There is even a book, written by the same author as the one that was turned into Full Metal Jacket, where a M79 is a central plot device. You have to admit, the scene in Apocalypse Now where the quiet specialist known as ‘Roach’ reaches out and zaps a VC heckler in the dark of night near the Do Long Bridge is one of the best in the movie. The M79 was photogenic and appears in more than 70 films and video games q#5ranging from The Green Berets to Left 4 Dead. As recently as the war in Iraq, EOD units were using the longer ranged M79 to pick off suspected IEDs at a longer standoff distance than the M203 allowed.Īnother thing that has kept this vintage oversized shotgun in the public view is its place in modern culture. Whereas the M203 was thought capable of hitting a house, the M79 with the right user could choose which window. Special units such as Navy Seals and the US Army Rangers have kept a few for special occasions. The bloop gun was not totally retired in US service however. The M79 made an appearance with Marine units recently in Iraq.
These problems kept the M79 from being a 100% success. While platoon leaders loved the extra, mobile firepower, the individual soldiers in the field selected to carry it had a legitimate pucker factor in a close-in firefight. When your only gun is a grenade launcher, everything looks like a good target for a grenade! The gun could however (and was) also be used as a devastating spud gun for very close range targets, hopefully hitting whoever was shooting at you, but the grenade’s explosive charge wouldn’t go off. The M576 buckshot round did not have an arming fuse inside of it and would fire its load of shot at point blank range, but precious few of these were issued. The fact that it required at least 75-feet of travel past the muzzle before it armed left these solders essentially unarmed at close to moderate ranges. Due to the size of the launcher, soldiers chosen to carry it often did so without the backup of any other weapon. The M79 began to reach the field in 1961 and soon was seeing active combat use in Vietnam. Blooper gunners in Vietnam often just carried the launcher and a handgun for protection.
0 kommentar(er)
