Multi-caliber Grenade Launchers
As one of the earliest barrel-mounted grenade launchers reaching mass production, the M203 has a major problem: it cannot be loaded with high-powered or specialized grenades, such as Milkor ERLP or 40×53mm grenades, because of its slide-locking barrel. The manufacturers working on replacements of the M203 had to come up with new ideas so this would be possible with new issued grenade launchers. This resulted in two innovative designs, like the side-loading M320 grenade launcher and the FN SCAR's Mk13 Mod0 EGLM. The EGLM is innovative, as it opens like the M203 but the barrel can also be pivoted right or left, allowing left and right-handed shooters to load it quickly with any ammunition they want. The HK AG36 launcher has a similar setup where the barrel turns so that the breech is facing the user.
Read more about this topic: 40mm Grenade
Famous quotes containing the word grenade:
“Suddenly he found he had pressed the spring of the grenade. He struggled to pull it out of his pocket. It stuck in the narrow pocket. His arm and his cold fingers that clutched the grenade seemed paralyzed. Then a warm joy went through him. He had thrown it.
Anderson was standing up, swaying backwards and forwards. The explosion made the woods quake.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)