Grenade Luncher ranges?

[perardua]

I was told by some American military personnel that the M79 is preferred for certain tasks as it's break-open loading mechanism meant it was possible to load it with longer specialty rounds which the M203 loading mechanism doesn't allow. This was in a conversation about the merits of my UGL, which is based on a German design and swings out to the side to load, again allowing for easier loading of longer rounds (if the MoD would ever come through on their promises to buy any). British UGL's also have the ladder sight attached directly to the side of the weapon, whereas I believe M203s have to be zeroed to a removeable sight attached to the M4?

I also heard that the M203 replacement will be a derivation of the same UGL system as the Germans and British use, possibly for these very reasons.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by perardua

I was told by some American military personnel that the M79 is preferred for certain tasks as it's break-open loading mechanism meant it was possible to load it with longer specialty rounds which the M203 loading mechanism doesn't allow.

Correct.
The M79 does have a safety though which isn't exactly in the best position - new users can rip the webbing between thumb and forefinger when firing if they're not careful. Not exactly a big thing, but worth considering from an roleplaying point.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by perardua

I was told by some American military personnel that the M79 is preferred for certain tasks as it's break-open loading mechanism meant it was possible to load it with longer specialty rounds which the M203 loading mechanism doesn't allow. This was in a conversation about the merits of my UGL, which is based on a German design and swings out to the side to load, again allowing for easier loading of longer rounds (if the MoD would ever come through on their promises to buy any). British UGL's also have the ladder sight attached directly to the side of the weapon, whereas I believe M203s have to be zeroed to a removeable sight attached to the M4?

The M203PI was developed to address the issue of only being able to load certain rounds (specifically, the Illum round was too long for the earlier variant so the PI version is able to move the tube further forward to allow the Illum rounds to be loaded). However, I don't know if they are issued widely enough for all units with M203 launchers to benefit.