Rifle grenade

The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used during World War I and World War II and continues to the present, with the term "rifle grenade" now encompassing many different types of payloads including high explosive, fragmentation, anti-tank warheads, concussion, smoke, incendiary, and flare missiles.

[1] During the early 20th century a Japanese Colonel Amazawa experimented with rifle fired grenades during the Battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War, and the idea was further used by the Spanish, though the French were the first to put it to widespread use during the trench warfare of World War I.

[3][4] "A simple rod was attached to a specialized grenade, inserted into the barrel of a standard service rifle and launched using a blank cartridge.

"[4][3] The British did not immediately adopt the idea and entered World War I without any rifle grenades.

[6] The Hales grenade was improved throughout World War I to make it more reliable and easier to manufacture.

This led to the search for an alternative and resulted in the reappearance of the cup launcher during the latter years of World War I".

The bullet, after passing through the body of the grenade, struck a small plate that ignited the primer.

The rifle grenade was useful in offense, particularly in attacking sandbag fortified machine gun nests, as well as in defense.

Eight men armed with rifle grenades could fire 150 shots in a minute, providing a heavy barrage to break up an attacker's lines.

[7][8][9][10] Upon entering World War I, the United States attempted to adopt the V-B grenade, but this was not very successful.

The difference in bore diameter between the French and American service cartridges (8 mm (0.31 in) vs. 7.62 mm (0.300 in)) meant that the grenade had to be re-designed with a smaller hole, but even this was not sufficient to ensure reliable functioning, due to differences in bullet design.

[8] The next United States attempt at a rifle grenade was to return to and develop an improved rod-grenade.

Ordnance Department, used a long stem projecting from the rear of the grenade, which was slipped into the barrel of the Springfield 1903 rifle, and propelled with a special blank cartridge.

The stem was calibrated with a number of grooves and a split ring, which allowed the user to set the grenade to slide a certain distance into the muzzle of the rifle.

When the stem was inserted only part way, the chamber pressure upon firing was reduced, propelling the grenade a shorter distance.

[13] When fired, the bullet was trapped, the neck of the cartridge case expanded and the gases passed into launcher's barrel through four holes providing the energy needed to launch the grenade.

[13] After the grenade was launched, the chamber was opened, ejecting the spent cartridge case and making the bullet fall out.

The bolt-changing procedure could also result in lost rifle bolts in the heat of battle, putting the weapon out of action completely.

The cartridges are fired from the rifle and the wooden bullets are trapped by the tail-fin assemblies launching and arming the grenades.

The rifle grenade launcher could be used against infantry, fortifications and light armored vehicles up to a range of 280 m (306 yd).

In the years just before World War II, the United States adopted the spigot-type 22 mm rifle grenade launchers.

The Belgian ENERGA anti-tank rifle grenade design in particular was widely adopted by Western nations.

These post-war designs come in "standard" type which are propelled by a blank cartridge inserted into the chamber of the rifle.

For example, the MECAR rifle grenades are equipped with simple ballistic sights and have an effective range of 300 m (980 ft).

For example, a modern French AC58 "bullet trap" rifle grenade weighs 0.5 kg (1.1 lb), the equivalent of a loaded M16 STANAG magazine.

However, the need to load a blank cartridge into the rifle's chamber in order to launch the grenade proved to be clumsy in combat.

To use: During the Second World War, Nazi Germany developed and fielded a propaganda rifle grenade (Propaganda-Gewehrgranate).

These systems use a cup-type launcher attached to the muzzle of the gun to launch various less lethal grenade types.