New Marine Grenade Launchers Get Rave Reviews After Field Tests

westernjournal.com ^ | 3/15/2020 | Jack Davis

[marktwain]

Optical sights are available, the PSQ-1.

Surplus, they are only $249.99.

Another improvement over the M203 or M79.

[Big Red Badger]

APOCALYPSE NOW!
.
The Horror,,,

[zeugma]

Finally. The anti-squirrel weapon I’ve been looking for.

hahahahahahaha. Thread winner!

[MikelTackNailer]

...add a spin/rotation to the grenade. That would stabalize the round in flight and increase accuracy.

On a Reforger back in the 80's we had a Blazer go rolling down a huge hill sideways with a case of M203 grenades in the back. While the officers were measuring turds we just went and unloaded it - six rolls being nowhere near arming the damn things. Good times.

[Spktyr]

The Corps is actually ahead of the Army in finally adopting a replacement for the M16 that doesn’t have the stupid direct impingement/pistonless action. The Marines adopted the M27 as the new Infantry Automatic Rifle to replace the M249, and now they’re just rolling it out to everyone as replacements for the M16 in the regular infantry rifle and the DMR roles too. It is also replacing the M4A1 in Marine Corps service, being chosen to be the standard issue rifle for every 0311.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M27_Infantry_Automatic_Rifle

[Svartalfiar]

It appears to use iron sights. Could a shooter really put it through a window consistently at 150 meters as the article suggests?

It uses the same leaf sight from the older 203. Modified to mount differently, but the visual part is still the same. And yes, 150 meters is not much at all. Basic rifle qual goes out to 300m, and many shoot that with iron sights. Especially if you're in a stupid admin unit and your reddots don't work half the time.

My old Cav unit got several of these, 5-6 years ago. (And that's Guard, so big Army had them 4-5 years before that!) They're fun, we only got to shoot chalk rounds but not bad. It's real nice that they don't have to be attached to the rifle anymore, like the 203s. That really sucked.

[Svartalfiar]

On a Reforger back in the 80's we had a Blazer go rolling down a huge hill sideways with a case of M203 grenades in the back. While the officers were measuring turds we just went and unloaded it - six rolls being nowhere near arming the damn things. Good times.

The 40mm grenades have a complicated fuse system where you need both the firing force to move a pin, plus the rotational force to arm the grenade. A vehicle rollover almost definitely doesn't have the setback force on the pin (~250fps muzzle velocity), and the rolling isn't enough centripetal force to rotate the rotor ball into position to arm it. (3600 rpm, and about 10-50ft depending on ammo model.)

Granted a freak accident could occur, but chances are crazy high that that would not cause any of the round to go off.

[circlecity]

So, you just shoot a flat trajectory like a rife rather than volley it up and down?

[Svartalfiar]

So, you just shoot a flat trajectory like a rife rather than volley it up and down?

Eh, kind of. It's still a decently curved arc, but you're not aiming at the sky or anything. You still use the leaf sight + regular front sight post.

First picture is the best one I can find showing how tall the sight is compared to the rifle. Second is a diagram, looks like from the 203 TM or something.

[Svartalfiar]

Duh, not the 203 TM but the M79. The older grenade launcher, but the basic picture is still the same.

[MikelTackNailer]

Vehicle rollover almost definitely doesn't have the setback force on the pin (~250fps muzzle velocity), and the rolling isn't enough centripetal force to rotate the rotor ball into position to arm it. (3600 rpm, and about 10-50ft depending on ammo model.)

Too true - I had to help in the Armory quite often so I wasn't concerned. The butterbar we had just out of West Point didn't get the memo and provided laughter for weeks: "Set up a safety perimeter! Someone call in the Explosive Ordinance unit! Oh crap, is gasoline leaking?" Better safe than sorry actually wasn't wrong but it was hilarious.

It's real nice that they don't have to be attached to the rifle anymore, like the 203s. That really sucked.

I loved my M203. Gotta hustle and get your weapon out of a stack? Instantaneous. Gotta hump a pack? It tended lay flat and still so no bounce bruising. The added weight and large front grip improved my range score dramatically and going to grenade practice was too fun to get paid for. I sincerely hope the new system is an improvement and not a contractor enrichment thing. I'm still pissed about the Barretas.

[Redcitizen]

In Texas, that’s a 22LR sized derringer.

[Svartalfiar]

I loved my M203. Gotta hustle and get your weapon out of a stack? Instantaneous. Gotta hump a pack? It tended lay flat and still so no bounce bruising. The added weight and large front grip improved my range score dramatically and going to grenade practice was too fun to get paid for. I sincerely hope the new system is an improvement and not a contractor enrichment thing. I'm still pissed about the Barretas.

Yea, being in Cav we didn't really have a grenadier, so the 203s mostly sat in the vault til we got the 320s. They have the option of firing without being attached to your rifle, allowing for a lot more flexibility. And much easier to pass off when needed. They have a bigger chamber, so you can now use the longer 40mm grenades, as well as a couple new round models (airburst-capable, min-rocket, etc), though MK19 rounds are still too high-pressure to use in the 320, same as the 203s.

[Manly Warrior]

Old wives tales.

The number of revolutions is moot, it is the centripetal force generated by the rotational velocity that arms the fuze- think spring loaded pins with a locking mechanism, once the round is spun so fast, the pins slide outwards, lock and the fuzes FP is then free to strike the detonator upon impact.

37 rotations is a fairy tale. However, it indeed takes about 25 m worth of time/rotation to retract the safety pins and lock, so that is the “arming” distance”. Good thing, as the blast radius of the 40mm HE round ( used to be anyway) is 5 m, so you want the round to be friendlyy safe a bit downrange.

Specs on newer rounds may have changed since my time as a Grenadier.

Regarding putting a round through a window at 150m- even the old M203 with folding sights could get that done- if the gunner actually knew how to shoot- all of the fundamentals of marksmanship come to bear.

[Manly Warrior]

That’s an assumption not based on much of anything really important. DI vice off balance piston driven is a poor tradeoff. Look around at the rest of the AR world- indirect piston stuff is at its death knell. Offset torque eats BCGs and uppers , has poorer accuracy, kills free floated advantages (in mot all cases) and really does not solve any problems that are supposed to exist. The recent competitions for reliability and longevity still favor the original design- M4s still go 8500 rounds before failure ( for perspective, the venerable M14 was deigned to meet 1200 MRBF....) So, if one thinks that having a rifle that can realistically shoot 50+ mags of ball ammo before failing ( w/o maintenance of any type) then the AR15 sucks.
The boutique FNs and HKs all are gone from inventory- they didn’t meet the cut while the M16A4, M4s and Mk1XXXs all run and kill...

The M27 is yet to be really proven, God Bless the Marines.

[circlecity]

Great reply. Thanks, very informative. Now I want one, LOL.

[MikelTackNailer]

You can now use the longer 40mm grenades, as well as a couple new round models (airburst-capable, min-rocket, etc), though MK19 rounds are still too high-pressure to use in the 320, same as the 203s.

Yup. At grenade range one boy stumbled a little and went too high - so landed too close. That's one way to solve constipation.

37 rotations is a fairy tale. However, it indeed takes about 25 m worth of time/rotation to retract the safety pins and lock, so that is the “arming” distance”. Good thing, as the blast radius of the 40mm HE round ( used to be anyway) is 5 m

Thanks. That and your technical description was far better than my Armorers understanding. But he had a little too much fun in his downtime hence me being sent down to help. "You're ahead, go play with the toys" Yes sir, no problem sir.

Recent competitions for reliability and longevity still favor the original design- M4s still go 8500 rounds before failure...The boutique FNs and HKs all are gone from inventory- they didn’t meet the cut while the M16A4, M4s and Mk1XXXs all run and kill...

God watch over Eugene Stoner in your care as he helped remove far more evil heathens from this world than would have otherwise been possible. Amen.