MARK 19 GRENADE LAUNCHER FULL
When used, it is usually seen on either a tripod or on a vehicle mount the latter is the preferred method as the Mk 19 as very heavy: the gun body alone weighs 77.6 pounds (35.2 kilograms), and the full weapon requires the addition of a 0.4 pound (0.2 kg) feeding throat, a 21-pound (9.5 kg) gun cradle and a 44-pound (20 kg) tripod, with the belt boxes weighing a further 41.9 pounds (19 kg) for a 32-round PA120 or 59.5 pounds (27 kg) for a 48-round M548. The weapon has a flash suppressor which only serves to protect the shooter's eyes and not as a way conceal the weapon. Practical rate of fire is 40 rpm sustained and 60 rpm for rapid emergency fire.
In addition to that, the Mk 19 also fires from an open bolt, which helps to prevent cooking off even further. The weapon has a fairly low cyclic rate of 300-400 rounds per minute, which allows it to cool off sufficiently before firing the next round, preventing cook-offs. It operates on advanced primer ignition blowback principle (or API blowback for short), which is where the primer of the round is ignited while the bolt is still moving forward and before the round is fully chambered: this means part of the recoil force is offset by the continued forward motion of the bolt. The Mk 19 is an air-cooled, belt-fed, fully-automatic grenade launcher usually manned by a crew of two.
MARK 19 GRENADE LAUNCHER UPGRADE
The ASP-30 autocannon was developed as an upgrade to the Mk 19 (and the M2HB Browning heavy machine gun) in the role of a vehicle-mounted weapon, but it did not proceed past the preproduction phase.
MARK 19 GRENADE LAUNCHER MOD
The XM307 ACSW (50 pounds empty with tripod and fire control system, 80 pounds loaded) was ultimately cancelled, while the Mk 47 Mod 0 grenade launcher (90 pounds empty with tripod and fire control system), at one point mooted to fully replace the Mk 19, has thus far only being purchased in limited numbers by USSOCOM and similar special operations groups. Several attempts have been made to develop a successor, with the main goal being to produce a more portable weapon (an empty Mk 19 Mod 3 on an M3 tripod weighs 145 pounds) and one that can accept modern optics and fire control systems (as the Mk 19 is only really compatible with the elderly AN/TVS-5 starlight scope). When originally introduced, the Mk 19 was intended to be a successor to the crank-operated Mk 18 Mod 0 and blow-forward Mk 20 Mod 0 grenade launchers. It had a smaller and slimmer form factor and was fired using a solenoid it never worked properly and was scrapped during the prototype phase.įurther refinements to the design began as the Mod 3 in 1976, which was type-classified by the US Navy in 1981 and adopted by the US Army in 1983.
In 1974 the experimental lightweight Mod 2 version was developed. 1,000 examples were produced or modified from Mod 0s. The Mod 1 was later developed, and six of them were successfully tested on patrol boats on the Mekong Delta in 1972. NOS Louisville originally designed the prototype Mod 0 version of the Mk 19 during the Vietnam War, but was deemed unreliable and unsafe for use. The Mk 19 was originally designed in 1966 by Naval Ordnance Station Louisville (NOS Louisville for short), using the powerful 40×53mm grenade round developed in the late 1950s for the Army's M75 grenade launcher.
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