Not a Mk47 Mod 0 / "Striker 40". The Striker is electronically controlled.

All Mk19s are self powered. I don't see any cables in the photo.
Receiver is wrong to be a Mk19 Mod 0.
Probably not a Mk19 Mod 1, as only 6 were made and they were used on PBRs.
Mod 2 did not deploy until 1973.
Mk19 evolution
The Mk18 was hand-cranked, but had a much larger receiver due to the split breech design.
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Mk18b.jpg

The tripod and the pistol grip are similar to the M75, but still not similar enough. The m75 has an electric motor on top to feed the rounds.

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Thanks for that. Indeed a very 'unpopular' war. How unpopular?
The first time ANYONE (including my family/friends) EVER thanked me for serving in that war was about 1984 (and it was a WWII vet) at a party.

No parades necessary. Most of us came back and quietly melted back into society and got on with our lives.

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Additional weapon hints: As someone has observed, those are two, additional magazines at my feet. And ...the ammunition for that weapon came in the wooden box you also see in the photo (not a metal one).[/QUOTE]

That is bizzare. !984? Geez, like 12 years after? I suppose the wounds, (everyones), took that long to heal.
The weapon isn't an Mk19 granade launcher? Now I can't wait to find out what it is. My friend is an expert on those kind of things.

Ok ...I uncovered another photo. This will be my last 'teaser'.

There must be something afoot when a Brigadier General comes to visit?
Far left: General Simms
Far right: Young Mo!:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1203895814.jpg


Another view from the other side:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1203895855.jpg

Maybe the General wanted to check out your strange gun?

Is it a variation of the type 24 7.92 mm machine gun used by the VC? Chinese copy of german MG?

The grip and what appears to be a thumb safety, along with the receiver side plates, it really looks like a 1928 Colt Commercial/Browning 1919 .30 variant, mounted on an M2 tri-pod. FN also had some that were similar. Maybe the General was there because it was when the last of the Browning .30 cal type weapons used, being replaced by the M60. The puzzler is still the mag cans, because most of the .30 cal were box shaped, either in metal or wood, also the bloop tube sight?? Just like I have a bunch of live SAW boxes, both green and black. People should know what these are, and the purpose for the two different color boxes??

is it some foreign legion leftover? something french?

That's why I thought it was some captured weapon. That or some type of prototype.

so tell us, dammit!!!!!;)

Ok, confession time. Here is the story on this weapon:

Our marine rifle company was sent to this fire base (north of Da Nang) where we ran daily patrols and nightly ambushes out of for about two months during 1971. During the day we also rotated/manned the perimeter fighting holes.

One day the company commander drives up on a ‘mule’ and unloads this weapon with magazines and ammo. We were told by him that it was a prototype and had been sent to the field for ‘real world’ testing. We were given a short course in its operation (it was pretty simple), a nomenclature manual, a couple of incineration grenades (it was made abundantly clear that that weapon was NOT to survive if we were over-run) and given a book in which to keep ‘operation notes’. IE: When it was (dates/times) fired. Weather conditions. How many rounds expended. Any malfunctions. Basically anything noteworthy the armory might find of value in our evaluation/critique of the gun.

It was (as some have correctly guessed) a variation on the single shot, M79 (“blooper“) 40mm Grenade Launcher. It was (obviously) magazine fed and it’s been so long ago I do not recall the full capacity (10-12 rounds?). The rotary magazine had a spring-loaded tensioner (IE: you just kept pressing the rounds into it until full). I do not recall that this particular gun was ‘fully automatic‘. My memory is that it was semi-auto only, but I may be wrong (too many years ago). I think the design was just the next step in the M79 evolution; to go from a single shot (load, close chamber, aim, fire, open chamber/eject shell …repeat) to a weapon with more firepower for a fixed fighting position. It was indeed TOO HEAVY (even with the tripod off ) for field work.

Here is a shot with the magazine removed and a 40mm round laying (sideways) in the magazine slot.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1203950407.jpg



The expended/fired shells were ejected to the right. You can see that they included a top sling for handling, but as I stated, that SOB was NOT light and I certainly would not have wanted to carry it in the bush. If I recall correctly, the gun had NO external markings (serial number, mfg., military model #, etc.) whatsoever (though they must have marked it somewhere for I.D./tracking purposes?).

We did fire the gun on several occasions (practice only). It had basically the same sights, trajectory and range as our hand-held ‘blooper‘, but of course could put ordinance on a target …as fast as one could pull the trigger. The recoil (as I recall) was almost non-existent.

The Battalion Commander learned we had it and wanted to see it. He choppered out, apparently, just for that reason. He examined it, questioned us as to its operation, etc. Curiously, we did not fire it for him. Of course we (grunts) were just as curious about HIM being out there with us. (First time we had encountered a General in the field! ha) He was a pleasant sort and as I recall was as much interested in the knowledge that we had good supplies of food/water/etc. as he was in the gun.(Good commander.) So naturally, we asked him for the photo op.

When we later left that particular fire base, the incoming/replacement company took over control of the weapon and I never saw it (or one like it) again.

I had not thought about that weapon for a long time, but I ran across these photos and since I have been out of the military for so long I thought perhaps it was still around and some of you younger veterans, or military weapons gurus might know of it? But I see now, from some of your postings and the references to today’s weapons, that perhaps it went through a few more modifications and may in fact have been the predecessor/early test bed for those armor mounted, fully automatic cannons in use today?

Possible …I guess?

For those that guessed ‘prototype grenade launcher’ …please pick up your door prize on the table at the back of the room as you leave.:D