Disposable Firepower: XM72 LAW - From Design to Jungles of Vietnam

[Talyn]

By 1960, the US Army sought a single-shot launcher that could combine the Bazooka’s firepower with the Panzerfaust’s portability. The M72 LAW emerged from this requirement and was developed to replace the rifle grenade and cumbersome M20 Super Bazooka in squad-level anti-armor roles. In essence, it fused the light weight of a throwaway anti-tank grenade with the range of a rocket launcher.

Disposable Firepower: XM72 LAW - From Design to Jungles of Vietnam

Next in my coverage of Vietnam War weaponry is the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW).By the late 1950s, U.S.infantry needed a far lighter, truly man-portable anti-armor weapon than the bulky Bazookas or rifle grenades of World War II and Korea.In World War II, the U.S.

www.thefirearmblog.com

And still in production with improvements, and use...

M72-series - Nammo

www.nammo.com

 

[SCraig]

I used to run a land surveying crew and one day we were way back on the back side of a farm running a boundary survey and I found a tube from an M-72. Unfortunately it had been used and was just the tube, I would have given the world to find an unused one! We lived in Clarksville, TN at the time and this farm backed up to Ft. Campbell, KY so there was no telling what was floating around in those woods!

 

[Pitdogg2]

When I was younger 1970's Army Surplus stores sold the tubes. several of my friends older brothers had bought some. Playing "army" as a kid we had some good toys.

 

[HayesGreener]

In SEA we had the LAW, and the 90mm recoiless rifle, for getting the enemy out of our bunkers if they got in there. Fortunately never had to use them for that. Blowing up old vehicles on the range with them was a hoot. I especially enjoyed firing the 90mm, but you had to be careful, it was almost as dangerous standing behind it as it was in front. Due to a shortage of rounds we didn't fire a lot of them in training, but enough to know you didn't want to be on the receiving end.

Remember Dirty Harry in The Enforcer?

 

[Grayfox]

In 1972 in basic training, we were trained on the LAW and how to use it. It was an impressive weapon.
After basic, I never saw another one again. They just weren't issued to the units I ended up in.

 

[OldGrunt]

When I was in the Army I was able to fire off a couple of LAWs. After getting out of the Army and doing a couple of years in college, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. By that time, the Marine Corps had transitioned to the AT4, of which I've fired a couple of those. But it was during my time on Guam when I was in Marine Corps Security Forces that my unit was tasked to help run a range for the Seabees that were also stationed there. They still had LAWs in their inventory. This unit had about 150 LAWs that they had to expend, with just a small group that came to the range. They had been ordered to expend all of them in their inventory, as some were getting old and replacements were going to be sent. They were 4 or 5 of us Marines running the range, and they let us help fire them up. I fired off about 20 of them myself. Of course, with that number of rockets and some being on the old side, we had a few misfires. We went through the proper misfire procedures and carefully set those rockets to the side until EOD came out and took care of them. That was a little scary. Anyway, it was quite the experience and one I won't ever forget. I wish I could have kept one of the expended tubes, but it wasn't allowed.