Help ID'ing M16 Rifle Grenade

I was browsing around on VIce News' you tube channel and came across a video about illegal arms dealing in Lebanon, the arms dealer was showing the reporter a M16 with scope when I saw an unusual rifle grenade attached to a scope mount on the side rail of the rifle. I have spent the past half hour trying to ID it with no luck so far. I was hoping one of my fellow weaponry groupies might be of some assistance.



Starts showing the obkect in question around the 3:00 mark.

Thanks in advance.

a reply to: BigDave-AR
Don't know what that thing is strapped to the m16,do know that the m203 grenade launcher don't support that type of grenade, looks more like a rifle grenade from days past.

Let us know what you find out

Interesting. Its attached via a scope ring.

Could be just for the intimidation factor?

a reply to: 19KTankCommander
I knew it wasn't a 40mm grenade. At first I thought it might have been an Israeli barrel fired rifle grenade but the fin and warhead design are way off and the markings are not in Hebrew.

I found it for you. Its a 34mm AP rifle grenade. ML 52. Appears they made them in a few flavors.
Yours is the fourth one down the list.

www.littlegun.info...

It almost looks like an APAV 40, but its smaller.

I have to agree with Shane that it may just be for looks or intimidation.

Since it's bolted to the rifle with a mount ring, I'm going to assume it's not a grenade. Could be a laser pointer or some sort of optics.

eta - I think shaneslaughta has it. Although why you'd screw that to a rifle is beyond me.

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
I found it for you. Its a 34mm AP rifle grenade. ML 52. Appears they made them in a few flavors.
Yours is the fourth one down the list.

www.littlegun.info...

Appreciate it, twas driving me crazy. The only thing I can think of for mounting it that was it have a spare on had. But then again if that was the case you thnk they would have something like wingnuts or finger screws to allow tool-less removal in the field.

My line of thinking, it may be suicide device.
Only reason to hard mount it is to destroy your self.

Remove the safety cap and give it a smack....instant martyrdom

originally posted by: shaneslaughta
My line of thinking, it may be suicide device.
Only reason to hard mount it is to destroy your self.

Remove the safety cap and give it a smack....instant martyrdom

Or it's a one-time use suicide bayonet - jab someone/something with it and 'bang', instant hole.

a reply to: Bedlam

I think they have to be fired and fly for a certain distance before they are armed. Not sure though.

originally posted by: PandorasBoxxx
a reply to: Bedlam

I think they have to be fired and fly for a certain distance before they are armed. Not sure though.

I'm pretty sure these dated rifle grenades are impact sensitive once the safety has been removed.
Not the new smart nades that can calculate travel time to target for air burst.

I could be wrong but im throwing it out there.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Very welcome Dave.

If it helps, the nearest I could find for operational examples was related to the M-7 launcher for the .30 Rifle. It's a World War II vintage rifle grenade launching system and I've never heard of it being tried with an M-16....athough other things are launched off the end of them in the same way.



It's not quite a cupie doll, but it's close. I think that's the intended method of fire, anyway.

I'll just stand back here....like..WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back here...if anyone tried to launch on that way off an M-16. In fact...how about behind a couple brick walls, and a blast shield. It's not that I'd worry someone wouldn't understand you use a special blank round to fire it...it's the whole design. Umm... Not this bunny.

a reply to: shaneslaughta

"Shoot-through" type The cup-type launcher has the advantage of using standard hand-grenades. However, the need to load a blank cartridge into the rifle's chamber in order to launch the grenade proved to be clumsy in combat. This difficulty lead to the development the French "Vivien and Bessières" shoot-through grenade (or VB grenade). As the name implies, these grenades allow for the use of live ammunition. The VB grenade has a hole through the middle that permits the passage of a standard bullet; this arms the grenade, the expanding gasses launch the grenade, and the grenade explodes 8 seconds later. This removes the need to provide a special blank round to launch the grenade. To use:

As far as I can tell this is the type of rifle grenade(shoot through) and they are armed by firing.

edit, nope just looked at the drawing, it's not shoot through and does seem to work with safety pin and impact detonator.

I'd sort of be afraid of setting some old impact grenade off with the recoil of the rifle. Granted, an M16 doesn't have a lot, but I don't know how touchy those things get. Seems like A Bad Idea.

At first I thought it was a type of Russian OG rpg round, but although of a similar size and shape, they don't really look like this. The user who said it was a MAS 36 grenade seems to be correct. Those French rifles were made around WWII, and the launcher was attached to the end of the gun barrel. This round looks relatively new, and I cannot imagine that they would make this stuff anymore. So either these are still being made for use with other rifles, or they procured them simply to use in IED's or something.

Perhaps they could launch it from a small, homemade mortar. If the round is live, they will definitely do something with it I'm sure. I'm sure they are not gonna let some good explosives go to waste. :/

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

This don't look like fun to you wrabbit?

originally posted by: Bedlam
I'd sort of be afraid of setting some old impact grenade off with the recoil of the rifle. Granted, an M16 doesn't have a lot, but I don't know how touchy those things get. Seems like A Bad Idea.

Yeah, with a 300-500 gram projective on the end of the barrel it makes for a hell of a kick.

a reply to: shaneslaughta

Okay Okay... Ya got me... I could see some fun with dummy grenades if I had a stack of them and open land to play on. Shoulder firing looks like a waste and there's more than one reason for not doing it that way. I'd love to spend an afternoon with targets an acre or two away and play mortaring them. Imagine how long it may take to get the angle JUST so...so it drops on what ya want..probably like splitting an arrow shaft tho. Once in a day bit of luck that way. So, I admit....sans explosive...?

Or we could just play a few rounds of Golf and call it a day. (grin)