A rifle grenade is a form of grenade that utilizes a rifle as a launch mechanism to increase the effective range of the grenade. The idea was developed in World War I, and was retained until after World War II, when specialist grenade launchers replaced them. Grenade may refer to: The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. ... A rifle is a firearm that uses a spiral groove cut into the barrel to spin a projectile (usually a bullet), thus improving accuracy and range of the projectile. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 8 million Full list Military dead: 3 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 6 million Full... Combatants Allies: • Poland, • UK & Commonwealth, • France, • Soviet Union, • USA, • China, ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Italy, • Japan, ...and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total: 50 million Full list Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total: 12 million Full list World War II, also, The... A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ...

Rifle grenades have primarily used two different launching mechanisms:

• A stick that fitted down the interior of the rifle barrel;
• A cup or special adapter that fitted on the end of the rifle muzzle.

For the former, a blank cartridge was used. When fired, it propelled both the stick and the grenade. It was found that repeated use of a rifle for launching grenades by this method caused damage to the barrel, and the cup/adapter technique was preferred. Depending on the cup/adapter design, either a blank cartridge or a standard round was used. In both cases, it was the gas that launched the grenade, with the round being trapped within the grenade in the latter method. Some designs used the passage of the round through the grenade to activate the grenade's fuse. The barrel of a gun or other firearm is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion is released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at great speed. ... blank cartridges, as used in nail guns A blank is a type of cartridge for a gun that contains gunpowder but no bullet or shot. ...

Rifle grenades can be of any type as the more conventional hand grenades. However, two types predominate — fragmentation grenades, for use against personnel; and shaped charge for armoured vehicles. Rifle grenades may be time-fused, so that they detonate at a fixed time after firing, or impact-fused, so they detonate upon impact. Generally, antipersonnel grenades would be time-fused, and anti-armour grenades would be impact-fused. A WWII-era MkIIA1 pineapple fragmentation hand grenade A hand grenade is a small hand-held bomb designed to be thrown by hand. ... A WWII-era MkIIA1 pineapple fragmentation hand grenade A hand grenade is a small hand-held bomb designed to be thrown by hand. ... Sectioned HEAT round with the inner shaped charge visible A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosives energy. ... In an explosive device, a fuse (or fuze) is the part of the device that causes it to function. ... A weapons cache is detonated at the East River Range on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan Detonation is a process of supersonic combustion that involves a shock wave and a reaction zone behind it. ...

Often, special sights that attach onto the rifle to provide aiming for the grenade's particular ballistics are employed. Since rifle grenades usually travel at low velocities with very high trajectories, their range is measured in tens of yards (meters). The maximum range of most rifle grenades was about 200 yards (180 meters). Rifle grenades are often fired at angles greater than 45 degrees, allowing them to drop down at steep angles to enter trenches, or to hit targets behind cover; the steep angle also increased the time of flight, to give the fuse more time to burn, so it would detonate as soon as possible after reaching the target. Firing at lower angles was useful for placing grenades through windows or other vertical openings. A ballistic body is a body which is free to move, behave, and be modified in appearance, contour, or texture by ambient conditions, substances, or forces, as by the pressure of gases in a gun, by rifling in a barrel, by gravity, by temperature, or by air particles. ... This article is about the unit of measure known as the yard. ... The Metre (or Meter) is the base fundamental unit of length in the metric measurement system as defined originally by the French Academy of Sciences during the French Revolutionary–Napoleonic war era, and subsequently adopted by various successive International Standards Committees as the utility, elegance, and self-consistency of the... A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually symbolized °, is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1／360 of a full rotation. ...

Rifle grenades were common during World War II, but by the late 1970s they were largely replaced by designated grenade launchers. These grenade launchers generally took form of independent firearms (such as the M79 grenade launcher), or as an attachment to an assault rifle (the most common example being the M203 attached to M16/M4-family of rifles). Combatants Allies: • Poland, • UK & Commonwealth, • France, • Soviet Union, • USA, • China, ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Italy, • Japan, ...and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total: 50 million Full list Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total: 12 million Full list World War II, also, The... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ... Caliber: 40 mm grenade Action: Single shot, breech loaded Mass: 3 kg (6. ... The AK-47 is the iconic assault rifle. ... M203 generally refers to the U.S. Militarys designation for a single shot 40 mm grenade launcher that attaches to the M16 assault rifle or the M4 Carbine. ... M16 is the U.S. Military designation for a family of rifles derived from the ArmaLite AR-15. ... The M4 Carbine traces its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16, all based on the original AR-15 made by Armalite. ...

Today, there is a return to the concept of the rifle grenade, such as the M16's SIMON wall breach grenade and the IMI Tavor's "Rephaim" advance grenade. Modern combination doctrine designates a certain percentage of grenadiers, or soldiers equipped with a grenade launcher or combination rifle/grenade launcher. The criticism of this doctrine is that if the grenadiers in a group are disabled or separated from the group, then the group has completely lost the grenade launcher as a heavy fire support. With rifle grenades, each soldier would be equipped with a small number of grenades, so every individual soldier could utilize some form of heavy firepower. Caliber: 5. ... A Grenadier was originally a specialized assault trooper for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the early 17th century. ...

Today, the use of rifle grenades are rare except as a rifle attachment.

Legal issues

In almost all countries, grenades are illegal for civilian ownership, though dummies (inert grenades with no fuse, detonator or explosives) are usually legal.

In the United States, rifle grenades are covered under the National Firearms Act as "destructive devices". A civilian could legally own a grenade in theory, but the requirement of a police chief's signature often makes owning such items legally all but impossible. The National Firearms Act is a United States federal law passed in 1934 that mandates the registration of all Title II weapons - that is, all sound suppressors or silencers, all fully-automatic and burst-fire firearms, all rifles with a barrel length less than 16 inches (406 mm) (SBR) and... A destructive device is a firearm or explosive device that, in the United States, is regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934. ...

Rifle grenade launchers are not subject to the National Firearms Act, although stand-alone grenade launchers may be, and rifle grenade launchers may be regulated by local law.

External links

• www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2116/riflehandgrenades.htm