Mk 19

A Mk 19 40 mm machine gun mounted on an M3 tripod

The **Mk 19 grenade launcher** (pronounced **Mark 19**) is an American 40 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher that was first developed during the Vietnam War. The Mk 19 is an automatic mounted grenade launcher featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

## History

### Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered

The Mk 19 appears in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the remastered version, mounted on the Sea Knight the player travels in throughout the level "Shock and Awe". It cannot be moved from its position, but it has a wide angle of fire. When fired continuously, the Mk 19 quickly overheats and takes several seconds to be ready to fire again. A bar on the HUD can be used to monitor how close the Mk 19 is to overheating. An unusable Mk 19 can also be seen in the armory in the level "F.N.G."

The Mk 19 is used in "Shock and Awe" as a powerful, general purpose weapon. Its high power, blast radius and decent rate of fire make it effective against infantry, vehicles and structures alike. However, the movement of the helicopter can sometimes make firing at moving and partially protected targets difficult.

Also, unusable Mk 19s are found in mission Death From Above, mounted on friendly Sea Knights at the end of the level. They can be easily seen when using 25mm turret or going in noclip mode. This also indicates that the Sea Knights used in this mission and in mission Shock and Awe have same models.

## Design

The Mk 19 is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-served, fully automatic weapon that is designed not to cook off. It fires 40 mm grenades at a cyclic rate of 325 to 375 rounds per minute, giving a practical rate of fire of 60 rounds per minute (rapid) and 40 rounds per minute (sustained). The weapon operates on the blowback principle, which uses the chamber pressure from each fired round to load and re-cock the weapon. The Mk 19 can launch its grenade at a maximum distance of 2,212 meters (2,419 yd), though its effective range to a point target is about 1,500 meters (1,600 yd), since the large rear leaf sight is only graduated as far. The nearest safe distance to launch the grenade is 310 meters in training and 75 meters in combat. Though the Mk 19 has a flash suppressor, it serves only to save the eyesight of its operator, not concealing the weapon's position. For night operation, a picatinny rail quadrant sight can be added for thermal and night vision optics.

The Mk 19A is a man-portable crew-served weapon that can fire from a tripod-mounted position or from a vehicle mount, with the latter being the preferred method, as the weapon alone weighs 77.6 pounds (35.2 kg). The primary ammunition for it is the high-explosive dual-purpose M430 grenade. On impact, the grenade can kill anyone within a radius of five meters, and wound them within a radius of 15 meters. It can also punch through 2 inches (5.1 cm) of rolled homogeneous armor with a direct hit (0-degree obliquity), which means it can penetrate most infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. It is especially effective when used against enemy infantry formations. The ammunition comes in cans that hold a 32- or 48-grenade belt weighing 42 and 60 pounds (19 and 27 kg), respectively. Due to its low recoil and comparatively light weight, it has been adapted for use on many different platforms, including small attack boats, fast attack vehicles such as the Humvee (HMMWV), AAV and Stryker, military jeeps, and a large variety of naval mounts.

The Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher replaced the earlier Mk 18 hand-cranked multiple grenade launcher. The 40 mm ammunition used (40×53 mm) is not interchangeable with that used in the M203 (40×46 mm). The M203 ammunition develops a lower chamber pressure, and resultant lower muzzle velocity and range, compared to ammunition loaded for the Mk 19. The Mk 19 fires from an open bolt. The rounds are mechanically fed onto the bolt face with the pull of the charging handles. When the trigger is pressed, the bolt closes, and the firing pin is released. The recoil blows back the bolt, feeds a new round onto the bolt face, which pushes the expended casing off the bolt face.

### Specifications

* Lenght: 1090mm
* Caliber: **40x56mm**
* Effective Range: 1500 Meters
* Weight: **77.6** Pounds (With Tripod and ammunition)