Well, I'm just a newbie to 37mm, so I'll tell it the best I can.
I just received a new Bates TBL-37 Launcher. It is an M79 break open style.
The launcher arrived in a box that was not only a shipping container, but had a handle on it and could double as a carrying case (for a while at least - cooler things will arrive soon).
The launcher comes with an NCStar red/green optical sight that mounts on the top Picattiny rail. The sight has a switch-selectable either a red or a green dot. The dot is pretty small. This is a fairly low end sight, but it is a sight. Dunno about you, but I love customization, and am glad that I didn't have to pay a whole lot for something that I would probably change anyway, so the choice of the NCStar sight to be included with the launcher as a basic sight made a lot of sense.
Anyway, I had gotten an advertisement from Midway Arms a few days earlier and saw that they had a BSA holographic sight on sale. I wound up putting that on instead. While the green setting of the NCStar would have been a cool thing to have, the BSA sight had several selectable reticules. The large BSA Crosshairs were easy to see, and also gave three aiming points (top, center, bottom).
Back to the Bates launcher...
Bates chose to use a Mossberg mount synthetic stock. I'm no AR expert, but I think the handguard may be an AR style. From a cost perspective, I think the choice of a Mossberg stock is brilliant! The cost is low, and if you really want something else the choices are pretty much endless. The stock and foreend are both equipped with sling swivels as well. There are Picatinny Rails top and bottom.
The launcher breaks open M79 style by pushing forward the forward-most lever inside the trigger guard. I had no problems opening it with one finger. It was easy to get used to the barrel latch.
On the TBL-37 predecessor there was no safety on the launcher. Bates has added one now. There is a "rotary knob" on the right side of the receiver. I have never seen such a safety "switch" on anything before, but it did pull the hammer away from the firing pin when rotated to the "safe position". So, different but seems to do the job.
I had been acquiring a while buncha hulls of various brands while shopping for a launcher. The one thing that I did notice on the TBL-37 was that the counterbore for the case rim was a tad on the small side. A couple of brands of aluminum hulls did not want to go in, and had problems coming out of the breech.
The barrel is aluminum, so I was able to scrape away a bit of the material on the counterbore to open it up a bit. The entire operation took maybe 10 minutes with a very small flat file. It barrel now accepts every brand case that I have. I emailed Bates about this, and I assume he is going to look into it.
So, time to play with it!
But first, let me mention that I am an avid reloader. I shoot maybe 500 rounds of my own for every round that I purchase. In some calibers I have never bought a single loaded round. Well, we are now talking 10-50 bucks a pop, so it was time for me to learn to load 37mm.
I learned alot. I made some rounds that worked well, and some stuff that worked like crap. The Bates TBL-37 took it all in stride. Some rounds really cranked, and some were totally lame whoshers that only went 10 feet. That is all totally the blame of the guy loading the cases, and not the launcher.
One thing that I did notice what that no matter how far the round went, that it always went in the direction that I aimed it. I had been using a tree stump at about 50 yards for a target and they all either hit the stump or at least headed in it's direction before hitting dirt.
I even let my wife take a shot with it. She sprayed an orange chalk round all over the tree. We have bear problems around here. She has had to deal with them more than once, so she thought that a loud bang followed by a chalk covered bear might make the next one go away quicker. Maybe a bit of pepper and a coupla other attention getting things stuck in there will work even better. I have most of the winter to figure something out. This same launcher comes in a handgun configuration as well. She has been nervous about walking in the woods since the bears took over. Maybe I know what I am getting for her on mother's day?
Anyway, all in all I had a good time with this thing. Next, a sling and possibly some Krylon Camo paint. I'll post a picture or two when that all happens.
Rick
