Today, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the M320 Grenade Launcher. This is a cool weapon system I never had the chance to fire during my time in the Army.
I was fortunate enough to shoot the M203 several times during my career,. The M203 was bad-ass. From what I have read online, this weapon system replaces the M203 and is even more bad-ass.
Listed below I will share some of the specs, facts and good to know information about the M320 Grenade Launcher.
M320 Grenade Launcher
- Designed to replace the M203 Grenade Launcher
- It is built by Heckler & Koch
- It weighs approximately 3.3 pounds unloaded
- It has a retractable buttstock
- The sights can be mounted on the left or right side
- Easily integrated onto a solider’s carbine
- It can shoot five to seven rounds per minute
- It has a range of 150 to 400 meters
- It can be mounted on a M4 Carbine or used as a standalone weapon system
- It can accommodate longer projectiles, including non-lethal rounds
- It first entered production in 2008
- The 82nd Airborne was the first unit to receive the M320 Grenade Launchers
- It features a side loading system
- It also features a folding foregrip
- It has a leaf sight that flips up as needed
- It has a double action trigger
- One M320 Grenade Launcher sells for $3,500
- It features a single shot feed system
- The barrel length is 11 inches
- The M320 has three major parts: a grenade launcher with rifled barrel, Day/Night Sight (DNS) produced by Insight Technology, Inc and a hand held Laser Range Finder (LRF).
- The Day/Night Sight allows the grenadier to effectively engage the enemy in the dark.
- The M320 can fire all NATO high-explosive, smoke, and illumination grenades.
- In case of misfire, the M320 operator merely has to pull the trigger again.
Video Overview
Final Thoughts
As you can see from the video, the military did a great job coming up with a weapon system to replace the M203 Grenade Launcher. The M320 Grenade Launcher helps fill the gap and gives soldiers a great standalone grenade launcher, or something that can be mounted to their carbine.
What are your thoughts? Have you fired the M320 Grenade Launcher before? If so, what did you like or dislike about it? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Resources
- http://www.americanspecialops.com/special-ops-weapons/m320-grenade-launcher.php
- https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/this-is-why-the-m320-kicks-the-m203s-ass
- Wikipedia
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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Just like the post about the M2/M2A1, this post about the M203/M320 clearly shows the superiority of the new, updated system. Although I have precisely 0 experience with either system, it’s overwhelmingly obvious that the M320 is the better system, and the one I would choose to carry with me into battle – its features are simply better.
In basic training, I was quite familiar with the M203 and I loved it. I was what they called “a natural” when I fired the training rounds, but I did experience misfires several times. I wondered if the would ever redesign it and now that I read this post, I can see they have developed a much better version. Man, how I would love to still be in and give the M320 a try.
I would love to get my hands on one of these!
I have always thought that anything that launches grenades is awesome. This seems to be a huge improvement on the M203.
This M320 Grenade Launcher is one fine piece of equipment. I had a little bit of experience with the M203, but this weapons appears to be much better. It would be fun to go out on the range for the day and do some live fires! It’s things like this that make me miss the Army.
Chuck