3/5/2023 0 Comments M203 grenade launcherA short-range weapon, it was often fired on a ballistic trajectory to hit targets at longer ranges. The M203 had a separate trigger that launched the grenade, and a AAI-designed sight that worked with the M16 front sight post to aim the weapon. Pulling the handguard back cocked the weapon, and it was now ready to fire. The grenade launcher was loaded by pushing the barrel forward and inserting a 40-millimeter grenade into the breech. The XM203-later M203-was a pump-action weapon that secured itself to a M16A1 rifle by way of a distinctive metal shroud that fit over the existing rifle handgun. The XM203 could also use M79 rounds, saving the military the hassle of developing and deploying new grenades. The XM203 handily won the competition based on “superior performance and lower cost” and was selected for adoption. The weapon, known as the XM203, went up against larger, more complicated designs by the Aero-Jet Corporation, the Aeronutronics Division of Philco-Ford, and again, Colt. AAI Corporation, formerly Aircraft Armaments Incorporated, had developed a 40-millimeter pump-action grenade launcher not designed for the M16 but which could be adapted for the role. The return of the M7 didn’t mean the service’s quest for an under-barrel grenade launcher was over, however. While a useful weapon, a squad or platoon issued such a weapon would lose the grenadier as a rifleman, and the grenadier usually only carried an M1911A1 handgun as a sidearm. The M79 proved a valuable weapon during the Vietnam War and validated the concept of the grenade launcher. The new M79 effectively gave platoons and squads their own handheld artillery, capable of lobbing explosive rounds far in excess of traditional hand-thrown grenade range. weapons such as the new M-14 started to lose effectiveness. A single shot weapon that resembled an oversized break-open shotgun, the M79 could lob a 40-millimeter high explosive grenade up to 350 meters, or about where U.S. One of the new weapons designed to boost infantry firepower was the M79 grenade launcher. Passed over for updates as the service prepared for nuclear warfare, it gradually became exceedingly obvious that the M-1 Garand and other small arms left over from World War II were painfully obsolete, especially in light of Communist Bloc armaments such as the AK-47. Army overhauled its infantry weapon arsenal. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the U.S. The weapon, introduced in the waning days of the Vietnam War, is only now being replaced by a new, similar one. The M203 grenade launcher gave soldiers unprecedented grenade range in a compact, durable package. Army and Marine Corps infantry is a grenade launcher designed to fit underneath the M16 rifle. One of the most powerful weapons available to U.S.
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