XM148 Grenade Launcher
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The XM148 was an experimental 40 mm
grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...
developed by
Colt Firearms Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt that has become a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the s ...
as the CGL-4 (Colt Grenade Launcher). Colt manufactured the launcher for field testing during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
era. After problems with the experimental design were discovered, the XM148 was replaced by AAI Corporation's conceptually similar M203 design, which became the primary grenade launcher used by the
US armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except ...
and others until its ongoing replacement with the M320.


Description

The Colt XM148 grenade launcher was created by Colt's Design Project Engineer, gun designer . The May 1967 "Colt's Ink" newsletter announced that he had won a national competition for his selection and treatment of materials in the design. Th
newsletter
stated in part, "In only 47 days, he wrote the specifications, designed the launcher, drew all the original prints, and had a working model built." The weapon was designed for installation below the barrel of M16-type rifles, and was intended to replace the stand-alone M79 correcting the problem of grenadiers relying on pistols as a secondary weapon. In July 1966 the US Government contracted Colt Firearms to provide nearly 20,000 XM-148s with the weapon arriving in South Vietnam in December 1966. The weapon was pulled from service in the fall of 1967. Originally made for use with the
M16 Rifle The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States Armed Forces, United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56×45mm automatic ...
, the XM148 was used by US Special Forces in conjunction with the XM177E2 and the Australian Special Air Service Regiment in conjunction with the modified L1A1 and
Sterling Submachine Gun The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested by the British Army in 1944–1945, but did not start to replace the Sten until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained standard issue in the British Army ...
. The weapon was also adopted by the
United States Air Force Security Forces The United States Air Force Security Forces (SF) are the ground combat force and military police service of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The USAF Security Forces were formerly known as Military Police (MP), Air Police (AP), and ...
in 1968.


Problems

The launcher's barrel could slide forward to accept a single 40 mm round into the breech. It came with a primitive version of the quadrant sight later used with the M203. It differed from the later model by featuring an external cocking handle and an extended trigger that allowed the weapon to be fired without removing the hand from the rifle's pistol grip. This same extended trigger was also one source of the weapon's problems as it allowed accidental discharges of a loaded weapon if caught by tree branches, gear, or anything else capable of overcoming the 6 to 11 pound trigger pull. Another problem with the weapon was that it was overcomplicated compared to the M203. It was difficult to disassemble and had many small parts that could be easily lost while cleaning the weapon in the field. Where the M203 broke down into receiver group, barrel group, hand guard group and quadrant sight (the quadrant sight being the smallest piece), the XM148 broke down into barrel, pistol grip, receiver, hand guard, quadrant sight, and several small pins and clips. These issues led the U.S. military to adopt the M203 over the XM148, though the U.S. Air Force did keep a number of the XM148s. In fact U.S. Air Force Security Forces were still being trained on the XM148 in lieu of the M203 as late as 1989. Some security police units still had them in their armories until the 1990s.


Users


Former users

* * * * : U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. *


See also

* XM174


Sources

*TM 9-1005-249-14 Technical Manual Rifle, 5.56-mm, M16; Rifle, 5.56-mm, XM16E1; and Launcher, Grenade, 40-mm, XM148 dated 1 August 1966 (reprint) *Patent US 3279114 A Grenade launcher *Gordon L. Rottman, ''US Grenade Launchers – M79, M203, and M320'', Weapon series 57, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2017. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Grenade launchers of the United States