Wednesday, June 24, 2009

1/6 Multiple Grenade Launchers

Saw this picture in The Straits Times about two weeks back when Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng visited the Home Team Convention held at the Suntec Convention Hall and he got to try out a tear gas launcher. That is one nice mean-looking launcher and I started searching the internet for it but to no avail.

The closest I got was this picture but still no clue as to what type of gun it was

But I did find this picture of some mean-looking Peruvian Riot police in full gear participating in a military parade to celebrate Peru’s Independence Day in Lima. - must be DAMN HOT in there - phew!

Anyway I decided to take a look at the multiple grenade launchers I do have, not counting M203s or M79 blooper guns of course. This one I picked up when I got the T-800 figure produced to coincide with "T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996)" - an attraction at Universal Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan (see my post here).

Looks nice from far but actually quite far from nice. The launcher doesn't even have an opening on the barrel, how are the rounds supposed to come out - LOL!

In "Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)", the T-800 played by Arnold Schwarzenegger used an MM1 Grenade Launcher to fire CS grenades around the police blockade. The weapon that came with the T-800 figure looked nothing like the MM1 Grenade Launcher at all!

BBI Elite Force produced a 1/6 die-cast ARWEN 37 Launcher some time back but me thinks it's a bit small scale-wise. The ARWEN 37 fires 37 mm less-lethal rounds (foam or wooden or tear gas payload) designed for riot control. It has a 5-round rotary drum magazine. "ARWEN" is an acronym for "Anti Riot Weapon ENfield". The Arwen 37 launcher is a multi-shot riot gun used by the famous SAS.

The Arwen 37 was originally developed in the mid/late 80's as a riot control projectile launcher.

Last but not least, we come to the M32 MGL grenade launcher, last seen in "Transformers (2007)" (NOTE: Go catch "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)" now showing - you won't regret it if you are the type who like LOTS of ACTION & EXPLOSION and a full battle between Autobots and humans against Decepticons and the Fallen!!).

The MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a lightweight 40 mm semi-automatic, 6-shot grenade launcher developed and manufactured in South Africa by Milkor (Pty) Ltd.

The MGL is multiple-shot weapon, intended to significantly increase a small squad's firepower when compared to traditional single-shot grenade launchers like the M203.

The MGL is designed to be simple, rugged and reliable. It uses the well-proven revolver principle to achieve a high rate of accurate fire which can be rapidly brought to bear on a target.

A variety of rounds such as HE, HEAT, anti-riot baton, irritant or pyrotechnic can be loaded and fired as fast as the trigger can be pulled; the cylinder can be loaded or unloaded rapidly to maintain a high rate of fire. Although intended primarily for offensive/defensive use with high-explosive rounds, with appropriate ammunition the launcher is suitable for anti-riot and other security operations.

The MGL is equipped with the Armson Occluded Eye Gunsight (OEG); a collimating reflex sight which provides a single aiming dot. The shooter aims with both eyes open and the effect is to see the aiming spot superimposed on the target, both target and aiming dot being in sharp focus.

All launchers demonstrated by Hot Toys Secret Service Agent (reviewed in the next post)

UPDATED July 9, 2009: A BIG THANK YOU to Bracken for letting me know that the launcher in the first picture is the FN Herstal FN303 Less Lethal Launcher



Developed to incapacitate individuals up to 50m, the FN303 is a compressed air launcher which fires a variety of 8.5g, 18mm projectiles with a high hit probability. The major advantages of the system are efficiency, extreme accuracy, range 1 to 100m (very short safety distance), easiness of use (no recoil, no flash, little sound) and flexibility. The 15-round magazine allows multiple engagements and the variety of projectiles - impact, marking, OC - allows a large range of missions. The system can be used in a stand alone shoulder fired mode or fitted to an assault rifle such as M16.

6 comments:

  1. Peru has the scariest looking riot police EVER.

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  2. Makes one think twice about rioting ;p

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  3. that yellow grenade laucher looks nasty! is that the one by Zacca???
    what brand is it??? is Zacca good brand?
    i can't tell from the photos but can you say the details on the launcher is great? how about the working parts?
    i once buy a Barret Sniper Rifle and thought it was by Dragon DML but turns out not! no holes at the end of the barrel! really frustrating!
    so now i make sure to research first as much as possible before buying anything! :)
    -AL

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  4. hey AL, the packaging reads "taosanarmy@yahoo.com.hk" - i don't know of Zacca as i usually get my weapons together with the figure, unless it's from Hot Toys coz you can be quite sure of their quality. Dragon did produce some very nice weapon sets way back when they were still king of 1/6 but not anymore.

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  5. hey there,

    don't know if you discovered what that launcher was but I think it looks a lot like the FN Herstal FN303 Less Lethal Launcher? What do you think?

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  6. THANKS bracken, i think you hit the jackpot :)

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