November 4, 2005: The U.S. Marine Corps is buying the MGL-140 40mm, six shot, grenade launcher. This weapon is, literally, a shotgun size revolver that fires standard American 40mm grenades. Thus it has a minimum range of 30 meters, and a maximum range of 400 meters. The weapon is 32 inches long, and weighs 13.2 pounds empty, and 20.3 pounds loaded (40mm rounds weigh about 19 ounces each.)
Like any 40mm grenade launcher, it can fire lethal and non-lethal (tear gas, Etc.) rounds, and fire all six of them in a few seconds. The MGL-140 also has a rail for mounting various types of aiming devices (day and night scopes). MGL-140s retail for $6,000 each, but the marines may have gotten a volume discount. |