M79 grenade launcher
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Commonly known as the "Thump-Gun", "Thumper", or "Blooper", the M79 grenade launcher first appeared during the Vietnam war. Also known to some Australian units as the "Wombat Gun". It closely resembled a large bore, break-action, sawn-off shotgun, and could fire a wide variety of 40 mm rounds, including explosive, anti-personnel, smoke, buckshot, flechette, and incendiary. During the 1960s and 70s, the US experimented with many types of grenade launchers attached to rifles, which allowed the grenadier to also function as a rifleman. One example, the XM148 was even fielded to a limited degree in Vietnam. Both the XM148 and M79 were eventually superseded by the M203. However, the M79 has remained in service in many niche roles throughout the armed services.
History
In 1961, the first M79 grenade launchers were delivered to the US Army. They were designed as a close support weapon for the infantry in order to bridge the gap in range between hand-thrown grenades and mortars (between 50 and 300 meters). This unique ability gave the squad a very lethal integral indirect fire weapon.
The M79 was a product of the failure of Project NIBLICK to create an envisioned multi-shot 40 mm system, for which the cartridge had originally been designed. In many respects a crude system, the M79 never the less provided an excellent force multiplier until the arrival of the first generation of underbarrel grenade launchers (UGLs), the XM148 and the XM203.
These weapons were developed because the M79's greatest drawback proved to be its single-shot only capability. This left the user totally unable to keep up a constant volume of fire during a firefight, and often grenadiers were only equipped with a pistol as a backup, if even that.
Short in length and fairly light in weight, the M79 proved extremely useful in the confining jungles of Vietnam. The M79 has seen notable limited use during Operation Iraqi Freedom, such as for clearing IEDs.
Design
The M79 was a single-shot, shoulder fired, break-barrel weapon which fired a spherical 40 mm diameter breech-loaded grenade. It also had a rubber pad affixed to the shoulder stock to absorb some of the recoil generated when firing. The M79 was 29 inches (74cm) in length and approximately 6.6 pounds (3 kg) when loaded. Situated half-way up the barrel was a large flip up (ladder-type) sight that worked in combination with a basic leaf-type foresight affixed to the end of the barrel. The rear sight was capable of ranging up to 410 yards (375 meters) in 27 yard (25 meter) intervals. In the hands of an experienced grenadier, the M79 could put out a steady stream of effective fire up to 200 meters.Ammunition
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 M203 cannot use.See also Survey of Modern US 40mm Grenades
Explosive
The M406 40 mm HE (high explosive) grenades fired from the M79 traveled at a muzzle velocity of 75 meters per second, and contained enough explosive to produce over 300 fragments that traveled at 1,524 meters per second within a lethal radius of 5 meters. This round incorporates a spin-activation safety feature which prevents the grenade from arming while still within range of the shooter, it arms itself after travelling a distance of about 30 meters. Even though the round will not arm at point blank ranges, the round still has enough kinetic energy to kill or seriously injure it's 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 dozens of small darts at once. Later in the war this was replaced by the M576 buckshot round. Containing twenty to twenty-seven #4 buckshot (depending upon the version), this round could be devastating at close ranges. However, it was much less impressive as the range increased.Non Lethal / Crowd Control
The M79 has been used extensively also for crowd control purposes (but typically not the M203 as most of these types of rounds won't fit the limited space of the breech break mechanism). The three common non lethal rounds are the CS gas M651, the Sponge Grenade (Rubber bullet) M1006, and the Crowd Dispersal (Non Shrapnel 12 mm Ball Bearing) M1029 rounds.
In popular culture
See also
- Grenade launcher
- M203 grenade launcher, the under barrel grenade launcher for the M16
- Mark 19 Grenade launcher
- RG6 6 Barrelled Grenade launcher
- Military technology and equipment
- List of firearms
- List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces
- List of crew served weapons of the US Armed Forces
- List of weapons of the U.S. Marine Corps
External links and sources
- [The Vietnam Database]
- [Hmong National Development, Inc.]
- [Martin's Vietnam War Articles]
- [Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide]
- [40 mm Low Velocity Grenades]
- US Army Field Manual 3-22.31 Appendix A
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