Grenade Launcher

[Lostinidaho]

Is this a bad idea?

A long time ago, I got the opportunity to shoot a M79 grenade launcher. Talk about fun. Blooping chalk round down range. Poof of chalk floating through the air. Laughing and giggling by all.

At last, such fun, is illegal to have; destructive device and AFT designated exploding round.

37mm flare launcher is a possibility except you can't shoot a projectile that hits the ground. Bird bangers and fireworks only. Another bummer.

So I have read and seen muzzle loading hand mortars. See link below.

http://www.veteranarms.com/ReproductionMuzzleloadersandFlintlocks/Hand-Mortar.html

Such a device could be a solution.

I was thinking. I have a underhammer H & A style muzzleloader. I have interchangeable barrels for it a .36 target and a 20 ga smooth bore. It is a hoot to shoot in either configuration. Its one of my favorite guns to shoot.

What about another configuration.

So here is my thought. Start with a short (4" to 6") .62 cal smooth bore barrel. Thread the muzzle and attach golf ball black powder motar barrel. So then you could bloop golf ball sized chalk rounds down range. It should be low pressure and light rounds.

I need to photoshop my thoughts.

Thoughts, ridicule, warnings?

[ascast]

could be fun

[CastingFool]

You're right, shooting the m79 is fun. Of course, I was shooting at a range.

[Nobade]

You just need one of those Brown Bess based grenade launchers. Short barrel, about 3 inch bore, flintlock, great entertainment.

[charlie b]

You are right. Big bore stuff is fun. I like larger canons myself. 105 and 120mm :)

A 'hand mortar' is doable. Just make sure you don't use much powder. Golf balls sound like fun. FYI Golf balls are ~43mm, close enough to the M79 :)

A friend (with a Class III license) had a canon that fired shot made with orange juice cans fill with cement. It was fun too.

[Lostinidaho]

Nobade...The flintlock ones do have a great historical look, but they are $700. I think I could get this done for less than $200.

[Texas by God]

Just saying- potato launchers are cheap to build & fun to shoot....

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[owejia]

Is this a bad idea?

A long time ago, I got the opportunity to shoot a M79 grenade launcher. Talk about fun. Blooping chalk round down range. Poof of chalk floating through the air. Laughing and giggling by all.

At last, such fun, is illegal to have; destructive device and AFT designated exploding round.

37mm flare launcher is a possibility except you can't shoot a projectile that hits the ground. Bird bangers and fireworks only. Another bummer.

So I have read and seen muzzle loading hand mortars. See link below.

http://www.veteranarms.com/ReproductionMuzzleloadersandFlintlocks/Hand-Mortar.html

Such a device could be a solution.

I was thinking. I have a underhammer H & A style muzzleloader. I have interchangeable barrels for it a .36 target and a 20 ga smooth bore. It is a hoot to shoot in either configuration. Its one of my favorite guns to shoot.

What about another configuration.

So here is my thought. Start with a short (4" to 6") .62 cal smooth bore barrel. Thread the muzzle and attach golf ball black powder motar barrel. So then you could bloop golf ball sized chalk rounds down range. It should be low pressure and light rounds.

I need to photoshop my thoughts.

Thoughts, ridicule, warnings?

See possibilities for a handgonne fuse type motar or a percussion cap hand motar, the hand motar in the link is pretty pricy. Bought a couple of unfinished brass motar castings a few years back that would be ideal candidates for this type project.

[toot]

and very illeagle to possess.

[toot]

I meant potato launchers.

[Jeff Michel]

I have an acquaintance that made and used potato guns. Made them out of schedule 40 PVC, solid, not foam core. Lost his thumb and index finger when one came apart. Always something to consider when you launching something other than a bullet out of a barrel. Dixie Gunworks offers cannons and mortars, no special license to own or operate. If your handy and have the equipment, making a small cannon, (I use a golf ball in mine.) is not overly expensive and is a fun project.

[cas]

I bought one of the Can Cannon AR uppers a few years ago. As soon as I saw a video of one I knew I had to have one. About a year later I bought one. It was the coolest, most amazing, most fun thing ever!... for about 15 minutes. Then it was like, "oh well, what do I do with it now?" I only used it that one time and sold it.


I've always wanted to build a BP golf ball gun. I know they sell cannons, but I want a rifle.

[Lostinidaho]

Owejia--could you post a picture of your castings. I have an idea what is required to get everything together, but I could be wrong.

[bpatterson84]

First off, the m79/203 aren't illegal, simply require a tax stamp. The best answer here is a can cannon, Ive strengthened my 223 blanks considerably and shot some interesting registered destructive devices for a friends youtube channel.

Wanna talk about a grenade launcher? Yea, we launched a life M26 frag grenade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTmRGlU6Xt8

Other fun stuff? How about a pipe bomb and a thermite grenade?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxxyuJRfvBE

[Bulldogger]

You guys are gonna get me in trouble with my wife... Just ordered the can launcher from F5 MFG. Updates10 will get you 10% off...

Maybe if we ALL get in trouble they won't punish me alone...

BDGR

[MrWolf]

You guys are gonna get me in trouble with my wife... Just ordered the can launcher from F5 MFG. Updates10 will get you 10% off...

Maybe if we ALL get in trouble they won't punish me alone...

BDGR

Do what I did and get a divorce! Hurts financially but much better on your well being :Fire:

[DanishM1Garand]

I want an M79. 5 grand and a tax stamp. It’s a bit steep but in the realm of possibility. Chalk rounds can be printed. As it’s a Destructive Device shotgun sub caliber rounds can be made and used. Wooden knee knockers would also be legal.

[Bulldogger]

Do what I did and get a divorce! Hurts financially but much better on your well being :Fire:

Her most likely complaint is that I only bought one, e.g. just for me. When we met online I was attracted well enough to her looks, but the action photos from the gun range she made sure to include sealed the deal.

BDGR

[MrWolf]

Okay she is a keeper then. Met mine online at Farmers Only she just her concealed carry a few days ago and said she wants to practice more when it gets warmer. Felt so proud :Fire:

[bedbugbilly]

I used to shoot N-SSA and we had two 10 pound Parrott Rifles (Civil War cannons - South Bend Replicas - one a rifle and one a smoothbore). We also had access to an original Civil War mortar with original balls - 10" IIRC. In motor competition, you would aim with the end result of driving a stake into the ground at a set distance. Not a "grenade launcher" but a lot of fun. I always thought it would be fun to have a smaller version of the motor with a bore that would shoot something that would be readily available - golf balls, juice cans filled with cement - something like that.

I would think that a replica of one of the original flintlock grenade launchers would be a lot of fun - golf balls, tennis balls, etc. I'm curious about the "chalk balls" that would show a puff on impact. How would you make them? I'm taking in regard to compressing the chalk in a mold of some type and keeping it all bound together so that it would hold together in flight and not separate on discharge?

Having H & R style under hammers myself - I would think would be fairly easy to max an launcher attachment for the action. I'm not advocating anything that is in violation of ATF rules - but the idea is an interesting one.

[Pressman]

A long time ago I and my crew IE: Higgins who was the loader and I figured out that the typical hand flare woulld drop into the barrel of the M-79, from the muzzle. This was great as it allowed nice, aimed fire for the flare rather than banging it against your hand or something hard and hope it went about where you wished it to go.
Thinking about this and disassembling a parachute flare we figured out that we could remove the parachute from the flare tube and replace it with a golf ball sized piece of C-4 explosive. I volunteered to fire the first example of our experiment. And it worked exactly as planned. The tube flew about 35/40 yards and the charge ignited. Cool. Except that it sounded nearly exactly like an incoming RPG and any infantry we had with us got really upset about this.

This is what happens when you have unstructured free time, guns and stuff that goes bang and American ingenuity.

Ken

[10-x]

Pressman, LOL, don’t ask about removing the parachute fromM127A1’s, had lots of fun in RVN with them. Here’s pic of M-79 in a bunker276126on other side of Hog. 79 flares were pretty good too , but hard to beat the HE round.

[BP Dave]

One of my best military range experiences was as an annual exercise evaluator with a Hawaii National Guard aviation unit in the mid-80's. They had a squad (might have been a platoon, but if so, most of them didn't come out for the training) of "Blues" (airmobile scouts) and I don't know how many years' worth of 37mm grenades they needed to use up in an afternoon. I suppose the ammo was about to expire or something, and as everybody knows, it is far easier to shoot it up than to turn it in. The firing line was a curved series of very shallow foxholes along the lip of a small volcanic crater (a "pu'u) in the Pohakaloa Training Area (miserable place for a grunt) on the Big Island. The target was a couple 55 gallon drums down in the bottom--probably filled with cement or lava rocks, because they didn't move much. The targets were far enough away to be safe, but not really all that far. The far edge of the impact area was a dirt road, and the grenades could easily go past that if you weren't careful.

We didn't have any chalk rounds--it was all HE--and anyone who wanted to shoot got to. I was surprised that most of the troops passed on the opportunity, but as an evaluator I felt that I should get close to the training and help them out.

Before shooting started everybody chose a foxhole and hauled their ammo (and their M203) to it. I don't remember how many rounds I fired--I feel like I started with 96, which was probably a multiple of so many bandoleers full--plus the extra rounds I scrounged from scouts who got tired of shooting. I gotta say, I never thought I would get bored shooting HE grenades, but I guess I kinda did to the point where I was trying different things. After some practice I got to where I could fire one round high trajectory, reload, and then fire a second round directly at the target so that they both impacted together. I never quite got it so they hit at exactly the same time (c'mon, I only had about 100 rounds to practice with), but I got some pretty satisfying double Wump!-Wumps! that were pretty darn close.

All in all a very satisfying day at the range.

[DanishM1Garand]

One of my best military range experiences was as an annual exercise evaluator with a Hawaii National Guard aviation unit in the mid-80's. They had a squad (might have been a platoon, but if so, most of them didn't come out for the training) of "Blues" (airmobile scouts) and I don't know how many years' worth of 37mm grenades they needed to use up in an afternoon. I suppose the ammo was about to expire or something, and as everybody knows, it is far easier to shoot it up than to turn it in. The firing line was a curved series of very shallow foxholes along the lip of a small volcanic crater (a "pu'u) in the Pohakaloa Training Area (miserable place for a grunt) on the Big Island. The target was a couple 55 gallon drums down in the bottom--probably filled with cement or lava rocks, because they didn't move much. The targets were far enough away to be safe, but not really all that far. The far edge of the impact area was a dirt road, and the grenades could easily go past that if you weren't careful.

We didn't have any chalk rounds--it was all HE--and anyone who wanted to shoot got to. I was surprised that most of the troops passed on the opportunity, but as an evaluator I felt that I should get close to the training and help them out.

Before shooting started everybody chose a foxhole and hauled their ammo (and their M203) to it. I don't remember how many rounds I fired--I feel like I started with 96, which was probably a multiple of so many bandoleers full--plus the extra rounds I scrounged from scouts who got tired of shooting. I gotta say, I never thought I would get bored shooting HE grenades, but I guess I kinda did to the point where I was trying different things. After some practice I got to where I could fire one round high trajectory, reload, and then fire a second round directly at the target so that they both impacted together. I never quite got it so they hit at exactly the same time (c'mon, I only had about 100 rounds to practice with), but I got some pretty satisfying double Wump!-Wumps! that were pretty darn close.

All in all a very satisfying day at the range.

That would be a fun day. We had a range in Guantanamo Bay that had a bunch of broken paving equipment. Road roller was at 600m. You could hit it with an M79 but not a 203. Must have been the sights.

[Garyshome]

276135

Looks good to me:redneck:

[ofitg]

I'm a little surprised that nobody has mentioned the spigot-type grenade launchers used on U.S. service rifles (before the M79 was introduced)......

[Lostinidaho]

My rifles are older than that rifle grenade era. Except my .22's

[ofitg]

I have seen photos of detachable cup-type launchers used on the Brown Bess muskets (might simplify things, instead of building the entire firearm) -

https://www.spandaumilitariashop.com/circa-1800-brown-bess-grenade-launcher-cup/

I am not aware of any original examples from the caplock era.

[Markopolo]

i wanna see a chalk round ??? anybody know how to make em?

[Lostinidaho]

Ofitg--Wow I had seen cup launchers for the British Enfield. You can still get them. I did not know that went back 100 years previous. That is close to what I was thinking about

Markopolo--I have seen chalk rounds made with plastic containers, like the plastic Easter eggs filled with colored powder. Mostly I have seen people use colored flour.

[ofitg]

Ofitg--Wow I had seen cup launchers for the British Enfield. You can still get them. I did not know that went back 100 years previous. That is close to what I was thinking about


If you already have a Brown Bess, this company (in Canada, I think) is advertising repro launchers -

https://www.pceleatherworks.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=206059540

[DanishM1Garand]

i wanna see a chalk round ??? anybody know how to make em?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4057559

[Lostinidaho]

Oftig Now there is a start

[cas]

Real 40mm practice chalk rounds have to match the weight more closely, so the base is a big heavy metal sucker. You can see it on the round on the left, but it goes up inside the nose another 3/4" inch or so, hollow spot in the middle.

https://photos.imageevent.com/cas6969/shmisc/websize/image_8.jpeg

[nightwolf1974]

I have seen photos of detachable cup-type launchers used on the Brown Bess muskets (might simplify things, instead of building the entire firearm) -

https://www.spandaumilitariashop.com/circa-1800-brown-bess-grenade-launcher-cup/

I am not aware of any original examples from the caplock era.

I'd be VERY reluctant to shoot one of those off!

[missionary5155]

Good morning The treadhead delight. Mini-Motars
Needed are one 50 BMG tracer round.
Pop the projectile off the case saving the powder. Track end connectors are hollow facilitating the removal operation.
Dump all the propellant from the case into some container.
Remove the copper foil at the bottom of the projectile to expose the "tracer compound".
Insert into the empty Caliber 50 case about a teaspoon of propellant.
Insert the tracer projectile base first into the case completely.
Refill the case with propellant to the top of the case.
Dig a hole about 1/2 case depth. Insert case mouth up at a slight angle downrange.
Light exposed powder (GI match, BIC lighter, cigar....) and step back a couple steps.
Takes about 10-15 seconds to burn the powder away to launch.

[nightwolf1974]

Sounds like the waste of a good .50BMG round to me.....

[Nobade]

If you already have a Brown Bess, this company (in Canada, I think) is advertising repro launchers -

https://www.pceleatherworks.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=206059540

Better hope you don't have a flash in the pan!
Good fun to train your bird dog with tennis balls though.