M38 Jeep How Rare ??
 

I have just finished work on a M38 that had the recoilless rifle for a customer and was wondering how rare they were and if anyone knows how many we had ??

I would say they were/are somewhat rare. There was a mix of M38s and M38A1s converted for the recoiless rifles. What makes them really rare today is that most civilian owners did not want that big gaping hole in the windshield. Makes for a very cold neck, especially in the fall here in Manitoba. As a result the windshields would have been replaced back to the standard ones.

Ok, Thanks. This is the first one I have come across and was interesting as well as the rear assisted over loader springs.

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I would have said that M 38 's are as common as dirt, but now that I want one, I cant find one......

I know there is a complete windshield for one laying in the RCA museum's dustbowl. No jeep to go with it mind you. And I have seen remnants of the spare tire carriers (an A-frame type attachment that went on the hood) laying around out at my favorite mil scrapyard.

The overload springs were also added to the M38A1CDN3s when they had the recoiless rifles. The same coil springs must have been added to jeeps for other uses....my Cdn3 has them, although the jeep shows no signs of why they were installed except for possibly a dual IKEE setup.

M38 106mm RCL
 

There is a snapshot off the Queens Own Rifles museum Facebook photo gallery on my harddrive. I am surfing some self-initiated Windows "safe" mode, and will add the photo when I regain control of the PC.

(photos added with names)

Dave, the picture that Terry of the recoilless rifle M38 in Germany has a very high CFR number( last 4 digits greater than 3000) but early date (1951). This seem typical of some Willys M38's acquired by Canada. Some of these 1951 Willys were rebuilt in 1959 and given nice large brass rebuild plates but I'm not sure if any others were also recoilless rifle jeeps.
Any info on the M38 you are working on? PM me if you wish.
........ Brian

Thanks for the replies, What years were they used from with that rifle and did we use them in any conflict ?? What happened to the rifles after service, did we destroy them or sell them to another country ??

After the M38A1 fleets were retired, the 106 recoiless were mothballed. An attempt was made to re-life the 106 recoiless, with a ballistic computer that would have allowed it to accomplish indirect fire. However, in the end, they went to the smelter about 6-8 years ago if I recall correctly. Some were retained for museum purposes of course.