Talk to me about muzzle-mounted rifle grenade launchers. Ive

US troops liked the min WW2

>>34418700
All of the rifle grenades in current production are "bullet trap" grenades and can be used with live rifle rounds.

99% of all rifle grenades from the middle of WW2 on have been bullet trap style.

File: m7gl.jpg (92KB, 780x491px) Image search: [Google]

92KB, 780x491px

>>34418700
>How were they utilized?
Like any other grenade launcher. It throws explosives further than you can, which is really handy in a wide variety of situations.

Pic related, GI strapped a 60mm mortar onto an M7 launcher for more stoppan powa.

>>34418700
You're right, you should use regular rounds anon.

File: Band-of--Brothers-001.jpg (37KB, 460x276px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 460x276px

>>34418797
I meant my question in conjunction with the blank cartridge (mis)information.
As in, a platoon attacking a position, where a couple of guys would have launchers mounted and blanks loaded, just shelling the shit out of the target before their buddies would rush and take over the remains.

>>34418869
They used launching cartridges, which are like blanks but have a bit more kick to them. The M7 in particular had a pin in in that depressed a piston in the gas block that disabled the gas system. That was done in order to prevent damage from happening the rifle.

>where a couple of guys would have launchers mounted and blanks loaded, just shelling the shit out of the target before their buddies would rush and take over the remains
That is a possibility. Or if a platoon was defending a position they had the capability to throw high explosives at an attacking force. It gave more firepower to a squad, the use of it is only limited by the ingenuity of the user or his leader. They made a wide variety of rounds for them, like HE, HEAT, or frag, that gave a squad more available firepower. The same reason we issue grenade launchers.

I've heard stories, I can't confirm if they are true or not, of guys getting really good with them and were able to send ordinance into windows and doors from a good distance.

>>34418700
>Ive read somewhere you had to use blanks to fire them, wouldnt that make them highly impractical in combat?
Sort of, you'd empty your chamber and load a launching blank, then if it was a gas-operated automatic, some of them would have a shutoff valve so all the gas is used to launch the grenade and so you don't have this sudden force battering the action by opening it absurdly fast.
Some early bolt action rifles had magazine cutoffs (the original idea of them was to stop grunts from wasting ammo, but that was old faggot brass bullshit), so I suppose you could block off the magazine and then single load blanks and grenades if you wanted to shoot many at a time.

Anyway, yes, it was kind of a clumsy system, but it also allowed a soldier to chuck a grenade at really far distances, once people really got the hang of designs and their use, it was seen as worth the effort.
In WW2, some American soldiers would actually get a feel for the maximum range of the issued grenade and make sure to aim it and fire it in a way so it would reach it's target just as the fuze set it off, creating an improvised airburst explosion. Not everyone did this, but it's been recorded.

There were modern grenades which had a bullet trap, allowing you to fire them with a live cartridge, but by the time this came around, underbarrel breech-loaded grenade launchers such as the M203 was in vogue, and it was generally thought the added weight of this kind of unit was well worth the practical and tactical advantages it would bring over muzzle grenades, which were more of a clever improvisation than anything.
You could also share your 40mm grenades with the guy carrying the M79 launcher, or bettet yet, give him an M16 with an M203, so now he's both a rifleman and a grenadier, he's not standing with his dick in his hand if he's caught at too close of a range or for whatever other reasons can't use grenades.

>>34419043
I remember Ian doing a video on some SMLE from WWI or maybe WWII which had been wrapped in copper wire and was supposed to be a dedicated grenade rifle or something. I'm not familiar with all the enfield family so I don't remember what type, but he said in the video they did this because launching rifle grenades was really rough on the rifle and it tended to split the stocks and shit if they weren't wrapped. But, I've never seen any other rifle wrapped in such a manner. Was this just a design issue in the SMLE, or was Britain using rifle grenades more than other nations and thus ran into this issue more often?

I think Ian said in the same video that France in particular really like rifle grenades for whatever reason, so did they design their service rifles from the beginning to be able to fire a lot of grenades without falling apart, or did they have a system like Britain did?

>>34418700
The rifle grenade device came with a blank cartridge or two, the soldier would empty his chamber, load the blank, fix the rifle grenade, and fire. Semi-automatics required a gas shutoff to prevent the bolt from cycling, several of them with integral launchers were set up such that flipping up the grenade sights turned off the gas. Rifle grenades should not be shoulder-fired as the impulse is quite high.

I dream of a pistol grenade, but as many autoloading pistols are recoil operated that wouldn't work very well. Perhaps a nagant revolver, with its sealed chamber, could be modified for this purpose.

>>34418762
Are bullet traps gay?

Many of the older rifle grenade setups like the one on the Yugo SKS required blanks. The Yugos gave a bunch of those to the nigs in Rhodesia and there are stories of them trying to use rifle grenades with live rounds. Supposedly there would be nothing left of them but their shoes when the did that.

>>34420953
>pistol grenade
there was a german design, I don't remember the name but it exists anon

>>34420953
>Rifle grenades should not be shoulder-fired as the impulse is quite high.

The photos I've seen of them being used, the M1's buttstock was put on the ground and the rifle angled toward the target and fired kind of like an improvised mortar.

Your comment reminds me of those Japanese "knee mortars" that some GIs would take literally and brace the baseplate against their thigh, resulting in a broken femur....

http://www.guns.com/2012/10/31/japanese-type-89-knee-mortar/

File: vZn69tG.jpg (59KB, 800x533px) Image search: [Google]

59KB, 800x533px

>>34418700
Not just blanks, special purpose rounds. They were extensively used by all sides during WW2 and after. They were your best option to launch all sorts of grenades farther than your arms could until the invention of the dedicated grenade launchers. Some guys got really good at using them and could aim them to get them to explode in an air-burst over enemy position.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=161JT0WRVf4

I don't know about know but a few years ago infantry was still trained in using them in basic training.