Sawed off M79

[General Pain]

I must admit I liked it...

[Ramjam]

I have to say that would be a nice close range last ditch weapon if loaded with a M576 buckshot round.

The recoil might be a bitch but what the hell.

[headquarters]

would such a weapon work effeciently -or would the shorter barrel mean insufficient combustion to get good effect from the buckshot shell ?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Well from what I understand of the ammunition, they use a two stage ignition. There's a small high-pressure chamber that ignites first and the gases from that expand into a larger low-pressure chamber and from there propel the warhead.
I think length of barrel makes no difference to combustion but only affects the range and accuracy.

[Legbreaker]

Well firstly I'm VERY concerned about the recoil. There's a reason there's a butt on grenade launchers....

Secondly, I'm worried the barrel being so short might not be able to impart sufficient spin on explosive rounds to arm them. I could be wrong, but if not, you're simply throwing very expensive stones.

I'd rather use a sawn off 8 gauge....

[Targan]

Sawn off M79s were mentioned in a book I read about the SOG in Vietnam so they definitely work. I know that they had a shorter barrel but I can't remember if the butt was sawn off as well.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by General Pain

I must admit I liked it...

So what kind of rounds are possible for this beauty (pc-killer) ?

Flechette,HE,HEAT(low yield),CS,nervegass,shotgun,slug,incendiary,illum ?
(did I forget any)

and how about the stats for said rounds ?

[Legbreaker]

Basically any 40mm round could be fired from it but as has been mentioned there's question over the probabilty of the grenades arming.
Accuracy would also stink (don't count on hitting anything beyond a stones throw or so) and recoil could well break the firers wrist.

All in all you'd have to be mad, or desperate, or both!

[Hybris]

The arming distance for the grenade is 14-17 meters.

There is also a time delay (if this works correctly) that will detonate the grenade after 2,5 seconds after it hit the ground.

While using the pink filled powder training practice round the self-destruct often failed, mostly ( I presume) due to the snowy and soft ground.

The Russians 30mm grenade (I heard) arming distance is 21 meters +- 6.

It was fun using this feature while playing GURPS.
You would never now in advance if the grenade armed itself or not when fighting at close courtier.

[Legbreaker]

With roughly a dozen types of round, HE, HEDP, APERS, etc, there's likely as many arming distances. Of course barrel twist and legth from model to model will probably have an impact too.
So, the moral to the story? If they're close enough to use a hand greade, use that instead.

As for self distruction, that feature is limited to only certain rounds in my experience (none which were on issue in my day).

[BigEd]

Another pic of a M79 with just the stock chopped.



Tied onto Tropical Rucksack in vietnam, WP grenade above the handle.

///ed///

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by General Pain

I must admit I liked it...

I'm afraid I've found a small problem with this weapon. It's not real - it's an airsoft. Great for firing paint pellets, but forget about real rounds.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

That image being an airsoft weapon isn't so important, cut down M79s were real and were definitely used in Vietnam, the airsoft companies just copied them.
This site http://www.lcompanyranger.com/usweapons/m79page.htm has two images of cut down M79s, one has already been shown here but the other shows Bob Suchke standing in front of a hut while he is holding a cut down M79 that's about as short as the airsoft image.
This site http://www.mitierragrafix.com/vietnam/vietnam.html has an image about a quarter of the way down the page of Charles Mason holding another cut down launcher.
Also http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=AB_0_020.jpg has pilot Tom O'Hara holding one that's just as small as the original picture in this thread

[Legbreaker]

Well that makes me think a little. With the airsoft weapons looking so like the real ones (not just the M79 but all the hundred of others out there), they could prove useful for bluffing.
Hmm, paintball ammo loaded with chemical irritants and other nastiness could be fun too.

[Kemper Boyd]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Hmm, paintball ammo loaded with chemical irritants and other nastiness could be fun too.

These are already used for crowd control purposes and manufactured commercially.

[Brother in Arms]

Excellent links stainless steel cynic
it reminded me about something I forgot to write...one of the sawed off m79s has tape on the forend and barrel. If you cut them down to far they forend and barrel was likely to fall off when opened so often times that was done to prevent that from occuring. Sounds pretty ghetto but it worked. I have also read that the wood stocked ones were sought after specifically for cutting down...most m79s were equipped with brownish colored fibre glass stocks same material as the later M14 stocks and they were more difficult for the GIs to cut down and reshape.

[Grimace]

Wow...methinks someone is a bit confused about the actual intent of this board.

[HorseSoldier]

Refreshing change from people requesting assistance in smuggling oil money out of Nigeria, but spam all the same . . .

[simonmark6]

Maybe we should direct them to Paul's page, after all, he has dollar prices for everything...

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by simonmark6

Maybe we should direct them to Paul's page, after all, he has dollar prices for everything...

I get enough email about that already!

[simonmark6]

Well, if you don't want any of that action there's a Prince from Somalia I know who's trying to release funds in order to buy more food for his people. Apparently all you have to do is set up an account with five hundred pounds and once the transactions are over you'll be left with two grand as a thankyou.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Grimace

Wow...methinks someone is a bit confused about the actual intent of this board.

Do tell.

[Legbreaker]

I believe that refers to a deleted post from somebody seeking to buy or sell weapons...

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I believe that refers to a deleted post from somebody seeking to buy or sell weapons...

Is that what it is? Seemed a non-sequitur.