If you’re anything like me, there is something that is just so satisfying about the loud, sonorous thwonk . . . BOOM sound that the grenade launcher makes when it volleys a grenade, lets it arc for a few seconds in the air, and then explodes. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever managed to get an elimination with a grenade launcher, but it’s just so darn satisfying that I find it impossible to resist whenever I come across one in the game.
So, what is the science behind the grenade launcher? How does a grenade launcher work in the real world, and is it anything like the way it works in Fortnite?
At its most basic level, a grenade launcher takes the scientific principles that make both grenades and guns work and combines them. This should be pretty obvious just by firing off a few rounds, but there are actually a few more interesting things going on there as well.
There have been many variations on the grenade launcher through the years, but the one you find in Fortnite is known as a revolver-style grenade launcher, similar to the Melchor N32 from South Africa. This style is far and away the most popular currently in use by today’s military, as it is simple, effective, and easy to use. The N32 (and others like it) grenade launcher is capable of carrying six 40 mm grenade cartridges and has a range of about 100 yards.
The first thing you need to know about this kind of grenade launcher is that the 40 mm “grenades” it fires are quite different from your standard hand grenade (some people have actually made the argument that these rounds are not really grenades at all, but I think that’s just splitting hairs). Pretty much the only aspect of the 40 mm grenade launcher round that is similar to the standard hand grenade previously discussed is that they both use explosive charges made from TNT, or another similar chemical explosive.
Okay, so what about the differences? First, there is no pin nor safety lever on the 40 mm grenade round. This is because most grenade rounds are designed to explode on impact, as opposed to after a specific interval of time (there are hand grenades that explode on impact, but these are relatively rare). In typical grenade launchers of this style, the impact detonation is accomplished with a small empty space at the very tip of the grenade that becomes compressed when the grenade hits its target. This compression sets off a fuse, which instantly detonates the TNT charge in the grenade.
Also, and perhaps most obviously, this little explosive grenade is mounted on the front of something like a bullet cartridge. This cartridge does not, however, simply ignite a bunch of gunpowder right next to the grenade, as that would most likely just make the charge explode right there in the shooter’s hands. Instead, these rounds have a small pocket of combustible chemicals (similar to gunpowder, but with a slightly different chemical composition) that, when ignited, expands its gases into an expansion chamber inside the cartridge and out the back of it at the same time. This has the beneficial effect of decreasing the shock on the grenade charge in the tip so that it doesn’t detonate before it reaches its target. Unfortunately, this benefit comes at a cost: the grenade launcher’s range is far shorter than any standard bullet.
More modern 40 mm grenade rounds even have a centrifugal-force-operated safety switch inside them that only lines up the detonator with the charge after the cartridge has completed a specific number of spins at a high velocity. The spinning of the grenade (which, as you know, is necessary for it to fly straight) forces the moving part of the switch toward the outside of the shell via centrifugal force, lining up the detonator with the charge and preparing the grenade for detonation. The purpose of this device is to allow the grenade to detonate only after traveling a safe distance away from the shooter. So, for example, if you were to shoot a grenade at an enemy combatant, but then that combatant were to instantaneously build a wall between the two of you so that the grenade bounced back toward you, the round would not have spun enough to activate the centrifugal switch, and it would not detonate, and you would not die.
As we know, this is not the kind of grenade launcher round used in Fortnite. Even though the Fortnite grenade launcher does look an awful lot like that Melchor N32, it is different in a few significant ways, most obviously that its rounds are not impact detonated at all, but rather seem to utilize a time-delayed fuse of some sort so they go off at a precise interval after being fired. It is possible to use this type of round with a real grenade launcher, but they are quite uncommon.