MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher

Suitable for Home Defense? The MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher

In today’s edition of He Said / She Said, we examine the relative pros and cons of using the MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher as a primary home defense weapon. Much has been said about the merits of pistols, revolvers, shotguns, and AR platform rifles for home defense, but little serious consideration has been given to suitability of larger and more powerful crew-served weapons.

First, some basic specifications:

  • 350 round per minute cyclic rate
  • 40 x 53mm high-explosive grenade rounds
  • Battle-proven
  • ‘Moderate’ stopping power
  • Tripod and vehicle mount options

 

He said She said
I’ve been looking into other options for our primary home defense gun. I’m thinking we need something crew-served – like the MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher.
Hmmm. Not bad. I like the stopping power, but you do realize it has an effective blast radius of about 15 meters right? That’s way bigger than our family room. 

I think the collateral damage might be a bit excessive. And we just got a new wide screen TV, remember?
Yeah but at least we wouldn’t have to worry about complex things like range estimation. I think it would be pretty much point and shoot since it would be indoors.
Ummm. Have you considered that the MK19 grenades require at least 30 meters of flight time to arm? Our hallway is definitely not that long.
Well, we have been talking about getting a bigger house. Why not kill two birds with one grenade, so to speak? Maybe we can design in a longer hallway to the master bedroom and a larger family room at the other end to contain the blast radius.
I’m not sure that we can count on bad guys only breaking in through the main hallway. What if someone tries to come in through a window? Have you thought of that?
But honey, those rounds will penetrate up to 2 inches of rolled armor! Awesome!
Right. Have you even thought about ammo costs? We certainly don’t have room in our budget for 40x53mm high explosive rounds, or even practice rounds for that matter. 

And last time I looked, you don’t have reloading dies for the MK19…
No problem, I’ll check and see if Midway USA has some!
And last I checked, the tripod mount only comes in black. And you know I’ve been wanting to re-do the master bedroom in a tangerine, turquoise, and aubergine palette. 

I do like the vehicle mount option though. I would feel a lot safer on those long drives to Florida…
So what do you think, is it a plan?
How about let’s talk after you get me my new computer and come up with an extra 20 grand?

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