Development
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, all infantry were issued with the Mk 2 fragmentation hand grenade. Owing to its hand-thrown nature it had limited range of 35 yards (32 meters) and could not be used against armored targets. To keep its weight down it had to have a small charge, with a fatality radius of just 6 yards (5.5 meters). For longer ranges rifle grenade attachments were available for the M1903 Springfield (M1 grenade launcher) and M1917 Enfield (M2 grenade launcher). These rifles were rare as they had been all but replaced by the M1 Garand by 1943. To rectify this, U.S. Army Ordnance designed a new launcher attachment for the M1 Garand, designated the M7, which could fire much heavier grenades up to 250 yards. M7 compatible fragmentation grenades had a fatality radius of 11 yards (10 meters). It entered production and service in 1943.
Read more about this topic: M7 Grenade Launcher
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