#automatic grenade launcher

[blueiscoool]

Feel the Heat

Ukrainian Forces pound Russian positions with a AGS-17, an automatic grenade launcher.

[riidaroku]

modernization of the spit-wad 

[historicalfirearms]

Recent Recap

Since the last recap we’ve covered about 5 different weapon types from pistols to anti-tank weapons and about 300 years with weapons spanning the HK UCP to the 18th century Durs Egg breechloaded. We’ve looked at everything from John Browning’s lesser known Stevens 520 shotgun to giant M1 Garand training aids and experimental automatic grenade launchers. We’ve looked at a few fascinating submachine guns including the MAS Mle 1948, CETME C2 and the Star Z-62. If you missed anything check out the links below!

Thanks again for following, reading and supporting HF. If you enjoy the content please consider supporting Historical Firearms through Patreon! You can also help spread the word about HF and the content I cover by sharing links with friends and sharing on social media, don’t forget you can also follow HF on facebook. As always if you have any questions, suggestions feel free to send me a message here.

~Matt

XM174 Grenade Launcher

August HF Patreon Wallpaper - Stevens Model 520

In Action: M1919A6

Delaunay-Belleville Anti-Tank Weapon

Heckler & Koch UCP

TAB Video: Breech-Loading Durs Egg Carbine

Giant M1 Garand Training Aid

CETME C2

Early Folding Stocks

Spanish Webleys: ‘Pistol, OP No.1 Mk.1 & No.2 Mk.1′

MAS Mle 1948

In Action: M1 Carbine & M1 Garand

Heckler & Koch XM9

New Land Light Infantry Pattern Musket

Star Z-62/Z-63

Homemade Mau Mau Firearms

Stevens Model 520 Shotgun

Schwarzlose M.07/12

Quotes of the Day

For more content check out the Historical Firearms facebook page which has some additional pictures and other content.

If you enjoy the content please consider supporting Historical Firearms through Patreon!

[peashooter85]

The Taubina AG-2 Automatic Grenade Launcher,

An interesting weapon lost to history, the Taubina Automatic Grenade Launcher was the creation of Soviet weapons designer Yakov Taubin. First developed in 1931 and perfected in 1937-1939, the Taubina Automatic Grenade Launcher was a weapon that was several generations ahead of its time.  Invented at a time when most grenade launchers were single shot affairs, typically rifle grenades, the Taubina was the first of it’s kind and it’s concept would become a staple of modern militaries today.  The Taubina Grenade Launcher was designed to fire 40.8mm grenades in either semi automatic or fully automatic modes. Recoil operated, most models utilized a magazine resulting in a rate of fire of 50-60 rounds a minute, however later prototypes utilized a belt feed system which resulted in a rate of 400-450 rounds a minute. It’s maximum range was around 1,200 meters  The launcher could be used in both direct fire and indirect fire modes. It was typically mounted on a light wheeled carriage.

The Taubina was first tested in Soviet trials in 1938, where it performed admirably but had some flaws.  First it had a weak extractor and extraction springs, resulting in a 7% failure rate.  Secondly it was inaccurate at longer ranges.  Taubin went to work fixing these problems, developing improved models which saw limited use during the Winter War against Finland in 1939. Despite rave reports on the Taubina’s performance and the potential whoopass the weapon offered the Red Army, the weapon was doomed by Soviet bureaucracy. Most Soviet officials did not see the need for automatic grenade launchers which could rain hundreds of rounds of high explosives on an enemy position. A shame considering that World War II was just around the corner. Much of the opposition to the weapon came from Chief of Main Artillery Directorate Grigory Kulik, who preferred more traditional light infantry mortars and saw no need for the weapon. In 1939 the Taubina project was ended. 

Yakov Taubin abandoned the Taubina Grenade Launcher and began work on aircraft machine gun and cannon designs.  In 1940 he developed a prototype for an aircraft cannon meant to be used on the IL-2 Sturmovik airplane. However he design was turned down in favor of a competing design, the VYa-23. Shortly afterward, on May 15th, 1941, shortly before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Taubin was arrested by the NKVD on charges of “preserving samples of unfinished weapons and egregiously plotting production of technically unfinished and unsatisfactory weapons systems”. On October 17th, as German forces raced across the Soviet Union, he was executed and buried in a mass grave. The automatic grenade launcher wouldn’t be re-invented until 1966.

[historicalfirearms]

XM174 Grenade Launcher

In the early 1960s American advisers in Vietnam requested an automatic grenade launcher which could act as a force multiplier. The US Army responded in September 1963, by calling on private industry to submit designs for a low velocity 40mm automatic grenade launcher. The new launcher had to weight below 12lbs and feed from a belt. Four competing companies submitted designs with the entry from the Aerojet Ordnance Manufacturing Company tentatively selected in February 1964.  

Throughout 1965 Aerojet worked up their design and with feedback from the Army altered it to fire from a closed rather than open bolt and a sem-automatic fire capability. The weapon was initially designed to fire from a tripod but the Ordnance Corps also requested a design with a buttstock which could fire from a bipod. The weapons sights were taken from the shoulder-fired, single shot M79. It appears that the general shape of the XM174′s receiver and pistol grip were styled after the M1919 medium machine gun, possibly for the sake of user familiarity. 

Designated the ‘Launcher Grenade 40MM Low Velocity Automatic, XM174′, Aerojet continued development throughout 1966 with the assistance and oversight of Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal. It was initially envisaged that the new grenade launcher would be vehicle and tripod mounted but weighing under 12lbs, less than half the M60 light machine gun, the Army quickly saw hip-fire potential in the XM174.

Despite being lighter than an M60, the XM174 proved to be less ergonomic and more difficult to carry in the field. Aerojet developed a 12-round drum to carry the weapon’s belt to ease carrying and loading on the move. When field tested in Vietnam the drum magazine was found to be fragile and suffered a high attrition rate. Units from all three services tested the XM174 in Vietnam. Including Air Force base security units, the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Division and the USMC. In the photograph above we can see Major Joseph Flynn, 26th Marine Regiment, explaining the specific features of the XM174 to a group of generals in October 1969.  

While the XM174 suffered teething problems in the field including issues with the drum system, poor ergonomics and complaints about its effective range. In the meantime Naval Ordnance Station Louisville had developed the Mk19 in 1968. The Mk19 was quickly adopted for vehicle and tripod mounted use by the Marine Corps and Army and the Ordnance Corps abandoned the XM174, some continued to be used in Vietnam into the early 1970s. Troops at squad level continued to use the M79, XM148 and the M203.  

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3

XM174, Springfield Armory Collection, (source)

XM174, War Is Boring, J.Trevithick, (source)

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