stancrist said:

???  I don't get the connection.  Are you saying it's impossible to make a 30mm (or larger caliber) grenade launcher?

No, I'm saying that you can't make a man-portable grenade launcher with the destructive power of a 30 x 173 mm AC, just like a 12 gauge shotgun will not deliver the destructive power of a 120 mm canister shot, even if the concept is "the same".

EmericD said:

I'm saying that you can't make a man-portable grenade launcher with the destructive power of a 30 x 173 mm AC...

Okay.  The only trouble is, I never said a grenade launcher would have the same destructive power as a 30mm cannon. 

What I said is the video is an example of airburst fragmentation which makes me think the concept could possibly work.

The 30mm cannon airburst videos show fragmentation effect much better than, for example, 40mm grenade airbursts.

40x53    https://youtu.be/BPaC1LTrHy0?t=545

30x113  https://youtu.be/yuV7Pd4dheI?t=47

300 metres and you are struggling - even with  IR - except that it is high power - e.g. vehicle powered.

stancrist said:

You have a very similar "failure point" with rifle grenades. You can't load the grenade onto the rifle, take precise aim, and launch the grenade, in just 2 seconds. You need to expose yourself and stay perfectly motionless for much more than that.

Missed your edit.

Are you really (and seriously) saying that you can't point & shoot a rifle in less than 2 seconds, because you can find a random video on Youtube with someone who is not pointing & shooting a rifle in less than 2 seconds?

When doing patrol, the point man already loaded the grenade on the rifle, he just need to point the rifle, shoot, and the grenade is airborne.

stancrist said:

What I said is the video is an example of airburst fragmentation which makes me think the concept could possibly work.

The concept of firing bursts of high power 30 mm AC canon at targets is working, we already know that. It can even defeat tanks.

Thinking that an individual weapon could do something remotely similar is, well, wishful thinking.

stancrist said:

The 30mm cannon airburst videos show fragmentation effect much better than, for example, 40mm grenade airbursts.

40x53    https://youtu.be/BPaC1LTrHy0?t=545

30x113  https://youtu.be/yuV7Pd4dheI?t=47

Do you mean that the 40 x 53 mm is not effective enough and that we need a more powerful grenade?

If so, what is the rationale behind advocating for an individual, man-portable, grenade launcher, that will definitively be less powerful than a 40 x 53 mm?

Or maybe you are thinking about using a fully dressed Mk47 (with tripod and FCS) as the squad main asset, while the rest of the squad is issued a MP7, a spare mag and as many grenades they could carry?

That would probably work, but wouldn't be a very american way to fight!

EmericD said:

That would probably work, but wouldn't be a very american way to fight!

No? Lobbing HE at everything in sight strikes me as very American ;)

Something that surprises me a little is that nobody has proposed a 30x113 gas loaded, mechanically fired dismount gun with a tripod ;)

graylion said:

Something that surprises me a little is that nobody has proposed a 30x113 gas loaded, mechanically fired dismount gun with a tripod ;)

It's been proposed.  (But I suspect you knew that...)

I didn't actually :)

Radar chronographs becoming smaller although magnetic field MV measurement muzzle device is probably still the most robust and cheap way to measure MV and possibly program Airburst ammo.

Oh, then I'm glad to have shared.

There was also the Advanced Crew Served Weapon (aka the Objective Crew Served Weapon or OCSW), basically a belt-fed grenade machinegun for OICW-like bursting projectiles (25x59 instead of 25x45).  It was supposed to bridge between the Mk19 and the M2.  (Though it was also straight up convertible to fire 12.7x99)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM307_Advanced_Crew_Served_Weapon