TactiSMART 027: So You Want to be a Rifle Grenade Expert?

Rifle Grenade Expert

One of the things I admire about some foreign armies is how they will award medals to deserving Soldiers wearing combat uniforms--just for show 1-time--not every day wear aka EDC. The fabulous French Foreign Legion movie, "Lost Command" shows this well and it stars actual French Indo-China combat veteran, Alain Delon as the idealistic, moral young Captain. 

With the advent of a lot of Velcro on the U.S. ARMY's Combat Uniforms (ACUs) it behooves us to exploit the big chunks of soft Velcro on each shoulder for identification--and awards like above.

To make metal pin-on awards work best--and fastest without need to poke through the fabric and attach 2x clutchbacks, a small piece of HARD Velcro large enough for the badge with a good contrasting fabric on the front for the badge to stand-out is all that's required. It can even be done with just scissors and stick-on Velcro and no machine sewing from our already over-worked parachute Riggers.

Looks Great, Doesn't It?

Becoming a Rifle Grenade Expert

The Vietnam War original Ares XM148 minimalist 40mm Grenade Launcher (GL) still seems best if you hack-saw off the snag-prone trigger bar. The bloated M203 GL that became widely used was my choice while in the Army for 5.56mm AR/40mm GL firepower and pyrotechnic target marking capabilities. I could put a white star cluster parachute flare over the enemy OPFOR and direct my men quickly in that direction with me as well as radio to others to cut them off-at-the-pass. 

The tiny 40mm High Explosive (HE) warhead however is depressingly small and adding multiple shots of tiny--6x in the heavy 12-pound, MILKOR sexy-looking GL doesn't fix this lack of firepower effects we once had when we widely used larger warhead Rifle Grenades (RGs) that could be shot by everyone--if they switched to blanks--safely. Why a BLUE 20-round PRELoaded Magazine (PRELM) filled with only RG-launching blanks couldn't have been the combat SOP is a big question ? Remove live ammo PRELM and retain by returning to a mag pouch. Eject live round in chamber which locks bolt-to-the-rear with the AR15/M16/M4 family. Attach RG to end of barrel. Insert BLUE blank PRELM. Hit bolt release to load live round, aim & fire.  

WHAT RIGHT LOOKS LIKE: Swiss Rocket-Propelled Rifle Grenades (RPRGs)

AWESOME RPRG vs. Tanks Video: you can't do this with tiny 40mm grenades! Stgw.57 Rifles feature prominently in the 1969 James Bond movie, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

ACTION VIDEO:

https://youtu.be/RoPhNKLWPBs

SWISS FLYING CARROTS Part Deux: Stgw. 57 Rifle Grenades (Part 2/2: Technology)

WAR 

https://youtu.be/_Xb1CoXLWHg?t=2141

WARPRACtice

https://youtu.be/_Xb1CoXLWHg?t=3999

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xb1CoXLWHg

Part 1: 

https://youtu.be/dp3P8NeW0eA

Earlier vid on Stgw. 57: 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm16Cjy_pzA

This may be too much for 20-somethings and marines so wrongly the tiny 40mm took over. 

The U.S. ARMY has yet to give modern Bullet Trap RGs a chance by widespread use in typical ignorant delusionality--though smarter armies like the French, Japanese, Israelis and Brits use BT RGs. The lack of indirect firepower condemned the ex-SEALs under CIA mismanagement to die in Benghazi when they lost their shoulder-slung 40mm GL. Beaucoup RGs carried by everyone would have prevented all of this.   

The U.S. ARMY does have 2x types of Bullet-Trap RGs for specialized tasks that can be fired from its 5.56mm AR15/M16/M4s and M249 LMGs: the Launched Grapnel Hook (LGH) which projects a thin corded hook that is pulled back from a safe stand-off to clear mines/booby traps and the Israeli RAFAEL "Simon" M100 Ground, Rifle Entry Munition (GREM) that has a long rod to set-off its charge against a door for violent room entries. All it takes is a live ball or tracer round to launch the LGH and GREM out to 200 meters. 

LGH (see pages 4-5)
https://www.benning.army.mil/infantry/magazine/issues/1999/SEP-DEC/pdfs/SEP-DEC99.pdf
combatreform.org/SEP-DEC99.pdf

GREM
combatreform.org/SW_CSW_GREM.pdf

The problem is to War Practice (WarPrac) with them, their training BLUE versions without warheads, the M101 and a non-warhead, LGH are designated as the re-usable WarPrac ones--but need full-powered M195 blanks--and not the anemic M200 MILES laser tag blanks that will only make them plop a few feet forward. Supply sergeant bureaucracy doesn't order the damn blanks so we go to JRTC with Combat Engineers still playing cowboy hand tossing grapnels and halting maneuver columns for almost a hour each time enemy obstacles are encountered--remember what happened to a column that was stopped by pesky mules towing carts in "Patton"? 

Just getting the full-powered RG-launching M195 blanks makes one a near expert!

Atlantic Wall Blanks

$19 M195 (5.56mm) Rifle Grenade Launcher Blanks (20)
www.atlanticwallblanks.com/M195-GRENADE-LAUNCHING-BLANK_p_214.html

In Our Humble Opinion (IOHO) war practice RGs should be launched the same way as in war--by trapping live bullets but since they must be re-usable, they switch out their BT bases. YES, military safety Nazis will freak at live rounds being fired during War Practice and we are NOT asking this be done during Force-On-Force FTXes; just folr basic marksmanship training so the fucking mental block of what a BT RG is can be broken. 

You plop the RG on the end of your carbine/rifle. 

Aim the RG using the rifle's sights or add-on sights specifically for the RG. Essentially, you line up the carbine/rifle and RG onto your target, estimate its range from you and elevate the combo to the required angle to match the range needed. 

You fire a live round to launch it.  
   
Since IOHO-type RGs don't exist yet, there are War Practice RGs one must use that don't get used because of the Supply Sergeant bureaucratic obstacle. 

If you are not in an actively serving USMIL unit, you can COTS buy two types of blank-firing, WarPrac RGs to launch thru your AR15/M16/M4:

The M31 and the Mk.1A2 and rarer Mk. 2A1 which enable hand grenades to be launched; pineapple/lemon and soda can types.

M31

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/546720

Mk. 1A2

https://www.budk.com/Rifle-Grenade-Adapter-M1A2-Model-369-%E2%80%93-1945-Rare-V-45013

OD Green or WarPrac BLUE Paint to Touch-Up: go to Super WalMart or competent hardware/home improvement store's paint section with your M1A2 adapter or M31 discretely in a bag and have their paint mixer guru computer scan the flat fin area to get a PERFECT COLOR MATCH to mix a quart of exterior latex paint. Cost $12; and after brush applying all around the "1945" and "PRACTICE" and other numbering it dries WITHOUT BRUSH STROKES! A perfect color matching to fix rust spots. 

+ Plus Mk1 or Mk2 Pineapple or M26 Lemon hand grenades (paint BLUE and don't fall prey to temptation of painiting OD to scare the shit out of everyone that they are live)

$11
https://www.e-sarcoinc.com/m26-lemon-grenade.aspx

According to the Army's 2001 Technical Manual (TM) on Grenades, TM 43-000-29 Grenades, the Mk. 1A2, Mk. 2A1s and both live and WarPrac M31s are still in the ammo supply "system" to be ordered and used in practice & combat. 

www.combatreform.org/TM43-000-29Grenades.pdf

You just need to order a bunch of full-power blanks to launch them. 

The RG Qualification Course

For the LGH and M31:

Set-up a cardboard, man-sized silhouette on a stick into the ground 100 meters away. 

Take a string and pace off a 15 meter diameter circle around this target, place markers like orange football cones around it. 

Pace off 100 meters and prepare to fire your WarPrac RG. 

You have 3x tries to get your RG to land in the 15m target circle. 

For the GREM, 

Set-up a simulated door; 3s tries to hit it from 15 meters away. 

If you succeed:

YOU ARE A RG EXPERT!

Wahoo!

IF not...warpractice, warpractice, warpractice until you succeed. Got that 20-somethings?

The Awards Ceremony

In the truly American DIY spirit of placing one's feather in one's cap and calling it "Macaroni", go to eBay and buy an U.S. ARMY Expert, Sharpshooter or Marksman badge--whichever you think looks best--and a RG qual bar. 

The attachment of the bar to the badge is a bit tedious--bend each ring with pliers so the ring opens enough for the qual bar's circle to pass, then crimp it closed. Worst case is you have to do this procedure 4x times if neither the badge or the qual bars have rings attached. Usually one does so you'll have to do it 2x--don't lose the tiny rings!

Attach the now completed expert RG badge to the previously-described Velcro attachment square, return its clutchbacks to its prongs. 

Gather family & loved ones--all wearing anti-COVID19 face masks and not more than 10x people (hahahahaha) and have your person of HONOR place onto your Multi-Cam ACU top's shoulder SOFT Velcro patch. 

Play the National Anthem--everyone stands and salutes towards the nearest American flag. 

Semper Airborne!

James Bond is REAL.