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The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break open grenade launcher which fires a 40 x46 mm grenade and first appeared during the Vietnam War. Because of its distinctive firing sound, among American soldiers, it earned the nicknames of "Thump-Gun", "Thumper", or "Blooper", but Australian units referred to it as the "Wombat Gun". The M79 resembles a large bore, break-action, sawed-off shotgun, and can fire a wide variety of 40 mm rounds, including explosive, anti-personnel, smoke, buckshot, flechette, and illumination. However, its size and single-shot nature means that a soldier with a M79 would be dedicated to being only a grenadier. Underbarrel grenade launchers, such as the XM148 and the M203, where the grenade launcher attaches to the rifle, were developed during the war, allowing the grenadier to function also as a rifleman. The M203 would ultimately replace the M79, but the M79 has remained in service in many units worldwide in niche roles. Image File history File links From http://tri. ...
A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ...
The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break open grenade launcher which fires a 40 x46 mm grenade and first appeared during the Vietnam War. ...
Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...
Combatants United Kingdom Argentina Commanders Sir John Fieldhouse Sir John Woodward Margaret Thatcher Leopoldo Galtieri Mario Menéndez Ernesto Crespo Casualties 258 killed[1] 777 wounded 59 taken prisoner 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner The Falklands War (Spanish: ) was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the...
For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...
From 1794 to 1968 the Springfield Armory was a center for the manufacture of U.S. military small arms and the site of many important technological advances. ...
From 1794 to 1968 the Springfield Armory was a center for the manufacture of U.S. military small arms and the site of many important technological advances. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
The 40mm grenade is the calibre used by the US military for their M79, Colt XM148 and M203 grenade launchers. ...
In firearms terminology, an action is the system of operation that the firearm employs to seal the breech (in a breech-loading firearm), and to load consecutive rounds. ...
A break open firearm is one whose barrels are hinged, and rotate perpendicular to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of ammunition. ...
Rate of fire is the speed at which a specific firearm or artillery piece can ]] per minute (RPM or round/min), or rounds per second Note that heat and ammunition concerns mean that most automatic weapons are unlikely ever to sustain their cyclic rate of fire for a full minute...
A guns muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. ...
Breech from Russian 122 mm M1910 howitzer, modified and combined with 105mm H37 howitzer barrel An interrupted screw style breech plug in the M109 howitzer An animation showing the loading cycle for a large naval breech-loader. ...
Single shot pistols have existed since the early years of firearms. ...
A break open firearm is one whose barrels are hinged, and rotate perpendicular to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of ammunition. ...
A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ...
The 40mm grenade is the calibre used by the US military for their M79, Colt XM148 and M203 grenade launchers. ...
Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...
A pump-action and two semi-automatic action Remington 1100 shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a clay trap, and three boxes of clay pigeons. ...
An anti-personnel weapon is one primarily used to injure or kill people. ...
Smoke grenade A purple smoke grenade being used during a military training exercise Main article: Hand grenade Smoke grenades are canister-type grenades used as ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling devices, target or landing zone marking devices, or a screening devices for unit movements. ...
A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with shot or a slug designed to be fired from a shotgun. ...
The word flechette is French and means dart (literally, little arrow). It is a projectile having the form of a small metal dart, usually steel, with a sharp-pointed tip and a tail with several vanes to stabilize it during flight. ...
A Grenadier was originally a specialized assault trooper for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the early 17th century. ...
The XM148 was an experimental 40 mm grenade launcher developed by Colt Firearms as the CGL-4 (Colt Grenade Launcher). ...
M203 generally refers to the United States Army designation for a single shot 40 mm grenade launcher that attaches to the M16 assault rifle or the M4 Carbine. ...
History
The M79 was a result of Project Niblick, an attempt to increase firepower for the infantryman by having an explosive projectile more accurate with further range than rifle grenades, but more portable than a mortar. Project Niblick created the 40 x 46 mm grenade, but was unable to create a satisfactory launcher for it that could fire more than a single shot. One of the launchers at Springfield Armory was the single-shot break-open, shoulder-fired S-3. It was refined into the S-5, which resembled an over-sized shotgun. Unable to develop a suitable multi-shot launcher, the Army adopted the S-5 as the XM79. With a new sight, the XM79 was officially adopted as the M79 on December 15, 1960.[1] A rifle grenade is a form of grenade that utilizes a rifle as a launch mechanism to increase the effective range of the grenade. ...
Mortar has several meanings: Mortar (weapon) fires shells at a much lower velocity and higher ballistic arc than other ordnance Paintball mortar fires paintballs or water balloons filled with paint Mortar (masonry), material used in masonry to fill the gaps between bricks and bind them together Mortar (firestop), hydraulic cementitious...
From 1794 to 1968 the Springfield Armory was a center for the manufacture of U.S. military small arms and the site of many important technological advances. ...
December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...
In 1961, the first M79 grenade launchers were delivered to the US Army. Short in length and relatively light in weight, the M79 became popular among American soldiers in Vietnam. Some soldiers would cut down the stock and barrel to make the M79 even more portable. Its simplicity translated into ease of use and accuracy. A grenadier using a M79 could consistently drop grenades into a garbage can 150 yards away. However, its single-shot nature was a strong drawback. Having to reload after every shot meant a slow rate of fire and therefore an inability to keep up a constant volume of fire during a firefight. Also, for close-in situation, the minimum arming range and the blast radius meant a grenadier would have to either resort to a backup pistol, if he had one to begin with, or fire and hope that the grenade would not arm itself and act as a giant slow bullet. Specialty grenades for close-in fighting were created to compensate, though a soldier did not always have the luxury of being able to load one in the heat of battle. 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...
A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ...
The United States Army is one of the armed forces of the United States and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...
The M203 replaced the M79 by the end of the Vietnam War, though M79s were still used in Reserve and National Guard units. Others users of the M79 included Australia, Chad, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Oman, Paraguy, Phillipines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and North Yemen. Daewoo manufactured the M79 under license as the KM79. [2] This article is about the chaebol Daewoo Group. ...
The M79 has seen notable limited use during Operation Iraqi Freedom, such as for clearing IEDs.[3] For other uses of the term, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The 2003 invasion of Iraq (also called the 2nd or 3rd Persian Gulf War) began on March 20, 2003, when forces belonging primarily to the United States and the United Kingdom invaded Iraq arguably without the explicit backing of the...
Munitions rigged for an IED discovered by Iraqi police in Baghdad, November 2005. ...
Design The M79 grenade launcher is simple in design, having only five parts: a receiver group, a fore-end assembly, a barrel group, a sight assembly, and a stock. The fore-end assembly beds the barrel to the receiver. The stock is made out of wood or fiberglass. A rubber pad affixed to the shoulder stock to absorbs some recoil. The front sight is a fixed blade. The rear sight on the M79 is a folding ladder-style leaf-type sight. When folded, the leaf sight acts as a fixed sight for close range. A grenadier may simply point and shoot with high accuracy. When unfolded, the leaf-type sight could be adjusted for ranges from 75-meters to 375-meters, in 25-meters increments. Additionally, Appendix A of U.S. Army field manual for the M203 includes instructions for attaching the M15 rifle grenade sight to the M79's stock and marking the sling for indirect fire at elevations greater than 40°.
Operation The M79 is easy to operate. To load, the grenadier pushes the barrel locking latch on the receiver group to the right. Gravity will pull down the barrel, breaking it open, and exposing the breech. The hammer is cocked when the breech is opened. A round then may be loaded. The break action must then be closed manually. Closing the breech will cause the barrel locking latch to return to center. To fire, the grenadier pushes the safety forward, revealing the symbol 'F', and pulls the trigger. To unload, the grenadier pushes the barrel locking latch to the right and opens the breech. The extractor will push the case out, allowing the grenadier to grasp it and remove it.
If a soldier is wearing gloves for winter operations, the trigger guard may be rotated to the left or right by pushing on the detent on the front of the trigger guard.
Ammunition See also Survey of Modern US 40mm Grenades The United States Army has created a plethora of different types of 40mm grenades in both the low velocity 40x46mm and high velocity 40x53mm calibers. ...
Many different ammunition types were produced for the M79 (and subsequently for the M203), outside of the smoke and illumination rounds three main types emerge: Explosive, Close-range, and Non Lethal Crowd Control. The break-open action of the M79 allows it to use longer rounds that the standard M203 cannot use. M203 generally refers to the United States Army designation for a single shot 40 mm grenade launcher that attaches to the M16 assault rifle or the M4 Carbine. ...
Explosive The M406 40 mm HE (high explosive) grenades fired from the M79 travel at a muzzle velocity of 75 meters per second. The M406 contained enough explosive to produce over 300 fragments that travel at 1,524 meters per second within a lethal radius of 5 meters. This round incorporated a spin-activation safety feature which prevents the grenade from arming while still within range of the shooter; it armed itself after traveling a distance of about 30 meters. Even though the round would not arm at point blank ranges, the round still had enough kinetic energy to kill or seriously injure its target.
Close range For close range fighting two styles of M79 rounds were developed. The first was a flechette or Bee Hive round which fired 45 10-grain steel flechettes. Flechettes proved to be ineffective because they would often not hit point-first and penetrate. Instead they would hit sideways and bounce off. About 1966, this was replaced by the M576 buckshot round. Containing twenty (M576E1) or twenty-seven #4 buckshot (M576E2), this round could be devastating at close ranges. However, as range increased, the shot spreads out so rapidly as to be ineffective. The M576E2, despite the greater number of shot, was more ineffective at range than the M576E1, because its shot spread out much more quickly and could completely miss the target. The word flechette is French and means dart (literally, little arrow). It is a projectile having the form of a small metal dart, usually steel, with a sharp-pointed tip and a tail with several vanes to stabilize it during flight. ...
The M576 is a US Army designation for a type of 40mm grenade. ...
A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with shot or a slug designed to be fired from a shotgun. ...
Less-Lethal / Crowd Control
A non-lethal round is loaded into a M79 The M79 has been used extensively also for crowd control purposes where it is desirable to have a weapon dedicated solely to less-lethal force. The three common less-lethal rounds are the M651 CS gas, the M1029 sponge grenade, and the M1029 Crowd Dispersal rounds. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2100x1458, 156 KB) Summary from http://www. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2100x1458, 156 KB) Summary from http://www. ...
Non-lethal force is force which is not inherently likely to kill or cause great bodily injury to a living target. ...
CS or 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called O-Chlorobenzylidene Malononitrile)(chemical formula: C10H5ClN2) is a substance that is used as a riot control agent and is usually claimed to be non-lethal by the forces who use it. ...
A sponge grenade is a crowd control weapon, intended to be non-lethal, which is fired from a 40 mm grenade launcher to cause confusion, or otherwise temporarily disable its target. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Non-lethal round. ...
See also The HK69 (or HK69A1) is a break-open action grenade launcher made by Heckler & Koch. ...
MK-19 40mm grenade launcher during MIL-EX 2003 The MK19 (also known as MK-19, M19, Mark 19, or Mk 19) is a belt-fed grenade machine gun capable of firing five grenades per second. ...
The MGL is a grenade launcher manufactured in South Africa by Milkor Marketing. ...
The EX-41 China Lake NATIC (a. ...
XM320 refers to the U.S. Militarys designation for a new single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher to replace the M203. ...
References - ^ Dockery, Kevin (December 2004). Weapons of the Navy SEALs. New York City: Berkley Publishing Group, 372-374. ISBN 0-425-19834-0.
- ^ Jane's Infantry Weapons 1997-98, 23rd edition, Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Information Group, 242. ISBN 0-7106-1548-5.
- ^ Marines test 'blooper' against roadside bomb threat
New York, NY redirects here. ...
Coulsdon is a place in the London Borough of Croydon on the Brighton Road (A23). ...
Janes Information Group (often referred to as Janes) was founded by John F.T. Jane in 1898. ...
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