M203 under barrel grenade launcher, obsolete?

[Tarrantula]

There are about a dozen "M203" listed by name and many more 40mm and 37mm listed in the "over 20mm" category

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor-98-462/page-2.html?wbdisable=true

 

[JasonGTA]

Basically this. A 40mm launcher is deployed as a replacement to a mortar in most situations. You take it out and start bombarding a target. I think there was a line of thought that having an underslung launcher was a convenience but experience shows it makes the rifle less effective when you go to use it.
When I got a tour of the Colt Canada facility many years ago, they were working on something very similar to the M320. It's a little disappointing nothing came of it but I can see how it would be a hard sell when literally everything in the CF needs replacing.

The Colt Canada model is called the Eagle

 

[I Dont Care About You]

There you go, apparently they are all prohibited by our sh!t govt. Thank goodness I don't own one.

 

[xxDaveMcxx]

You'd have to luck upon one or be the first to stumble across a sale ad. Also, they are pretty expensive. The one I have access to cost ca. $6k a bunch of years back. The various 40mm launchers are fairly rare yet they are still out there if you know the right people. At one time, there were quite a number of them in Calgary. Not sure why we were the hub of 40mm ownership but I knew several people who owned them.

Ammo is a problem. It's not overly available and when you can find the MIL chalk rounds they are eye wateringly expensive. The best solution is to source or make the components and then learn to reload ... which requires a few custom tools. Aside from the cases, the components can be 3D printed, which makes things a bit easier.

I remember many years ago, Ontario Sporting Goods that was in Concord had an M203 for sale. It was quite expensive even back then. You didn't even need your FAC to buy it. Pay and walk out with it. They also had an RPG-7 launcher at one time, also for a very high price. Too bad all those items are prohibited now.

 

[55recce]

air soft are available

 

[ArmedGinger]

What seemed like a long time ago

 

[Wilf Black]

I am not 100% certain of the legal status of the 40mm launchers. For a period of time, they were / are classed as not a firearm due to their very low muzzle velocity. They are definitely below the 400fps limit used to classify pellet guns as not firearms. Not sure if this is still true.

They haven't been a problem in Canada however, they were declared prohibited. I haven't looked into it but its a bit furzy if that applies to currently held ones or the or for new imports which you and I cannot have personally and along the same vein as Trudeau and others stopping the legal transfer legally owned handguns after a shooting in the US; a small minded, thoughtless and mean spirted little man, but without the brains of his daddy who at least had them

In the 1950s bottom feeders like Trudeau would have been dragging Viola Desmond out of a theater in Nova Scotia for being the wrong color and as a white Anglo Saxon Protestant I would have stood up for her only to be told by Justin Trudeau's Police at the time that if I didn't get out of the way I would be arrested for "obstructing Justice" (enter horse laugh) so they could drag out the N......r. so they would have time to go have their nails done! ) In he decade before that it was "dirty japs" - full Canadian citizens as our own govt like Trudeau disgraced themselves completely and worse still did it in our name, making us "ugly Canadians"

In the words of Former Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly; probably one of the finest police officers in Canada, (an his mentor Chief Saunders in Toronto) who was forced to resign in a blame game and perverted political correctness "Gaining the publics trust is difficult and its important"

"As a firearms owner in Canada since the 1970s I know what it is like to be black and living in the southern united states 200 years ago". I said that to a friend in the Justice Department and he found that hard to believe as he had no similar lived experience. As Gen Stanley Crystal said about the foundational principles of leadership a critical component is Empathy not Sympathy

 

[Someone76239]

would love to try one oneday

 

[Big Bad]

would love to try one oneday

At one of the last arms show I was able to attend, Colt Canada was showing a prototype system where a screen mounted to your C7 or C8 would display a better than Google Earth image of the surrounding area and show you where your rifle mounted 40 mm grenade was going to land as you shifted elevation and so on. They said at that point it was only accurate to within I think 6 metres. It was quite impressive but they wouldn't let me take a test shot, lol.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

would love to try one oneday

They are very unique to shoot.

The round makes a BLOOP noise and it is so big and so slow you can watch the thing fly. I've only shot stand alone units and those don't weigh very much so they have a surprising amount of recoil.

 

[maxman1]

Should just bring back the M79.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

I would FRICKEN LOVE to have an M79. SOOOOOO COOL !

 

[call2arms]

Should just bring back the M79.

M79 seems intuitive to use. It would be interesting comparing rate of fire, accuracy, and reliability between under barrel M203, M320 and the M79

 

[SilentKnight]

AFAIK, Canada still issues the M203 for the C7. The Americans went to a side-break single shot called the M320 that some poor grunt has to schlep around with all his other mission critical stuff.

Interestingly, Canada replaced the .50-cal M2HB machine gun as a stand-off weapon, and replaced it with an automatic 40mm grenade launcher on a tripod. So the progression of distance is:
fists, knives, entrenching tools, billy clubs, bayonets
-> 9mm pistols
-> C8 and C7
-> 5.56 belt fed / 7.62 belt fed
-> 40mm grenades
-> 25mm LAV 6 gun
-> 81mm mortars
-> artillery
-> air strikes.

Even the TAPV armoured car, which is not a combat vehicle, has its version of the 40mm with about 400m range.

Speaking of launchers and range, have you seen the Chinese Army's "grenade launcher sniper rifle"....

Yes, it is as dumb as it sounds lol

 

[SilentKnight]

M79 seems intuitive to use. It would be interesting comparing rate of fire, accuracy, and reliability between under barrel M203, M320 and the M79

The B&T GL06 is my favorite 40mikemike launcher from a design standpoint (never shot one). It would be interesting to add it into the mix with the other 3 battle proven contenders.

Lightweight, modernized with pic rails and an HK folding stock.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

M79 seems intuitive to use. It would be interesting comparing rate of fire, accuracy, and reliability between under barrel M203, M320 and the M79

The M79 was already under threat when the M203 and its predecessor were introduced. It has its drawbacks, or there wouldn't be so much effort to replace it.

 

[wrangler4867]

The B&T GL06 is my favorite 40mikemike launcher from a design standpoint (never shot one). It would be interesting to add it into the mix with the other 3 battle proven contenders.

Lightweight, modernized with pic rails and an HK folding stock.

I remember many years ago, Ontario Sporting Goods that was in Concord had an M203 for sale. It was quite expensive even back then. You didn't even need your FAC to buy it. Pay and walk out with it. They also had an RPG-7 launcher at one time, also for a very high price. Too bad all those items are prohibited now.

They were reasonably priced, even in the late 80's.

They sold for $599.

OGT brought them in. After the first batch came through, customs decided they were inadmissible, controlled good, weapon of war, something like that. Peter, the owner of OGT, said he had another batch in England that was stuck there because he couldn't import them anymore.

Once they were all sold off, the consignment whores started their games.

The thing at Ontario sporting that was a turn off was people coming in, buying stuff they had no interest in, then putting it on consignment for 3 or 4 times the price.

M203s went from $599 to $3500 in a short period of time.

Anything with a blue price tag was a consignment piece.

Before you start yelling at me about supply and demand etc. etc. keep in mind, this is just historical info. Not a segway to a derailed tangent argument about the speculators morals of people from 40 years ago.

 

[koldt]

Welllll, even Peter upped his prices. There was a stripped 203 receiver he sold for $900 back in '89, him saying because it was his "last one".

 

[I Dont Care About You]

Welllll, even Peter upped his prices. There was a stripped 203 receiver he sold for $900 back in '89, him saying because it was his "last one".

I was starting to wonder if you were dead.

 

[wrangler4867]

Welllll, even Peter upped his prices. There was a stripped 203 receiver he sold for $900 back in '89, him saying because it was his "last one".

Everything he sold was his last one.

"It was on layaway, was never picked up. It's in good shape, excellent bore, 80% finish remaining, typical of being on guard duty"

Except when his daughter answered the phone for the same item. That was priceless.

"OH, those, yea, we got lots, you want it restricted or with the flash hider welded on"

My friend said, If you shake his hand, check the rings on your fingers.

Good times.