Rifle grenade
From Freepedia
A rifle grenade is a form of grenade that can be fired from a rifle. The idea was developed in the First World War and was retained until after the Second World War when specialist grenade launchers replaced them.
Rifle grenades have used different launching mechanisms.
- A stick that fitted down the inside of the rifle barrel
- A cup or special adaptor that fitted on the end of the rifle muzzle.
For the former a blank cartridge was used, firing it propelled the stick and the grenade. It was found that repeated use of a rifle for launching grenades by this method caused damage to the barrel and the latter technique was preferred. Depending on the adapter design either a blank cartridge as before was used or a standard round - the bullet passing through the middle of the grenade or trapping it within itself and the remainder of the gas from the round launching the bullet. Some designs used the passage of the round through the grenade to activate the grenade's fuse.
Rifle grenades can be of any of the same types as hand grenades but two type predominate — fragmentation for use against personnel and shaped charge for armoured vehicles. Rifle grenades may be time fused, so that they detonate a fixed time after firing, or impact fused, so they detonate on impact. In general, antipersonnel grenades would be time fused, and anti-armour grenades would be impact fused. Modern grenades are starting to use electronic fuses, which allows extremely precise detonation times. A special laser rangefinder mounted to the weapon will measure the distance to the target, and program the grenade to explode as it reaches the target area — this greatly enhances the ability of the rifle grenadier to hit targets behind hard cover.
Often special sights are also provided that clamp onto the rifle to provide aiming for the grenade's particular ballistics. Since rifle grenades travel at very low velocities with very high trajectories, their range is measured in tens of yards (meters). The maximum range of most rifle grenades was about 200 yards (180 meters). Often rifle grenades are fired at angles greater than 45 degrees, allowing them to drop down at steep angles to enter trenches, or to attack targets behind cover; the steep angle also increased the time of flight, to give the time fuse more time to burn, so it would detonate as soon as possible after reaching the target. Firing at lower angles was useful for placing grenades through windows or other vertical openings.
Rifle grenades were common during World War II but during the late 1970s they were replaced by designated grenade launchers, that come as independent firearms (such as the M79 grenade launcher) or as a rifle attachment (such as the M203).
Today, there is a return to the concept of the rifle grenade, such as the M16's SIMON wall breach grenade and the IMI Tavor's "Rephaim" advance grenade. Modern doctrine designates a certain percentage of grenadiers, or soldiers equipped with a grenade launcher or combination rifle/grenade launcher. The criticism of this doctrine is that if the grenadiers in a group are disabled or separated from the group, then the group has lost the grenade launching ability. With rifle grenades, each soldier would be equipped with a small number of grenades, so every individual could become a grenadier if needed.
