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M1 Garand and Carbine Grenade Launchers


BulletGuide
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Hardly a new topic but I thought I'd post some close-up photos of launchers for both the Garand and Carbine.

I've had these for years and really have little use for them except to get them out once in a great while and imagine what

it must have been like to use them in battle. So they will probably be for sale at some point, just some photos to show what

they look like and fit.

As you know, the Garand went through a number of types of launchers, evolving as they went to the one I'm posting here, the

M7A3. In both types you had some adjustment as far as distance, I would imagine the Carbine would have a limited range, maybe 50 yards or so? Don't know that for sure. I know reports from users say the Garand could get you over 150 yards on the right setting.

The have incremental marks to help predict how far you can launch the grenade.

Stories of improper use are pretty nasty. Forgetting which ammo you have loaded in either would produce graphically bad results, most publishers cut the photos off at the rifle, not wanting to show the poor soul who made the mistake of using a live round instead

of the proper blank or grenade round.... and in the heat of battle I guess it could happen, once.

So the M7A3 was the final development (I think, have not seen one past that but there could have been...). It required, as they all did, the proper gas plug with built in internal spring for it to be installed. I was surprised to read in various accounts how popular and often used they were. Fairly simple to install, I doubt that every soldier who used them had the aiming device installed on the stock but

most probably did. Whether they used it every time is another question.

I think the British cup style launcher may have been easier to install but required a rifle that was properly wire banded and re-inforced to be stable enough for use. That design was simpler due to the fact that a bolt rifle has less to go wrong when launching a grenade.

 

Here's the M7A3, made by Wiley Coyote's company ACME (for all of you who remember Saturday morning cartoons....)

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More on the Carbine version in another post.....

Bruce

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I did indeed, thought I'd see who remembered that one.. here's visual on the subject..

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Great description on the box, "Tickle your friends, surprise your opponent"... gone are the days of the great cartoons, the closest

we get today is Homer Simpson!

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The Carbine had a bit less to go wrong, small gas piston, shorter bolt slide etc. There was nothing to affect the gas system so the launcher just had to attach to the barrel. At first glance it almost seems inadequate but it proved quite effective in service. And as all the photos show, it was used a lot. My guess is that

the Pacific theater was the most popular place for it's use though it obviously was used in Europe and North Africa as well. I would imagine it could be fired

from the shoulder without too much recoil though I don't know that for sure. Maybe someone can comment on that. Given the shorter distance of travel it would

be logical that shoulder firing would add a great deal to accuracy...

 

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I didn't check for alignment before taking the photos, obviously it's not on the barrel perfectly... maybe that was an issue with these, it was for me

in that photo at least.....

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Nice - thanks for the photos!

 

I wonder if the cartoonist that drew Wiley Coyote was a vet with experience using the ACME grenade launcher, and therefore forever associated ACME with anything that went "BOOM"!

 

Meep, Meep!

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Dirt Detective

Great thread and nice pics..I like how you can shoot regular ammo without having to take the launcher off. Is the Garand launcher the same way?

 

P.S. Everything the Coyote ordered was from ACME....love that cartoon.

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Chuck Jones, who created Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, came up with these characters in 1948. During the war he drew and made cartoons with a military cartoon character, Private Snafu (Frank Capra actually came up with the name, Jones drew the characters). It was an educational series intended, among other things, to help keep guys from blowing each other up. So, yes, ACME may have played some small part in the Road Runner series. Jones was a huge part of Looney Tunes and worked for Warner Brothers and MGM.

Bottom line...we may not be able to draw a straight line from Wile E. Coyote to ACME grenade launchers, it may not be as big a stretch as one might think....

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