Name That Weapon

Michael Yon has a question for his readers: What the heck is this?

As the Drudge link seems to have fried Yon's server momentarily, here's the low-resolution version he emailed me this morning as he was trying to ID it.

Photo property of Michael Yon. Swiped pending permission.

Funky, isn't it?

It looks fearsome, but don't plan on buying one: this homemade weapon was pulled from a captured ammunition cache in Iraq.

What is it? Here is what I told Mike this morning when he asked for my opinion:

I want to start by saying that without being able to get other angles and actually take the thing apart, what follows is purely unadulterated speculation, and perhaps laughably wrong.
That out of the way, I think my original, joking assessment calling this a potato gun might not be too far off.
This appears to have a crudely manufactuered wood front grip and stock, and the size of the holes in both to me suggest that they might have used nuts, bolts and washers to put this thing together... we're not talking a weapon designed by experts, or a weapon designed to handle much in the way of pressure. The welded together scope mount is probably not "true," and if you tried to adjust it, it would probably pull you off target. Based on what I can see, I'd suggest the scope is mostly for show, not performance.
The plunger-type trigger to me suggests a friction ignitor, once again suggesting a potato gun, as does the larger of the two tubes, which suggests a combusion chamber leading to the smaller front tube, which is the barrel.
With nothing else to go on, I really think it is a tater gun, though perhaps one with serious intentions.
If you've got a tube of sufficient strength to handle a decent amont of propellant without detonating, I'd guess it could be used as a crude launcher, perhaps being used to toss molotov cocktails a little further or with a little more velocity or accuracy. If it wasn't found in a cache, I'd think it was a complete joke.

Feel free to drop your guesses of what it might be used for in the comments.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 04:22 PM

Comments

1 The scope is very odd since it don't appear that it would have a lot of range.
A weapon of desperation?
Perhaps some of the billions going to terrorist has been stopped.

Blessings

Posted by: patty at February 12, 2007 05:35 PM (1165q)

2 As a former DoD employee and a Gunner's Mate, I can say that is nothing more than PVC pipe with a wood stock attached. I'd be amazed if it shot anything other than tennis balls or potatos.

Posted by: grego at February 12, 2007 06:01 PM (S4Q5o)

3 Wouldn't it be funny if some militia paid a million bucks for a crate of those, assuming they were getting state-of-the-art MANPADs?

Posted by: See-Dubya at February 12, 2007 06:06 PM (tLQE2)

4 See Dubya,

Shhhh.

We're shipping another ship-load next week.

Keep your silence and we'll cut you in for some of the profit.

Posted by: Stealthy Persimmon at February 12, 2007 06:19 PM (41Dd+)

5 looks like RPG lancher

Posted by: Rich at February 12, 2007 06:24 PM (EblDJ)

6 looks like an rpg lancher the scope probable dose not have glass in it and is just a crued site tube

Posted by: Rich at February 12, 2007 06:26 PM (EblDJ)

7 how about a potato gun but you wrap hand granade in a towel and shoot it

Posted by: Rich at February 12, 2007 06:30 PM (EblDJ)

8 Could it just be a surrogate weapon for training? Often in pictures of Palestinian "police" training, they are using wooden guns, I suppose to simulate moving with a weapon. (I suppose all the real AK-47s are loaned out to 8-year-olds.)

Posted by: Eric J at February 12, 2007 06:59 PM (5PRM2)

9 Is it a training gun for a anti tank rocket? Or a suicide EFP Gun?

Posted by: kubob at February 12, 2007 09:11 PM (Np8df)

10 This is a commonly-used sex toy in the Middle East, but it would not be appropriate to explain how it is used on a family blog. Use your imagination. The camo gives it a perky appearance.

Posted by: bird dog at February 12, 2007 09:14 PM (86QII)

11 Question: I have seen photos in Afghanistan of troops (local) using pink AK-47s....any reason for that?

Posted by: Aaron at February 12, 2007 09:17 PM (U3yk5)

12 Think this is a notional missile launcher designed to fire notional missiles into notional Palestinian ambulances?

Posted by: ray robison at February 12, 2007 10:48 PM (7bFG1)

13 Odd that. I'd bet it's an aerosol powered grenade launcher(it's a taterade launcher!!!). Seriously, shooting potato's seems silly BUT, i'd bet there are some unexploded grenades floating around. It's plausible I suppose.

Posted by: markm at February 13, 2007 06:40 AM (hVOTO)

14 Damn Iraqi rednecks and their potato guns.

Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at February 13, 2007 08:59 AM (oC8nQ)

15 My first thought is that it's an M-79 40mm grenade launcher - with a custom stock (homemade?).

Not sure why it would have a scope, though. The M-79, and the M203 (it's successor) are indirect fire weapons.

Picture of M-79 here - http://world.guns.ru/grenade/m79-2.jpg

Posted by: justsomeguy at February 13, 2007 09:32 AM (1dOG4)

16 Back in the late 70's and early 80's when I was in northern Pakistan / southern Afghanistan on vacation I saw some homemade stuff a lot like this. It's probably a lash up RPG launcher and most likely functions exactly as well as the military version, they're dead simple. Early on the Muj fought with ancient Enfield rifles and homemade stuff till they could get their hands on the stuff they took from dead Soviets and Afghan military.

Posted by: Buzzy at February 13, 2007 09:50 AM (CXz7T)

17 I see this story has hit the MSM. It's on the front of FOX News at the moment.

Posted by: markm at February 16, 2007 12:08 PM (hVOTO)

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