Dummy rifle grenades

[MatthewVanitas]

I've been "trimming down" the armory, and have trying to ease back on the gear purchases (except for that full set of Opinel knives).

However, I'm sitting at the UT range, and perusing through Shotgun News (bad, bad, idea #1).

My eyes fall upon the SARCO listings (bad, bad idea #2)

Down at the very bottom, I see a line-drawing of a familiar piece of gear...

So now one is on its way to me, and I'm $38 lighter. That's 1/3 of what they go for on eBay. Not sure what other nutjobs are buying these (besides me), but I'm pretty stoked. (pic is from an Airsoft site, but SARCO is presumably selling the real-steel)

's funny, I always hated having to carry the M16 with the M203, and now I'm buying the pieces online. Still don't want a 37mm launcher, will stick with rifle grenades.

-MV

 

[cabinetman]

I've got one I took out of it's wrapper and have it on my old AR. It's quite a conversation piece to those who haven't seen one before. Most soldiers from Vietnam era on recognize it, however.

Here's a pic:

The front and rear sight snap out to provide an aiming point. It doesn't bother normal iron sighting, however, and it doesn't weigh very much at all.

Here's what my beastie looks like with one of those Israeli practice grenades on the muzzle.

And yes, they do fly well and, yes, they do make the neighbors nervous! LOL Just make sure you get the proper grenade launching blanks. Reinacting blanks don't work properly and can be harmful to your rifle.

Rome

 

[Firehand]

What's the real difference between launching blanks and standard blanks? From what I've read the launching blanks are more powerful, is that correct?

 

[Keith Wheeler]

Launching blanks are more powerful, and if I remember correctly use slow burning powder. Somewhere I have the loading specs for 7.62 GLBs....but loading your own is not something to do unless you're an experienced reloader.

While I have the loading info, I don't load them, I buy 'em.

 

[cabinetman]

I believe that's correct. If you use a "noise" blank, one that just makes a "boom", you are using much faster burning powder and that could cause problems if you've blocked the muzzel with a rifle grenade. The incorrect blank might damage the receiver. So, it's important to use the correct one. Plus, just as an aside, the noise blanks won't launch the grenades very far. A proper launching blank will propel those things 200+ yards. So, if you try one, make sure you can find the thing afterward!

Rome

 

[MatthewVanitas]

The RGs I plan to use with this are the M1A2s with a tennis-ball in the cup.

They should be way lighter than an Israeli RG, and the manufacturer sells standard .223 parade blanks to launch them. I'd imagine that they found this to be safe due to the greatly reduced weight of the tennis-ball load, i.e. far less back-pressure.

Downside: reduced range. Even the light tennis ball only goes 75m.

Now, if I had a .308...

This might be a really dumb question: can you pull the bullet from a standard 7.62 round, carefully load it into the chamber while keeping it upright, and fire it as a blank. Or is this a Very Bad Idea?

-MV

 

[Keith Wheeler]

Very bad idea...again GLBs use a different powder than "parade" blanks or standard ammunition.

Rifle grenades are fun, but trust me even at $0.50 a shot, you can afford to have enough "fun" to wear you out....even if it's just recover the projectile.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Okay, understood on not pulling bullets from standard FMJ ammo.


I understand that I shouldn't launch Israeli practice RGs with .223 parade blanks (or whatever the other names are for the training/saluting blanks). However, do you see any problem with launching lightweight tennis/golf balls with parade blanks?

Presumably, the manufacturer sells those with the idea that they're safe for the products they sell, but just checking to make sure.

At least, I'm assuming that they're parade blanks. They're labelled "1980-1990 production brass-cased Lake City". Since we weren't using RGs in that time period, I'm assuming they're parade blanks.

-MV