The M79 Grenade Launcher: The bloop gun
One of oddest weapons ever carried by the US military looked like a massive sawn-off shotgun. With the improbable nickname of the ‘bloop gun’ this handy little grenade launcher has had an impressively long life.
After World War 2, the Army decided to usher in a new series of weapons. During the previous war, soldiers had carried rifle grenades, simple handheld bombs that could be fired from a cup attached to the standard M1 rifle out to about 150 yards with sloppy but effective accuracy. Three soldiers in each squad were trained to carry and use these devices, and the Army thought they could do better. Originally called Project Salvo, then finally Project NIBLICK, the concept was that a dedicated grenade launcher that could fire faster and more accurately than the WWII rifle grenades, would just tie down two soldiers per squad rather than three, and still be more effective.
Project NIBLICK begat the weapon later designated the M79 Grenade Launcher.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
