You guys are either too old or too young to remember the good(?) old M79 "Blooper". I got pretty good with that thing. Used it a lot in I Corps 35yrs ago. We also had semi auto launchers that fired the same round. They had snail type magazines and the ones we had were vehicle mounted. Can't remember the mil designation, we called 'em "dusters". Without explanation, they took 'em away from us (USMC) and gave them to the Army. Maybe it was our attitude.

I STILL don't like the way the M203 loads; I've seen guys fumbling and dropping rounds, etc, under duress.

Though it is a fun piece to shoot. Has the same recoil as my 20 gauge topper. Neat story from when I was enlisted: I was working as a safety on a Battalion range, when the battalion, for whatever reason cancelled the range at the last minute. Myself, the Range OIC and the Range NCO were left, with 800 rounds of paint rounds and 200 rounds of HE, that we'd already broken down and couldn't turn in (very easily). It doesn't take all that much practice to get very, very good with one of these, as well as being fun as 2 barrels of monkeys.

The M79 was a nice piece of gear, but it was the soldier's (or Marine's) primary weapon. The M203 at least adds 3 rifles to the squad's firepower.

Loading can be an issue with the M203, you need to practice it until it becomes muscle memory or that will happen. Also, it is much easier to accomplish with the strong hand while reloading the rifle is easier with the weak hand.

As an aside, I skimmed the 3rd MAW (Marine Air Wing) report on 1st Cav's Lessons Learned for Convoy Ops during OIF 1 and was a little taken aback that they recommended giving Officers and SNCOs assigned to convoys 6 magazines for their M9s because "reloading under stress was often difficult or impossible." My take on that is mags are being dropped in the dirt. The solution isn't to give them more mags, but to give them M4s and 3 mags for that in addition to the 3 pistol mags they already have.

Bob

I'm not too familiar with the older style of grenade launchers, but I can tell you there are 2 grenade launchers in the US inventory today; the M203 and the Mk19.

The M203 (and it's variants) mount under the barrel on the M16 series rifles/carbines and fires self-contained grenade munition. The grenade consists of a primed case, powder charge and projectile much like any other round of ammunition. Not having the data in front of me I think the round is accurate on a point target to 250 or 300m and on an area target to 500m.

The Mk19 is a fully automatic grenade launching machinegun. It is mounted on a tripod or vehicle and fires belted rounds that are similar to, but not interchangable with, the M203 rounds. I don't know the max effective range offhand but I think it's 800 or 1000m.

Many countries used to use rifle grenades that either had a collar that slipped over the outside of the barrel or a rod that slipped into the barrel. They were usually fired using a special, high-powered blank. Ranges were in the 300 to 500m catagory and launching the grenade produced a lot of kick, many were launched more like a mortar with the butt on the ground. I've heard the Lee-Enfields were wire wrapped due to the excess pressure created by the blank.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Thanks Gunny Bob, now, how effective are they? When would you use one?
Peter.

It's been a LONG time, but recalling from my M1 days: The grenade itself was, I believe a standard "frag". It came in a "kit" with a launcher that slipped over the barrel, engaging the bayo lug. A special blank cartridge was supplied, and you did NOT fire from the shoulder. Sights were rudimentary, attaching to the side of rifle. I don't remember the tech details, but range was pretty good, 2-3 hundred yards.

Peter,

A couple of the advantages of the M203 are its accuracy and range. A good gunner using a zeroed quadrant site can easily place a grenade through a window or bunker aperature at a much greater distance than what you could accomplish with a hand grenade. If I remember right the listed maximum effective ranges ( the range at which the average operator can be expected to engage the target) in the Army M203 operators manual is 150 meters for point targets and 350 for area targets with a maximum range of 400 meters. The casualty radius is not that great in the open, but as with all grenade type weapons it is more effective in a confined space. One of its primary uses in an infantry squad is to cover deadspace which cannot be covered by the SAW or M240 MG. In the right hands and employed properly it can be a effective weapon.

Gee Wiz, someone elsefrom Fairbanks, Ak, home of the big freeze.......... (hit -50F today)

The sight on the grenade launcher on my Yugo SKS goes to 240 meters, which is about what one might expect for a small capacity cartridge.