How the Panzerfaust works?

[Tommaso]

Hi guys,

I got a panzerfaust,I almost know everything about it,wings,ignite,ecc.ecc. but I cannot understand HOW really shoot it:ok you pull the trigger but then whats happen??is not like a normal gun ammo, there's not balck powder reaction and then how you start it??

Dont think that I'm retarded but I cannot understand the work at all.

Cheers,
Tom

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Tom, it is easy really. When the button or trigger is pressed, depending on which model Panzerfaust you have, a firing pin strikes a percussion cap (like that found on the back of a cartridge) which in turn ingites the powder charge. This then propels the warhead from the launch tube.

http://www.wwiirelics.com/weapons6.htm

Cheers, Ade.

[Peter Wiking]

Ade is right. Here is a part of a project i´m working on, describing the Panzerfaust.

Cheers.
Peter

[Tommaso]

Thank you guys.
Then is nothing more then a normal gun shoot sistem but the only different thing is that there's full of proppellant into the tube????
But I want to see really how the trigger works and exactly where and how it strike.
Have you got a pic of it???

Tanks again
Tom

[Matt L]

Hi Tom,

That's more-or-less correct- it's closest counterpart is the recoilless rifle. A regular firearm has a bolt or breechblock that locks into the barrel so the expanding propellent actually pushes against the weapon to force the projectile out- causing recoil. The Panzerfaust and other recoilless weapons use far more propellent because it is only pushing against the air in the tube- this is also why the backblast area is so dangerous; the flash from the ignited propellent goes right out the back of the tube. Often people incorrectly refer to the Panzerfaust grenade as a rocket, but it is not. If I'm not mistaken, the longer-range models of Panzerfaust had a 'counterweight' plug in the tube that was pushed out the back so more of the force of the expanding propellent was transmitted to the grenade- they also had two propellent packs.

The actual firing action of the Panzerfaust 60m is fairly unique I think- the 'firing pin' is a small pointed rivet at one end of a rectangular piece of springsteel. The end opposite to the firing pin is attached to the trigger assembly such that when the pin end is lifted and release it will spring back flat. There is a rivet through the rear section of the trigger, and when ready to fire, the springsteel part is flexed up and the end with the firing pin lies atop this rivet. When the forward end of the trigger is pushed down, the back end lifts up and the arc is such that the rivet is pulled out from under the bar which then falls and the firing pin strikes the primer cap, which in turn ignites the propelling charge.

You would have to remove the center rivet in the trigger (the one with the small loop holding it in place) to see the springsteel bar and firing pin.

Here's a x-section diagram that may help:



Matt