Milkor MGL

The Milkor MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a six-shot 40 mm revolver-type grenade launcher developed in South Africa by Milkor (Pty) Ltd and designed by Andries C. Piek. It was demonstrated as a concept to the South African Defence Force in 1981 and accepted into service as the Y2, entering production in 1983. Since then it has been adopted by the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of more than fifty countries, with total production exceeding 50,000 units. Its purpose is to raise a small squad's firepower well above what a single-shot launcher such as the M203 can deliver: high explosive, HEAT, anti-riot baton, irritant and pyrotechnic rounds can all be loaded and fired as fast as the trigger can be pulled.

The weapon is a low-velocity, shoulder-fired launcher built around a six-round spring-driven revolving cylinder accepting most 40x46mm grenades. It consists of a progressively rifled steel barrel, a sight assembly, a frame carrying the firing mechanism, the cylinder and a folding stock, and weighs 5.3 kg. The fire selector safety above the rear pistol grip can be worked from either side, and the launcher cannot discharge if dropped. Loading requires releasing the cylinder axis pin and swinging the frame clear: the shooter puts their fingers into the empty chambers and rotates the aluminium cylinder to wind it against its driving spring, then inserts grenades one at a time since the cylinder cannot be removed. Firing is double action - the trigger cocks and releases the firing pin - after which gas pressure on a piston unlocks the cylinder and lets the spring index the next chamber. A misfire is cleared simply by pulling the trigger again. Sustained rate is 18 to 21 rounds per minute, with bursts of three rounds per second possible.

The Y2 and several other models carry an Armson Occluded Eye Gunsight, a collimator sight giving a single aiming post that the shooter superimposes on the target with both eyes open. The post subtends the height of a man at 200 m, doubling as a rangefinding aid, and is tritium-illuminated with a life of at least ten years; the range quadrant is graduated in 25 m increments.

The MGL Mk 1 of 1996 incorporated more than a decade of user feedback, and earlier weapons can be upgraded to that configuration. Two improved variants followed in 2004: the Mk 1S, replacing the aluminium frame with stainless steel and adding a conventional trigger unit and Picatinny rails around the forend, and the Mk 1L, which adds a 140 mm cylinder for longer special-purpose rounds such as tear gas canisters and less-lethal impact munitions, plus a sliding buttstock. The 37/38mm Multiple Anti-Riot model arrived in 2006, and the SuperSix MRGL of 2012 added a recoil reduction system and the ability to fire medium-velocity munitions out to 800-1,200 m. In the United States, the unaffiliated Milkor USA produced the Mk 1S and Mk 1L as the MGL-105 and MGL-140; the US Marine Corps bought 200 MGL-140s in 2005 as the M32 Multi-shot Grenade Launcher, field-testing them in 2006 with the M2A1 reflex sight.