :m~;:::B ;tH;: Z~ i:,i&{ WARNING
\
'Ilil
UNLESS • ..
\
IF SO DAMAGED 1. SGck blaot GreG is d oo r a f
\ p. n o"ne l and obstructions. ZON E "A "
DANGeR IN THIS AREA FROM BlJ'ST.
II TAPE OAMAG£D IGNITERS TO \ 2. Body o xt,.. m ; ti. ~ are cleo t of KEAT. AND PROJECTED MA TE RII\ LS.
PMRAEiVEERN:TA LL ORSESP LOAFC EIG SNLITINIOG NA
SSEMS LY.
\t. Rockot exhaust end. ZONE "8"
II.i!I li~ CPULOLLSe PRINE.A
R COVER AND REPLACE
PDR"'O~J GE CERT EIDN MfHA TISE RAIARELSA FROM
I
~~:';1~) ~
=- "'
~;';..'-.'..:' ~...~ti.."'~1 0·PR EPARATION FORFIRING
,r",..,y _ ~, ......,~
/ ';" _ .- All weapons
CARRYING
O Tho Following Steps Are
POSITION Porform ed At Th. Firing Point.
o
REMOVE PULL PIN
TO CARRY . ,
SL:NG OVER S~OULOER £ •
WARNING
DO NOT CARR":' W£APC1'l IN EX":'E:NCED
FOS;110N.
14 LAW AND DISORDER USING THE LAW 15
