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The M79 is a single shot, break-open weapon with rifled barrel. The barrel is hinged to the receiver and is locked closed by the rotating the lever at the tang of the receiver. 40mm cartridges of various types are loaded from the breech, then barrel is closed. Internal hammer is cocked automatically upon reloading. There is a manual safety, which automatically switches on when gun is reloaded. The trigger guard can be hinged sideways, so the gun can be fired in the winter gloves. The stock is made from wood, and the butt is fitted with the rubber recoil pad. Open sights consist of a hooded front sight and a n adjustable ladder-type rear (with windage adjustment), and is graduated from 75 to 375 meters in 25 m increments. It must be noted that trained operators often left the rear sight in its folding down position, and aimed down the barrel, still achieving good accuracy.


First widely used in Vietnam, the M79 turned to be a complete success. Reliable and quite accurate in the hands of a trained operators, it provided extremely mobile firepower to smallest of the infantry units. Following the successful development of the M406 HE-FRAG round, several other types of 40mm ammunition were rapidly developed, including smoke and illumination rounds, HE-DP (dual purpose, fragmentation/antitank), incendiary, buckshot canister (for close-combat and self-defense). The key downside to the M79 was that it required the grenadier to carry an additional personal defense weapon, such as pistol or a submachine gun. This inconvenience was the key reason for development of the M203 underbarrel grenade launcher, which superceded the M79 in the service since early 1970s. However, many units continue to seek out and employ the M79 (for many of the same reasons they're stepping "back" to the M14... simplicity and reliability which are unmatched by their "replacements").