tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148808537727188049.post7912871813464106945..comments2023-08-02T01:07:55.877-07:00Comments on Kesler12: Grenades grenades grenades!kesler12http://www.blogger.com/profile/06730943788519488679noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148808537727188049.post-27354245980889059322013-01-29T21:17:45.932-08:002013-01-29T21:17:45.932-08:00Ah, you are right! Those are all very good designs...Ah, you are right! Those are all very good designs, too. A shame I failed to include them. But maybe they will get a chance to shine again... I'm planning to do a 2nd post on this subject in the future, which will also devote some attention to exotic munitions types (including some that only exist within my twisted imagination, like that aforementioned SACLOS grenade). The XM-109 is an arguable case, since it is far more a rifle than a grenade launcher. Speaking of which, I am really surprised their hasn't been a return to the rifle grenade as of late! There were guys from the pacific theatre of WW2 who figured out how to fire 60mm mortar rounds from their rifles, by modifying the projector adaption used to launch the old pineapples. IMHO, 50 caliber rifles that are doing ANYTHING besides dedicated counter-sniping should be equipped with these.<br /> <br />But I agree with your views on heckler & koch, that company is SO over rated. I blame the legions of idiotic COD players and their perpetual tacti-cool hard on. There needs to be more respect for the tried and true kalashnikov series, which has borne the brunt of so much fighting and hardship. If it wasn't for the lack of a bolt hold open feature, and the lacklustre accuracy, I would have rated the AK-47 as one of the top three infantry rifles in existence today, even after 65 years of development... Unfortunately, it loses its spot to the SCAR-H, HK 417, and magpul masada. XM8 gets an honourable mention too for its superb ergonomics.<br /> <br />Anyway, sorry to go off into a tangent about rifles. What were we talking about again? Oh right, grenade launchers. Metal storm is dragging out the implementation process for too long, my favored solution to this is the same as with the beyond-armor charge design of fosvarets fabriksverk: Invalidating the patent by appealing to the security concerns of NATO, so that it can be retrofitted to all HEAT rounds (not just their damned AT4s). To hell with intellectual copyright! And to be honest, I really don't see much role at all for the under barrel GL. The average grunt doesn't get much mileage out of them, and he would be better off shelving the extra weight, in favour of humping extra ammo belts for the sqaud machine gun. Also, rocket launchers cannot perform the counter defilade fire missions that these next-gen grenade launchers will be able to. I see them as a valid replacement for 2 inch commando mortars in that sense.kesler12https://www.blogger.com/profile/06730943788519488679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148808537727188049.post-2155846303031240752013-01-27T18:38:10.297-08:002013-01-27T18:38:10.297-08:00You omitted some other weapons with more than one ...You omitted some other weapons with more than one grenade capacity, such as the Russian 43 mm GM94, Russian 40 mm 6G30, Croatian 40 mm RBG-6, Bulgarian 40 mm Arsenal Avalanche and Bulgarian 40 mm Arcus 40 MGL.<br /><br />Milkor is the grenade launcher market's equivalent of HK and FN in terms of marketing, but it's not even remotely alone in the market.<br />There are also some small calibre grenade weapons which you omitted, for example Barrett's 25 mm payload rifle and the South Korean 20 mm Daewoo K11 DBW (a OICW lookalike).<br /><br />Regarding Metal Storm; in 2008 I met a Metalstorm representative in Paris and he announced live fire tests in fall 2008. I still didn't hear about them. Metalstorm has made headlines for almost a decade, yet delivered very little. My patience with them ran out.<br /><br />You discussed a wide range of multi-shot infantry grenade weapons, but somehow you mixed them all together. Some of them can be considered fire team level weapons (such as the Metalstorm UBGL and XM-25), others squad-level weapons (such as the Milkor thing) and others finally have such a huge range that it's a quite obvious idea to assign them directly to the control of a platoon leader (the Chinese 35 mm models). These weapons aren't really competing.<br />They do compete with single shot weapons, anti-personnel rounds for RPGs etc. and with rifle grenades, though.<br /><br />Armies with RPG-like weapons can make use of effective ~40 mm ammunition for these; fine range, no need for a dedicated grenade weapon (most recoilless infantry anti-tank are almost exclusively being used against hostile infantry anyway - this began with the original Bazooka and Panzerfaust 30 already).<br /><br />Single shot weapons (especially those compatible with 40x46 mm MV ammo) have a powerful weight argument in their favour; you can carry a dozen rounds for the weight you saved by going with a UBGL (such as a M203PI) instead of with a clumsy revolver MGL. The common ammo loadout of grenadiers with UBGls or stand-alone GLs is about 8-12 rounds in many armies.<br /><br />Rifle grenades are even more extreme; they turn every rifle into a grenade launcher and enable thus grenade salvoes. The RGs can have large calibres (up to 60 mm, significant for HEAT), can be used with standard ball cartridges (no slower readying for action than with a secondary stand-alone GL) and weapon weight is non-existing. Flip-up ladder sights can be mounted directly on AP or AT rifle grenades, while Illum or smoke RGs need none.S Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03359796414832859686noreply@blogger.com