

Since then, many units were converted for use on foot, rather than from a tripod. The sheer weight of the weapon and bulk of the ammunition limited its versatility, until the advent of power armor. Designed for use as a crew-served weapon, the automatic grenade launcher was intended for use against a variety of targets ranging from infantry and light vehicles to fortifications and other materiel. The automatic grenade launcher, sometimes referred to as a grenade machinegun, is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled automatic weapon designed to lay down a heavy volume of explosive ordnance and support infantry and vehicle operations.


However, it is quite compact, especially with the stock sawed off, while the straightforward optics, consisting of a fixed blade sight on the front and a folding leaf sight on the rear, enable accurate fire with just pointing and shooting. The one drawback is that the grenade launcher is single-shot only, reducing its rate of fire and precluding a sustained volume of fire.

Utilizing the High-Low propulsion system, the M79 allows the operator to deliver high explosive rounds at a range of hundreds of meters, while its rugged design - consisting of just five major parts, a receiver, fore-end, barrel, sight, and stock - offers excellent reliability. One of the earliest United States grenade launcher designs, built around the 40mm grenade.
