M319 grenade launcher: Difference between revisions

The grenade launcher has two firing modes. The first launches a single grenade at around normal grenade speed: after hitting a surface, the grenade detonates on impact with an opponent or after the time of a [[M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade|frag grenade's]] detonation, in which case the grenade will explode after bouncing off the ground once. The second firing mode shoots a grenade that explodes when the player wishes. This is performed by holding down the trigger, which fires the grenade but merely primes it; it will only explode after the trigger is released. This enables the player to lay a trap if the grenade is bounced properly into position, and essentially creates an explosive with a dead-man's trigger (a trigger that will go off once it is released, e.g. when the player dies). This function is also helpful if the player wishes to fire at targets that are farther away than the detonation timer would normally allow. Like the fragmentation grenade in ''Halo: Reach'', a player will take damage if hit by the grenade when it is merely primed.

The weapon utilizes a [[wikipedia:Break-action|break-action]] [[wikipedia:Breech-loading|breech-loading]] system: after firing one round, the weapon must be reloaded, like many twentieth century shotguns.<ref name="profile"/>