WWI rifle grenade launcher
Moderator: joseyclosey
WWI rifle grenade launcher
I posted about this sometime in the past ...long past... and the images are gone.
The British in WWI produced a grenade cup that would fit on a 1 Mark 3 rifle by the simple method of turning a 2 and a half inch wide cup until a screw with clasps tightened up on the muzzle of the rifle. The device launched a special Mills Bomb grenade with a disk shaped butt end. With a blank cartridge the rifle, butt firmly planted on the ground, could launch such a grenade between 80 and 200 yards. The distance was controlled by angle of barrel and by moving a gas release at the base of the cup.
Here's a good video produced for an auction several years ago. Now days the launcher cups go for around $150, although they were thrown in for free if you bought a wire wrap rifle once upon a time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT1DyyCxf9Q
The British in WWI produced a grenade cup that would fit on a 1 Mark 3 rifle by the simple method of turning a 2 and a half inch wide cup until a screw with clasps tightened up on the muzzle of the rifle. The device launched a special Mills Bomb grenade with a disk shaped butt end. With a blank cartridge the rifle, butt firmly planted on the ground, could launch such a grenade between 80 and 200 yards. The distance was controlled by angle of barrel and by moving a gas release at the base of the cup.
Here's a good video produced for an auction several years ago. Now days the launcher cups go for around $150, although they were thrown in for free if you bought a wire wrap rifle once upon a time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT1DyyCxf9Q
- Miller Tyme
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Re: WWI rifle grenade launcher
Pretty cool Robert, now to get some blanks and some tennis balls.
“The only real power comes out of a long rifle" - Joseph Stalin
- joseyclosey
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Re: WWI rifle grenade launcher
What a good idea MTMiller Tyme wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:29 am Pretty cool Robert, now to get some blanks and some tennis balls.
Re: WWI rifle grenade launcher
I saw this facebook post of a photo of a soldier in WWII in Burma or some other such South Pacific location with a grenade wrap rifle without the cup. I hit a google and found this really interesting exposition of how these grenade launching rifles worked and what was expected of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT1DyyCxf9Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT1DyyCxf9Q
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- Aughnanure
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Re: WWI rifle grenade launcher
They were also the soldier’s using rifle and were in all respects, other than the safety wire, a normal rifle.
Self Defence is not only a Right, it is an Obligation.
Eoin.
Eoin.