M79 Grenade Launcher

What is the M79?

The M79 launcher is a single-shotshoulder-fired break-action grenade launcher which uses what the US Army calls the High-Low Propulsion System to ensure that recoil forces are kept low and was first introduced in the Vietnam War. Because of its distinctive report and distinctive report, it has earned name for killing communists; Austrian troops call it the "Womby Gat". The M79 can shoot a broad range of 40mm rounds, which include explosives, anti-personnel, smoke, flechette, buckshot (pointed steel projectiles sporting vaned tails for stability in flight) as well as lighting. Though it has been replaced largely by the M203 and M203A, the M79 remains in service in many units worldwide in niche roles.

The M79 was a product of the US Army's Project Niblick, an attempt to improve the power of the infantryman with an explosive projectile that is more accurate that had a longer range than rifle grenades and more easily transportable than a mortar. Project Niblick created the 40x46mm gun, but it was not able to design a suitable launcher to fire more than a single shot. One of the launchers that was manufactured American soldiers who called it "the artillery for the platoon commander". Certain soldiers would cut off the stock and barrel to make the M79 to be more transportable.

M79 Grenadiers that were assigned to major Army divisions first came to see combat with the troops in Vietnam in 1965, including that M79s were part of the specialist 4 Grenadier unit an individual leader of the squad. The Marines have assigned one grenadier for their three-fire team 14-man rifle squad.

From Vietnam to Iraq

But its single-shot design was a major disadvantage. Reloading every shot was a sign of a slow rate of fire and inability to keep the constant flow of fire during a war. This resulted in the Navy to develop The China Lake Grenade Launcher, which was produced for deployed SEAL Teams. For close-in encounters the minimum arming distance (the round travels 30m before arming itself) in addition to the blast radius, that a soldier had to shoot his .45 caliber. (11.43 millimeters) pistol or shoot and hope that the grenade acted as an enormous slow bullet. Special grenades meant for close-in battle were created to compensate, however, soldiers were not always able to load one during the heat of battle. Moreover, its size meant that a grenadier equipped with the M79 was not able to carry a rifle. He had only a sidearm that could be used in a gunfight after using his grenades.

Launchers for grenades underbarrel, like those like the XM148 or the M203 made to function as attachments for M16 rifles. M16 firearm, created during the Vietnam War, allowing the grenadier to also be the rifleman. The XM148 was plagued by problems and the project was eventually abandoned. The M203 was a great success, and was standardized in 1969. It was replacing the M79 at the close of the war. M79s were still used for Reserve and National Guard units.
A few US Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces in Iraq have been seen with the M79 in recent times due to its higher precision and range in comparison in comparison to M203 (350 metres of effective versus 150 meters of effective). The M79 has seen limited use in Operation Iraqi Freedom, such in the clearing of IEDs. The grenade launcher also sees continued use in the context of a specific mission with Special Warfare combatant craft crewmen.

Visually, the M79 grenade launcher looks like one of the larger bores, break-action shotgun that has been sawed off, and is simple to build, having only five major components: a group of receivers with a fore-end, barrel group, sight assembly, and the stock. The fore-end assemblies connect the barrel on top of the receiver. The stock is made out of either fiberglass or wood. On the rear, sight M79 is a folding ladder-style leaf sight. If folded down, the leaf sight acts as an unmovable sight when at close range. A grenadier can simply point and shoot with high precision. If the leaf is opened, the sight can be adjusted to areas ranging from 75 to 375 meters, in increments of 25 meters. Furthermore, Appendix B of the U.S. Army field manual for the M203 provides instructions for attaching the M16 rifle sight to the M79's stock and marking the sling for indirect fire at higher elevations than 40.

Although they aren't the manufacturers for the M79, Milcor and Denel Mechem from South Africa do re-manufacture M-79 launchers for grenades to modern standards. It replaces the optical sight on their leaf with an electronic one and substitute the wooden stock with a modified R-4/R-5 stock.

How the M79 Works

The M79 is simple to use. To load, the grenadier pulls the latch that locks the barrel on the group that holds the receiver right. Gravity will pull down the barrel, releasing the action and exposing the breech. The hammer is cocked when the breech has been opened. A round then can be loaded. The break mechanism must be manually closed. The safety should then be in a forward position in order to set the weapon for firing.

Many different ammunition types were developed specifically for M79 (and in turn in the M203). Apart from the light and smoke rounds, three types of ammunition emerge that are explosive, close-range and non-lethal crowd control. The break-open action of the M79 permits it to use longer rounds that the standard M203 cannot be used without trouble.

The M406 40 mm high explosive (high explosive) weapons fired from the M79 move at a muzzle velocity in the range of 75 meters per minute. This round of the M406 contained enough explosive to explode into over 300 fragments that travel at an average speed of 1,524 meters second, within a lethal distance of 5 meters. The round came with the safety feature known as spin-activation, which keeps the grenade inactive when between 14 and 27 meters was not able to generate enough power to kill, even though it did occasionally enter the abdomen, or caused massive hemorrhagic scars.

For close range fighting Two types of M79 round were designed. The first was a flychette or Bee Hive round (so named due to the sound the flechettes made while in flight) that fired 45 10-grain steel flechettes. Flechettes did not work since they did not always hit point-first and penetrate. Instead, they would bounce off sideways before hitting the target and then bounce off. In 1966, the round was replaced by the M576 buckshot round. With twenty 24-grain metallic pellets (M576E1) or twenty-seven 24 gram steel pellets (M576E2) The shot could be deadly when fired at close distances. M576E1 due to the fact that the shot spreads out more quickly and could completely miss the target.

The three common less-lethal rounds include the M651 gas with CS along with M1006 grenade, also known as 'the Thumper is one-shot grenade launcher which dates back to the Vietnam war era. Despite its time, the M79 still occasionally used in the field, notably used by U.S. special operations forces (SOF).

Best Uses of the M79 in Combat

The M79 was said to have been favored by some operators over the M203 underslung launchers then popularly used. Because of its longer barrel it was believed that the M79 was thought to be more powerful and had better precision over the M203. For some, using the grenade launcher separate weapon was preferred over having it integrated into the primary weapon. The M203 added the weight and bulk of their rifle, and it was actually not any faster to switch from it to an M203 then it took to switch to an M79. The M79's break-open mechanism also permits more 40mm-long rounds fired in comparison to the M203.

A more current stand-alone launcher, the M320 (in unmounted configuration) is now available in U.S. service but has some teething issues.

The M79 can shoot several rounds

M406 High-Explosive round (H-E)
M433 High-Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP)
M576 Buckshot
M670 Smoke Canopy
M585 White Star Cluster
M651 Tactical CS Grenade

'SEAL Team 6', are famous for their variant of an M79 known as the 'Pirate Gun.' With its sawn-off butt-stock, short barrel and reflex sight the weapon certainly resembles an flintlock gun used by pirates.

US Army decided regular rifle grenades weren't adequate for general-purpose fire support, with these ammunitions were very slow and cumbersome to throw. This created a large and very risky gap between the most extensive distance at which an average soldier was required to throw a grenade, as well as the minimum effective range of the most compact mortars. In order to close the gap the Army started "Project Niblick" to develop a replacement. In 1952 Project Niblick had determined that a 40-mm spherical projectile that had explosive charges was the best choice for the task. The tests, however, ultimately showed that a cylindrical 40mm projectile with an rounded nose was the best choice. it had better ballistics and was able to hold greater quantities of explosives. It was also established that in order for the 40 mm weapons, they would need to be fired using a single cartridge using a low-pressure charge. A low-speed casing of 46 mm in length was created for launchers that could be carried by a person, and a 52 mm long casing was designed to launch grenades using mounted weapons.

Then they had the low-velocity 40x46 mm grenade and the US Army needed a weapon to fire it. The Army requested Springfield Armory to devise such weapons in 1953, they first presented the T148 grenade launcher (not not to be mistaken for the XM148 which was a later weapon with a very different design). The T148 was an "harmonica" type magazine that had three rounds of capacity, but did not work in the tests, leading to its rejection. Springfield came out with the S-3, which was derived from the T148 itself, however it used a break-action load systemsimilar to that used in numerous shotguns. The S-3 proved to be efficient, and was later refined into the S-5 that finally won the hearts of the Army. Following the addition of a new sighting system, the Army acquired several S-5s in the latter half of 1950 for testing and evaluation. They also type-classified that weapon under the designation "XM79". We were pleased with the capabilities that the gun provided, it was officially accepted as the official weapon of the Army on the 15th of December, 1960 as the M79 which was followed by large-scale deliveries that began in the following year.

Workhorse of the U.S. Military

The M79 looks like a sawed-off shotgun, thanks to its break-action system with an inverted rifle-style buttstock, foregrip, as well as wooden furniture. Without a sling, the M79 consists of 4 subassemblies; the barrel, foregrip and receiver as well as the buttstock.

To use the M79, the operator must first secure the weapon, then press the locking latch of the barrel all down to the left side. This can "break" the gun, allowing it to open to allow the chamber is accessible. When the barrel is opened, it automatically locks the weapon. If there's a casing that is empty (or an unfired round, maybe a shite) in the chamber the shooter must pull it out by hand, as the gun doesn't have an automated extraction mechanism. After loading with a new cartridge as much into it, the barrel must get back to firing location, that not only completes the chambering process but also secures the barrel in its place. The weapon in this state is loaded and ready for firing, and when the user is ready to do so then the fire selector needs to switch to change the fire selector from "safe" and change it to "fire".

The gun can be fired from any location where a rifle or shotgun would be fired. From kneeling or prone locations, it can also be fired at high levels with the buttplate set on the ground, similar to like mortars. But, the operator should also be mindful when firing at flat trajectories in view of the explosives drop very quickly in a flat trajectory, compared to a regular bullet; targeting a flat trajectory against a target which is low and near can drop a grenade a short distance, close enough so that the operator is probably inside the radius of casualties!

There can also possible to fire the M79 by hand, much as the pistol (in fact, their stocks have sometimes been cut to speed up the draw) due to their light weight and soft recoil. However, this also creates the gun more difficult to aim.

Each grenade with a size of 40x46mm has fuses that activate at or beyond 30 meters, as a safety precaution; as such, the grenadier who is armed with an M79 and facing close targets will either have to utilize a buckshot, or canister round to directly strike the soldier in front with a grenade switch to another weapon. When fired at a distance, the M79 is distinguished by its muzzle sound that is similar to the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle. because of this, it gained the acclaim from "Blooper" or "Thumper".

The sights are comprised of a front blade and a rear leaf, when the ladder sight is raised. The ladder sight is required for precise medium or long-range shooting. when raised, it turns into the weapon's back sight. The sight ladder works in ranges ranging from 75m to 375 m, in increments of 25 meters. However, experienced shooters often opt not to utilize the ladder sight, as the time required to raise it and take aim "by by the rules" often isn't available in the midst of the firefight.

There are numerous different kinds of 40 mm grenades , which can be launched out of the M79.

The M381 can be described as an HE (High Exlosive) round that weighs 0.23 kg and comprising 32 grams from Composition B. Its maximum range of 400m, arms at a range of 8 meters, five-meter lethal distance millimeters, and a fatality radius of 130 meters. Early M381s sometimes armed earlier in flight than they were designed to, resulting in grave injuries to the pilot and the other passengers when discharges were accidental, that is a substitute for the M381 round in HE. RDX explosive, and 4.54 g for inert yellow pigment. It produces an intense yellow cloud of smoke on its impact. Although this charge appears very insignificant, it's classified as having a potential danger range of 20 meters for range safety reasons.

Specialty Ammo and More

The M406 is yet another HE round, with basically the same explosives, weight, and ballistic capabilities as the M381, but also featuring a round is a shaped munition that has an armor penetration capability and additional fragmentation effects that allow it to be used more effectively against structures and vehicles. It can be fired mid-air with ranges of between 14 m and 27 m. It is effective to a distance of 400 m. The M433 has an 0.23 kg projectile containing 45 g Composition A as well as the lethal range of 5 metres, an incapacitation radius of 15 m, and a casualty radius of 130 m. The penetrator created by the charge's shape will go through will also quickly make a loophole wide enough to allow a rifle to penetrate the walls of the majority of structures.

The M576 Buckshot round is a fascinating one as loading it will turn the shotgun-like M79 into a real shotgun. It is a direct-fire only round, and must be placed on a flat trajectory. It can fire twenty-four grams of metal buckshot pellets at 269 m/sec, out to the effective distance of 30 meters. The result is equivalent to an very big buckshot round that is why this shotgun is best used in closed terrain and confined zones. Field manuals suggest that the M576 must be pointed toward the front of the target. This is since the sights on the M79 don't operate like the sights on a genuine shotgun.

The M662 is an illumination roundthat is visible for a distance of nearly 5 km. It also appears from an altitude of close to 1 km. It consists of the 0.22 kg projectile, which is accompanied by an 85-gram illumination candle. The top of the projectile's arc a parachute opens and slows down its descent as the candle gets lit and burns brightly in an intense red hue. The flame can last up to 40 seconds, with a maximum intensity of 20 000 candlepower.

The M992 Infrared Illumination round functions similar to the M662 however it emits infrared light. The weight is 0.22 kg and comes with a 50 g illumination candle. It operates the same way as the M662, however it appears very dim at a glance like an ember or a lit cigarette. However, through night vision optics equipped with infrared imaging capabilities it appears to glow almost the same as day. Naturally, this is a highly valuable tool in the face of enemies with very little or no night-vision capability.

Its M531 is a less-lethal crowd control weapon that releases tear gas. It weighs 0.29 kg , and the projectile contains weight of 57 grams of Agent CS, including a combination of pyrotechnics. On impact the projectile creates a billowing puff that is filled with CS gas for as long as 25 seconds. It is capable of absorbing an area of 120 square meters. CS is a powerful eye and lung irritation However, it isn't risky.

It is also a less-lethal round. M1006 is also a less-lethal round, which shoots a projectile made of rubber. The force of impact is strong enough to disarm or arouse an offender, but usually not enough to cause serious harm or death. The projectile is effective up to 50 m but the training manuals prohibit the shooter from firing the projectile at people within 10 m, because even with a light projectile there is the possibility of fatal injuries at this range.

The M1029 is a different round that is less deadly packed with 48 hard rubber .48 calibre balls. It can be used to target one offenders, similar to the M1006 however it is also effective against crowds. It's most effective at 15 to 30 meters and has an effective range of up to 100 meters. However, as with the M1006, training manuals forbid the shooter to fire the M1029 on people within 10 m or so, and the projectiles may well mimic more of the effects of buckshot, rather than their dispersion.

The first combat use of M79 in combat M79 occurred at the time of the Vietnam War. While so many other new US weapons were not as effective during this conflict (the M16 and M60 in particular) The M79 proved to be extremely robust, deadly, and effective. It also offered US and South Vietnamese (ARVN) soldiers with a superior level of firepower in the face of an enemy who relied on commando mortars, rifle grenades, recoilless riles and rocket launchers as their fire support equipment that proved to be cumbersome in the thick jungles and forests of Vietnam. This makes it possible to make the M79 one in the list of most powerful and efficient weapons for and by the ARVN along with its allies and it was highly regarded. It was this accomplishment over all other factors that confirmed the modern grenade launcher as an item that was sought-after by nearly every military force around the world.

The M79 was produced from the year 1961 to 1971, with over 350 000 units produced. This also doesn't include production of the M79 outside of the United States, where it continued to be manufactured much longer.

It is possibly the most effective launcher of grenades in history, the M79 has been utilized by numerous nations. It is used by Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, Vietnam, and Yemen. It is also employed by numerous non-state organizations, including the Kurdish Peshmerga.

A small number of M79s are still in the US inventory, having been mostly discarded in favor of the M203. However, they are still occasionally issued. Several incidents that have arisen in the last wars where United States have been evolved, have forced the return of numerous M79s to front-line service that had have been sat in the back of armories and warehouses. Even after the introduction of repeated grenade launchers, such as those of the MGL and the MGL, the M79 is believed to have the habit of finding its way into firefights all over the globe.

Therefore, it is likely that , despite its age it will be expected that the M79 will continue to be in service for the foreseeable future.

Developed in the early 1960s in the early 1960s, the M79 grenade launcher came into use during the Vietnam War - and for those who carried the weapon, it was either instant affection or an unending hatred.

The weapon was easy the size of a 40mm grenade. It was equipped with the "high-low propulsion" launcher system that minimized recoil but allowed shooters to shoot an grenade up to 400 yards, which was much higher than the distance a hand grenade could throw. The barrel with a rifle gave that round the right spin that also ensured accuracy.

The M79 extended it's "reach" of the infantryman, which increased the effectiveness of the maximum distance of a hand grenade as well as the minimal range of mortar. It was more accurate and had a greater distance than rifle grenades and could also shoot grenades with 2.5 ounces of tear gas, high explosives smokes, or pellets. The non-lethal crowd controls "rubber bullets' as well as CS gas grenades were later designed for use in conjunction with the M79.

In Country

In in the Vietnam War, the weapon was often utilized for U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Marines at targets of 150-300 yards away. It also was effective on Viet Cong bunkers or other defensive positions. A skilled shooter was able to hit a target of the size of a man at a range of 150 yards. While it was intended to be an arm-fired weapon that could be used for direct fire, the M79 also was effective for indirect fire. In this case, the shooter placed the buttstock on the ground and fired it like an actual mortar.

If when the M79 was fired, it generated an unmistakable sound that resulted in its many nicknames including the main drawback to it was its rounds must travel approximately 40 yards before being armed, this meant that soldiers who carried the M79 had to have a back-up weapon and in Vietnam this was typically the use of a sidearm. Additionally, it was only a single shot weapon, and needed to be reloaded manually, which limited its rate of fire and its capacity to keep a constant amount of fire during combat.

M79 was replaced by the M79 was replaced with the M203 underslung launcher that was mounted on the standard M16 rifle in the year 1971. The M79 gained popularity during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where it was used to assist in the elimination of IEDs that were improvised (IEDs).