Improvised grenade launcher

[kato13]

ReHerakhte 10-04-2005, 07:22 AM G'Day all,

After coming down from my coffee high following my long weekend (having scammed my way into getting Monday off from work) I was trying to think up something to scare the Players in my game group and came up with the following device based on some experience a friend had with air compressors, air valves and plastic pipe for launching oversized spitballs at the waste tanks at the mine site he was working at.


Basically it's an ad hoc barrage device making use of scrap metal piping, gas pistons and air pressure to hurl standard hand grenades further than they can typically be thrown. The following description is version two of the launcher and a few more tweaks may be made to it based on its performance in my next Dark Conspiracy game.


Suggestions, comments, criticisms, improvements etc welcome!


Hand Grenade Launcher:

This improvised device consists of two, three or four metal launcher tubes on a bracket that is designed either for use in a ground emplacement role or fitted to a vehicle. Each 20cm long tube consists of a 10cm long gas piston mounted internally with a plate matching the internal diameter of the tube fitted to its end. The tube itself is just large enough to fit a standard hand grenade which rests on the plate about halfway down the tube. The tubes are connected to an air compressor and launching is done by the simple expedient of opening a valve on the airline after sufficient pressure has been built up.



Unfortunately most of these ad hoc launchers use one airline and so can not fire individual tubes but fire all of them at once. Reloading is done by partially loading a hand grenade so that the safety lever is held by the tube, then pulling the pin out and letting the grenade drop the rest of the way down the tube. A simple wad of cloth is then stuffed into the tube to prevent the grenade from coming out until desired. Range is inconsistent but averages a distance of 60m (40 + 1d3x10 metres). Any standard hand grenade may be loaded into this device with the mix determined by the user.


These devices are not accurate, instead they rely on multiple grenades landing roughly in the same area to produce a saturation effect. To represent this, the deviation rules for Indirect Fire (Twilight 2.2, pg 205) are used. Corrections are not possible. Two or more may be set up to provide better coverage of an area.


Wt: 6.0kg

Price: $270 (S/R)



Of course with the deviation rules, the grenades may actually end up closer to the launcher and its operator than to the enemy... (insert evil Referee laughter here)

Cheers,

Kevin

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pmulcahy 10-04-2005, 12:14 PM The famous (or infamous) potato cannons, baseball cannons, and even watermelon and bowling ball cannons come to mind here. Even the tennis ball cannons (we made them when I was a teenager), primed by lighter fluid, may be applicable for smaller explosive devices or charges.


And what about the larger model rockets? They would be VERY inaccurate, but possibly useful in delivering an explosive charge.

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TR 10-07-2005, 08:28 AM I would think it likely we might see more rifle grenades in use again, it's esentially World War II technology so it might be a little easier to produce than say an M-203 shell. Right after WWII there was a flood of rifle grenade designs and some were even mated to subguns! I have even seen Chinese min-rifle grenades for handguns for riot control purposes so the sky is the limit with that idea.


As far as you suggested, yes I could see this being developed, especially in places like Alaska, California, Texas where the fighting against Russian invaders continunes... and resources are thin and the need the greatest. The design you have in mind would be more like the LF90 from Italy which was a spigot launcher for two HE grenades. See the attached image for an idea on size and scale.

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graebardeII 10-07-2005, 07:47 PM The Belgian compnay Mecar? produced rifle grenades with 'bullet catcher' so there wasn't a need to use special cartridges to launch, also they grenade I believe slipped right over the flash surpressor. Really a simplistic idea that allowed every rifleman to be a potential grenadier. The grenades were in various types as well. HE, WP, illum, smoke, AP (shape charged) IIRC. These I think would be fairly easy to manufacture. They made them for the 7.62 as well as 5.56. Word of caution as I recall you could NOT use steel core/AP rounds for the launcher rounds however. Something to think on.


grae

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