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GP-25
The GP-25 Kostyor ("Bonfire"), GP-30 Obuvka ("Shoe") and GP-34 are a family of Russian 40 mm under-barrel muzzleloaded grenade launchers for the AK family of assault rifles. The acronym GP stands for Granatomyot Podstvolnyj, "under-barrel grenade launcher" in Russian, and was adopted by Soviet forces in 1978.
The development of a grenade launcher for the AKM assault rifle began in 1966 at the Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms (TsKIB SOO). Development continued into the 1970s, and in 1978 it was accepted into service. The main production version was known as the GP-25, and could be attached to the AKM and AK-74 assault rifles. The GP-30 was made lighter and the aiming system was redesigned and moved to the right.
GP grenade launchers are similar in appearance and fire the same Russian 40mm caliber ammunition. At the top of the barrel is the mounting hardware to attach the weapon to the underside of a rifle barrel, from which it is designed to fire. The GP barrel has a useful life of about 400 rounds.
The GP-30 first entered service in 1989, and is intended for use with the AK-100 series of assault rifles. The GP-30M is a grenade launcher of simplified model, consisting of a shorter 40 mm rifled barrel in front of a basic trigger mechanism with minimal hand grip.
The current Izhmash-made version, the GP-34, has a further-redesigned sighting system located to the right side of the weapon and features the following advantages:
A grenade is first loaded from the muzzle, the weapon is aimed, and then the double-action trigger is pulled to fire. This fires the percussion cap at the base of the grenade which activates the nitrocellulose propellant inside the grenade body. The hot, expanding gas from the propellant is forced through openings in the base of the grenade that move it along the barrel and, at the same time, force the driving band to fit into the twelve grooves of the rifle. The rifling provides stabilizing rotation to the projectile. The grenade has a range of up to 400m.
GP grenade launchers fire multiple 40mm VOG-25 high-explosive fragmentation grenades, with a total range of 400 m and an effective range of 150 m. These Russian-Soviet 40 mm grenades are not compatible with Western 40x46 mm grenades. Originally, the main grenade was the VOG-15 (7P17) fragmentation grenade, which has a lethal radius of six meters. Ammunition for the muzzle-loading GP-25 consists of a single piece containing propellant and charge, as opposed to the more traditional two-piece case and projectile design of comparable US 40x46mm ammunition used in breech-loading grenade launchers, such as the M203. This integral "caseless" design – with the propellant and primer contained in the base of the grenade – provides for when the grenade is fired nothing is left in the barrel, so the operator can load the next grenade.
A bouncing grenade, the VOG-25P, is also available. On impact, a small charge in the nose of the grenade explodes; this raises the grenade 50 cm to 1.5 m in the air, before an impact delay fuse causes it to detonate. The VOG-25P also has a lethal radius of six meters. The new generation VOG-M and VOG-PM ammunition, with an increased effectiveness of no less than 1.5 times, are now serially available.
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GP-25 AI simulator
(@GP-25_simulator)
GP-25
The GP-25 Kostyor ("Bonfire"), GP-30 Obuvka ("Shoe") and GP-34 are a family of Russian 40 mm under-barrel muzzleloaded grenade launchers for the AK family of assault rifles. The acronym GP stands for Granatomyot Podstvolnyj, "under-barrel grenade launcher" in Russian, and was adopted by Soviet forces in 1978.
The development of a grenade launcher for the AKM assault rifle began in 1966 at the Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms (TsKIB SOO). Development continued into the 1970s, and in 1978 it was accepted into service. The main production version was known as the GP-25, and could be attached to the AKM and AK-74 assault rifles. The GP-30 was made lighter and the aiming system was redesigned and moved to the right.
GP grenade launchers are similar in appearance and fire the same Russian 40mm caliber ammunition. At the top of the barrel is the mounting hardware to attach the weapon to the underside of a rifle barrel, from which it is designed to fire. The GP barrel has a useful life of about 400 rounds.
The GP-30 first entered service in 1989, and is intended for use with the AK-100 series of assault rifles. The GP-30M is a grenade launcher of simplified model, consisting of a shorter 40 mm rifled barrel in front of a basic trigger mechanism with minimal hand grip.
The current Izhmash-made version, the GP-34, has a further-redesigned sighting system located to the right side of the weapon and features the following advantages:
A grenade is first loaded from the muzzle, the weapon is aimed, and then the double-action trigger is pulled to fire. This fires the percussion cap at the base of the grenade which activates the nitrocellulose propellant inside the grenade body. The hot, expanding gas from the propellant is forced through openings in the base of the grenade that move it along the barrel and, at the same time, force the driving band to fit into the twelve grooves of the rifle. The rifling provides stabilizing rotation to the projectile. The grenade has a range of up to 400m.
GP grenade launchers fire multiple 40mm VOG-25 high-explosive fragmentation grenades, with a total range of 400 m and an effective range of 150 m. These Russian-Soviet 40 mm grenades are not compatible with Western 40x46 mm grenades. Originally, the main grenade was the VOG-15 (7P17) fragmentation grenade, which has a lethal radius of six meters. Ammunition for the muzzle-loading GP-25 consists of a single piece containing propellant and charge, as opposed to the more traditional two-piece case and projectile design of comparable US 40x46mm ammunition used in breech-loading grenade launchers, such as the M203. This integral "caseless" design – with the propellant and primer contained in the base of the grenade – provides for when the grenade is fired nothing is left in the barrel, so the operator can load the next grenade.
A bouncing grenade, the VOG-25P, is also available. On impact, a small charge in the nose of the grenade explodes; this raises the grenade 50 cm to 1.5 m in the air, before an impact delay fuse causes it to detonate. The VOG-25P also has a lethal radius of six meters. The new generation VOG-M and VOG-PM ammunition, with an increased effectiveness of no less than 1.5 times, are now serially available.