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M79 grenade launcher

From Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games
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M79 grenade launcher - 40x46mm

The M79 grenade launcher is a shoulder-fired standalone breech-loading 40mm launcher developed during the Vietnam War. It uses a low-recoil 40mm grenade round developed as part of project NIBLICK, a sub-project of the SALVO (which does not stand for anything) and SPIW (Special Purpose Individual Weapon) advanced weapon trials run by the US military. This round used the high-low recoil mitigation system developed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, allowing a large projectile to be fired with manageable recoil. The result would be a grenade round with greater range, accuracy and convenience than a rifle grenade, while remaining more portable than a light mortar.

SPIW was intended to produce a combination of a flechette-firing rifle and a multi-shot grenade launcher, but while technical problems dogged the main project, one of Springfield's grenade launcher prototypes, a single-shot break-open launcher called S-3 that resembled a giant shotgun, showed promise. Its competitor, the three-shot magazine-fed T148 (not related to the XM148 grenade launcher) proved too complex and too unreliable, and the Army chose a refined version of the S-3, the S-5, as their new weapon, the XM79. With the further addition of a new sight, the weapon was adopted as the M79 in December 1960, thus beginning the curious tendency of American advanced rifle projects to produce grenade launchers instead of rifles. This was later continued by the SPIW program's M203, the OICW program's XM25, and the OICW Increment 1 (XM8) program's M320.

It was well-liked in Vietnam where it was regarded as "the platoon leader's artillery" and its distinctive thoomp report led to nicknames like "blooper" and "thumper."

While the M79 is relatively light, weighing just six and a half pounds loaded, it is 29 inches long, meaning that it had to be issued as a primary weapon to dedicated grenadiers. As a result, over time it was largely replaced by the underbarrel M203 in service, though it is still used today in niche roles due to its superior accuracy and range. The weapon is sometimes seen with its stock and / or barrel sawed down to make it handier, though this limits its accuracy. It is known that American DEVGRU operators use a pistol-length version fitted with a reflex sight, affectionately known as the "pirate gun."

A similar tube magazine-fed pump-action weapon, the China Lake Launcher, was developed for use by Navy SEALS.

The M79 grenade launcher and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Specifications

(1961-present)

Type: Grenade Launcher

Caliber: 40x46mm (M79), 37mm (Spike's Tactical Thumper)

Capacity: 1 (breech loaded)

Fire Modes: Single shot

Film

Title Actor Character Note Date
The Green Berets U.S. Special Forces 1968
Apocalypse Now Herb Rice The Roach With tiger-stripe paint scheme 1979
Uncommon Valor LRRP Team member 1983
Missing In Action Chuck Norris Col. James Braddock 1984
Missing In Action Vietnamese Assassin 1984
Wheels of Fire Scourge's Men 1985
Latino Contras soldier 1985
The Park is Mine Tommy Lee Jones Mitch 1985
The Park is Mine Jong Soo Park Tran Chan Dinh 1985
Platoon Andrew B. Clark Tubbs 1986
Platoon US Army soldiers 1986
King Kong Lives US Army soldiers 1986
Demon of Paradise Soldier 1987
Hamburger Hill Don James McDaniel 1987
Hamburger Hill Tim Quill Pvt. Joe Beletsky 1987
Full Metal Jacket U.S. Marines 1987
Casualties of War Michael J. Fox PFC Max Eriksson 1989
Casualties of War Don Harvey Cpl. Thomas E. Clark 1989
The Siege of Firebase Gloria Wings Hauser Cpl. DiNardo 1989
The Siege of Firebase Gloria R. Lee Ermey Sgt. Maj. Bill Hafner 1989
Born on the Fourth of July A US marine 1989
Bullet in the Head ARVN soldiers 1990
Marked for Death Tom Wright Charles 1990
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation Jody Abrahams Pango 1990
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation Dwayne Alexandre Carl Brackston 1990
Terminator 2: Judgement Day Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 With & without shattered stock 1991
Hard Target Arnold Vosloo Van Cleef 1993
Never Say Die A police officer 1994
Soldier Boyz Vinh Moc's soldier 1995
The Walking Dead Vonte Sweet Pfc. Joe Brooks 1995
The Rage Tiani Warden Cyndi 1997
Wild Zero Makoto Inamiya Captain 1999
Going Back Jaimz Woolvett Tex Atkins 2001
We Were Soldiers Blake Heron Spc. Galen Bungum 2002
We Were Soldiers U.S. 1st Cavalry soldiers 2002
Hellboy Seen in arsenal case 2004
Typhoon ROKN UDT/SEAL commandos 2005
Watchmen Jeffrey Dean Morgan The Comedian With smoke rounds 2009
The Marine 2 Arms dealer 2009
The Expendables Dolph Lundgren Gunnar Jansen With laser pointer 2010
MacGruber Von Cunth's man 2010
Machine Gun Preacher LRA troops 2011
I Am Number Four Teresa Palmer Number Six 2011
Battleground Bob Cymbalski Texas 2012
Ragnarok Sofia Helin Elisabeth As improvised harpoon 2013
Ragnarok Nicolai Cleve Broch Allan 2013
Mad Max: Fury Road Jon Iles The Ace 2015
Hardcore Henry Oleg Poddubniy Yuri 2016
the Post U.S. Marines 2017
Kong: Skull Island Shea Whigham Captain Earl Cole 2017
John Wick: Chapter 2 Seen in armory
Malay Regiment 17th Royal Malay Regiment troopers
Communist guerillas
Extraction Chris Hemsworth Tyler Rake 2020
Birds of Prey Margot Robbie Harley Quinn 2020

Television

Title Actor Character Note Air Date
Tour of Duty US Army soldiers 1987 - 1989
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Summer Glau Cameron Phillips "Dungeons and Dragons" 2008 - 2009
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Brian Austin Green Derek Reese "Mouse Trap" 2008 - 2009
KochiKame Mokomichi Hayami Keiichi Nakagawa (Ep. 08) 2009
Iris - Season 1 Seen in IRIS base 2009
Ultimate Weapons Soldiers "Firepower"; archive footage 2009 - 2011
Fear the Walking Dead - Season 3 Daniel Sharman Troy Otto "Brother’s Keeper" (S3E12) 2017
Frank Dillane Nicholas Clark "This Land Is Your Land" (S3E13)
The Continental: From the World of John Wick seen in armory; "Brothers in Arms" (S1E01) 2023

Video Games

Game Title Appears as Mods Notation Release Date
Resident Evil 2 Grenade Launcher With Pistol Grip 1998
The Operative: No One Lives Forever 2000
Resident Evil Survivor Grenade Gun 2000
Fallout Tactics Grenade Launcher 2001
Max Payne Grenade Launcher 2001
Resident Evil: Code Veronica Grenade Launcher 2001
The World Is Not Enough GL 40 2001
The Getaway 2002
Vietcong 2003
Postal 2 Grenade Launcher Fires M26 hand grenades 2003
Battlefield Vietnam w/ camo paint 2004
Time Crisis: Crisis Zone "Grenade" Depicted with a rather slow bullet velocity 2004
Driver 3 2004
Shellshock Nam '67 2004
Conflict: Vietnam 2004
Cold Fear M79 Sawed-off barrel and stock 2005
Vietcong 2 2005
Elite Warriors Vietnam 2005
Driver: Parallel Lines 2006
Scarface: The World is Yours 2006
Time Crisis IV "Grenade" Sawed-off barrel, with pistol grip Appears as a weapon icon in arcade mode 2006
Eternal Damnation "M79 GrenadeLauncher" 2006
Team Fortress 2 "Loch and Load" With over/under double barrels Erroneously holds 3 rounds at a time 2007
7.62 High Calibre 2008
Far Cry 2 2008
Xenus 2: White Gold 2008
Counter-Strike Online M79 Saw-Off Shortened barrel & cut-off stock; classified as a pistol; comes with a gold-plated variant 2009
Left 4 Dead 2 Grenade Launcher Optional laser sight 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Thumper 2009
Killing Floor 2009
1968 Tunnel Rats (VG) 2009
Terminator Salvation with M4-style stock 2009
Wheelman Grenade Launcher Shown to be muzzle loaded 2009
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam Featured with a tiger-stripe finish 2010
Fallout: New Vegas Grenade Rifle Extended barrel available as an upgrade 2010
Payday: The Heist GL40 2011
Uncharted: Golden Abyss M79 w/ pistol grip 2011
Jagged Alliance: Back in Action M79 2012
Medal of Honor: Warfighter M79 Cut-down "pirate pistol" configuration 2012
Project Reality: Falklands Firing HE and smoke rounds 2012
Project Reality: Vietnam Firing HE, smoke, and buckshot rounds 2012
Ravaged 2012
Grand Theft Auto V Compact Grenade Launcher Sawed-off 2013
Payday 2 GL40 2013
Far Cry 4 2014
World of Guns: Gun Disassembly M79 2014
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades M79 Thumper 2016
Shadow Warrior 2 One Trick Pony 2016
Mafia III 2016
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam 2017
Far Cry 5 M-79 Sawed-off 2018
Fallout 76 M79 Grenade Launcher Sawed-off Stock and barrel can be restored 2018
Far Cry New Dawn M-79 Sawed-off 2019
Resident Evil 2 (2019) "GM 79" Pistol-grip; full-length stock and leaf sight can be attached as upgrades 2019
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War M79 2020
Far Cry 6 M-79 Sawed-off 2021
Marauders (video game) "Mini Thumper" Sawed-off Added in United Allies update in 2023 2022

Anime

Title Character Note Date
Black Magic M-66 Spec-Ops Commandos 1987
Appleseed Deunan Knute Fitted with red dot scope 1988
The Abashiri Family Kichiza Abashiri "Explosion of violence!! We don't have justice!" (E01) 1991
New Dominion Tank Police Criminal 1993
Cowboy Bebop Henchman 1998 - 1999
Cowboy Bebop Outlaw 1998 - 1999
Black Lagoon Revy 2006
When They Cry: Rei Kasai 2009
Coppelion Kanon Ozu 2013
Lupin Zero Gaucho Ep. "Young Lupin Calls Himself "the Third" 2022 - 2023

Animation

Title Voice Actor Characters Notation Date
Love, Death & Robots - Season 3 seen in armory; "Kill Team Kill" (S3E05) 2022