Early examples of autonomous grenade launchers in the modern sense were rear-loading insurrectional guns designed to fire tear gas canisters and batons, such as the Federal Riot Gun developed in the 1930s. One of the first examples of a special rear-loading launcher for uniform explosive grenade shells was the M79 grenade launcher, a result of the US Special Purpose Individual Weapon program (in particular× the 40.46 mm grenade cartridge developed as part of the NIBLICK project[8], which uses the high-low system developed in Germany to generate manageable recoil). The goal of the M79 was to produce a device with a longer range than a rifle grenade, but more portable than a mortar. [9] These unique firing devices have been largely replaced by lower overflow grenade launchers in military service, eliminating the need for a special grenade with a special weapon. However, many modern grenade launchers under the barrel can also be used in standalone configurations with suitable accessories; This is especially preferred for groups using machine guns as the main armament, as it is rarely convenient to mount an underutilized launcher on such a weapon. One-shot launchers are also still widely used in anti-trouble operations. Most grenade launchers are flexible in terms of the types of ammunition they can use. In military use, the main type of ammunition for a grenade launcher is fragmentation projectiles, with the most common grenade cartridge used by NATO being the 40mm fragmentation grenade, which is effective against a variety of targets, including infantry and lightly armored vehicles. [22] The large size of the grenade launcher compared to a projectile also allows for payloads that require a considerable mass of chemicals, such as flares, incendiary grenades, gas grenades, and smoke grenades. [23] Law enforcement users typically use grenade launchers to fight riots to throw darkening smoke or tear gas.
Less lethal mass control munitions such as batons and sponge bullets are also available for such use. The system has some advantages: since it does not need to fit in the shutter of a weapon, the warhead can be made larger and more powerful compared to a uniform grenade shell, and the weight and maneuverability characteristics of the rifle are not affected as with underrun systems, unless a grenade is actually mounted. While older systems required the soldier to wear a separate adapter or cup to attach to the rifle to make it ready for launch (such as the German firing cup), later rifle grenades were often designed to be attached to the standard factory-mounted hiding place of the mother rifle; For example, the NATO-standardized 22mm rifle grenade can be mounted on most Western military rifles after World War 2 without the need for an adapter. An automatic grenade launcher or grenade machine gun[17] is a crew-operated support weapon that fires explosive projectiles in rapid succession from an ammunition belt or high-capacity magazine. Since most are heavy weapons, they are usually attached to a tripod or vehicle mount and are not only used to provide heavy suppressive fire in the manner of a heavy machine gun, but also have sufficient firepower to destroy vehicles and buildings. Examples are the Mk 19, AGS-17 and HK GMG. A new method of firing grenades was developed during the First World War and used during the Second World War. The principle was to use the soldier`s standard rifle as a spare mortar, mount a grenade (in many older cases, an infantry hand grenade) equipped with a propellant charge, use an adapter or casing at the mouth of the weapon or in a mounted launch cup, and usually shoot on the ground with the stem of the weapon. With older rifle grenades, detonating the cargo usually required loading the parent rifle with a special empty propellant cartridge, although modern rifle grenades can be fired with sharp cartridges using “bullet traps” and “shot through” systems.
[7] Grenade launchers can be mounted either as autonomous weapons (single shot or repetition) or as accessories to a parent weapon, usually a rifle.