What do ya do with these things?

[Graybeard]

OK I confess until Ed contacted me about setting this up I had no clue they were even available to civilians. But hey I'm the guy who asked Doug and Tim if they were sure there were enough people interested in mortars and cannons to set up a forum. That forum is now in the top five or ten in use here. Sooooo....

What the heck do ya do with these things? What are some uses folks are making of them? Do you buy factory ammo or reload? What's available and from where to do both?

Bottom line tell us something about them so folks like me (and surely there are others out there not yet in the know on them) will have some clue about their use and why we need one.

[Collector]

New guy here so my opinion may not be worth much 

Now 37mm are basically unreglated (at least federally) as long as you fire only flares, smoke, gas rounds (basically anything that's not 'antipersonnel' according to the ATF).

There are launchers that mount under an ar-15 that look like an M203, and other break-barrel launchers that look more like an M79.  There are even some pistols.  There are some professional launchers that are used by police.

The commercial rounds are mostly smoke or flares, but are very expensive... Most people reload.  A lot of people fire 35mm camera film cases filled with sand or chalk.

You can register your 37mm as a DD (Destructive device) and fire shotgun shells, adapters that fire multiple .22 rounds, etc.

You can buy a 40mm launcher (m203, M79) but most of the rounds that are commercially availalable are practice (chalk) rounds surplus from US military.


There's much more to it, but that's it in a nutshell.

[jeeper1]

Here are two of my launchers.

On top is a Federal Labs 37/38mm/1.5 inch Gas Gun. Below that is an 8.25 inch long aluminum case and a 37mm slam fire launcher.
Here is my Etcetra under barrel launcher.

[trickyrick]

this is what i did. i took this

and added a saiga stock to it w/ a yugo grenade launcher sight and made this.




 why...cuz i cud, (because i could). need to finish front sight and paint stock adapter then try it out.

[BoomLover]

Very cool! BoomLover

[Incitatus]

Hmmmm ... "What do you do with these things"

That is a good question.  I think that firing these things is a tremendous hoot.  Over the Thanksgiving Holiday we took some smoke rounds out and shot them off and just sort of laughed out loud at the report and results of each shot.  This isn't cool, calm and considered bench rest shooting, for example.  It's more of an event.  

I've had a couple of purchasers (we grab anyone who calls and do marketing research on them ) say that they "just liked the way they looked" and intended to keep them around to show off.  Other folks have very practical apps such as clearing critters from the vicinity of airport runways and the like.  Others like the boom of breakers in the morning.  You might think of them as fireworks in a neat package.

I bet that in the near future we'll hear about competitions and so on.  I'd be interested in seeing how accurately people could drop smoke on a target 150 yds downrange.  

I shot for 40+ years and never heard of these things until a few months ago.  That tells me that there is a real communications issue that has to be solved to get people aware of how much fun these things can be.  And that is what we are trying to do with our relationship with Graybeard and the 37mm site and our company site.  

We're interested in any ideas that people have.  

[SHOOTALL]

GB some people get ammo with an empty area for the payload . They fill it with flour and they compete to see who can get close to a target . This is what i was told by a guy selling the ammo at a gun show . Guess its like yard darts or something .

[Rickk]

flour bad (it can explode),.... chalk way better. Add a little sand to the chalk for extra weight.

[SHOOTALL]

Just repeting what the guy said , but it is in a sealed projo

[FTB1-SS]

Ok I have seen this around but have not learned anything about them, Is there a source to get one that mounts on an M4 like the M203?

[Rickk]

Spike's Tactical has a nice M203 style launcher

[Soot]

What the heck do ya do with these things?

Just in case you happened to miss it, from:
www.batesanddittus.com

TBL-37
TOP BREAK 37mm LAUNCHER

The TBL-37 has been shown to be particularly effective during troublesome Zombie outbreaks. Many wise people have purchased them for insurance against the coming Zombie apocalypse. Remember: The TBL-37 and Zombies don’t mix.

[Incitatus]

What the heck do ya do with these things?

Just in case you happened to miss it, from:
www.batesanddittus.com

TBL-37
TOP BREAK 37mm LAUNCHER

The TBL-37 has been shown to be particularly effective during troublesome Zombie outbreaks. Many wise people have purchased them for insurance against the coming Zombie apocalypse. Remember: The TBL-37 and Zombies don’t mix.

Zombies have, in fact, been a real problem here in New England for the past few years.  We have designed a psatch for those that are plagued with this growing problem.



Our launchers are well suited for this highly specialized application.

[Hunter Fishman]

MAN! they sure have come along way from an ordinary potatoe gun to the high tech launchers we have today.
HHHmmm... I might have to keep this in mind for a hobby later in life. very cool!

[va243hntr]

I know what we use them for at work ,  BUT we have all the kool ammo for it . gas, smoke ,stingers , foam batton , all the good stuff they are fun but the L8 , the revolver of the launcher world is a blast ( no pun intended )  to shoot

[Three44s]

Not as much as we could pre-911.

I had one borrowed along with the then available Bird Bombs..........

....... YES, a bird bomb was made for the "37".

We were having tons of problems with Elk raising hell with our hay stacks.

A herd of 20 left ...... and raided the neighbor's orchard instead ..... it got hot over there and when they tried to come back ...... I was right there with the 37mm and two bird bombs left ..... some flares as well.

I fired with a STRONG tail wind and I'll bet it flew 150 yds before it detonated.  The herd had grown to about 40 head ........... (Alfalfa is yummers in case you have not tried it lately) and the round detonated about 50 yds and at their level ... they were on a hill over looking our ranch HQ.

Imagine 40 head of elk jumping straight in the air and coming down stiff legged in UNISON ........ spinning around and haulin' away from there ..........

Another example was an Onion farmer in Colorado had a "37" and bird bombs.  He'd never tried them before ...... drove his John Deere tractor to with in 80 yds or so and got out.  Fired a bomb and it went to the far side of the maurders.  It stampeded those elk such that he had to dive in behind the front tire to keep from getting trampled ........ they were literally bouncing off parts of his tractor.

ALAS, the long arm of the Government eliminated bird bombs for the 37mm.

Flares ........ don't even come close.

Shotgun bombs ..... cracker shells ....... aptly named ....... are a PITANCE to the bird bombs for the 37mm.

You can count on one thing:

If it works ........ some gov. type will screw it up!!

Three 44s