

This weapon is based on movies using a “Street Sweeper” revover-action shotgun as a stand-in for a Revolver-Action Grenade Launcher. This suggests a lighter, smaller repeating grenade launcher. It could semi-credibly fire 20mm grenades. The huge Hawk MM-1 launcher (about 10 kilos loaded) and the more useable M32 Milkor multiple grenade launcher are two common fictional examples in this category. The ammo score in the DCH stats above is just the average between these two models (12 and 6 respectively). In most cases, this design is used for law-enforcement weapons allowing an officer to quickly saturate an area with tear gas. There exist military models that shoot shoot any sort of 40mm grenade, however – and this is what this category is about.ĭCH RA Grenade Launcher.
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Having those work like a giant revolver with grenades instead of bullets was the simplest, most pragmatic design choice. It results in a menacing, powerful, heavy appearance. These are grenade launchers carrying a bunch of grenades, rather than the one projectile loaded in a rifle-like grenade launcher or an under-barrel grenade launcher.

The best example may be the Istec ISL 201, which might be the inspiration for the grenade launcher featured in the classic Half-Life video game. Here is a photo of a MP5 with a M203PI launcher – note the gadget prolonging the barrel so the launcher can be mounted (photo from manufacturer RM Equipment ).Ĭompact Single-Shot Underbarrel Grenade LauncherĪ variant of the above, intended to be mounted under a submachinegun (usually a H&K MP5). It is more compact and lighter than mounting an underslung grenade launcher intended for rifles and carbines.ĭCH Compact SSUB Grenade Launcher. Though these weapons chiefly exist for assault rifles and carbines, they can be mounted on submachineguns. This usually means a H&K MP5, for which an impressive number of tactical accessories exists. īelow is a M16 rifle equipped with a M203 under-barrel launcher. This is the standard US military rig for a grenadier. These replaced the launchers just above. During long-range patrols, special operations and the like the troopers needed both an assault rifle and a grenade launcher, but carrying two rifles in the field is only convenient in video games. Eventually, a launcher that could be affixed to a rifle (and fired without switching weapons) was developed.Ī launcher can fire most standard grenades. In game terms the launcher only launches and the effects are determined by the grenade. Though launchers can be used for mortar-like ballistic fire, this is seldom if ever demonstrated in fiction where all shots are direct fire.ĭCH SSUB Grenade Launcher. The perennial exemplar in this category is the aforementioned break-open M79, often called a “blooper” or “bloop gun”. Such weapons are now obsolete for military purposes. They’ve mostly been replaced by the under-barrel launchers described below. However they look like extra-large shotguns, use a huge ammunition, and the break-open action of the M79 can look loud and impressive on the screen or the comic book page.Ĭombined with the endless variety of speciality grenades, these weapons certainly retain a place in fiction.ĭCH SSRLGL. While grenades are an important weapon in infantry combat - particularly in difficult conditions such as urban assault - a good throwing arm can only go so far. Rifle-like grenade launchers like the M79 were thus developed. They shoot further, can do indirect mortar-like fire, and are good when aiming for something (usually a window).

In the real world these weapons normally have a safe range – the grenade only goes live after flying for 30 metres or so, to prevent accidental harm to the shooter. We only mention this in passim, though, since this is usually disregarded in games and fiction. Many firearms reference special rules - for instance Long Reload or Autofire in DCH, or Armour-Piercing or Shotgun Blast in DCA. See the corresponding New Rules Files for each game system. The heavy weapons that used to be in this article have been spun off in an article of their own.Īs to “heavier weapons”, they are understood as things that can still be vaguely be considered man-portable – by action fiction standards. This article treats grenade launchers and grenade launchers as separate categories, since most fictional launchers can launch any type of grenades.
