I think there could be some advantages to this technique with 40 mm, especially for lobbing some grenades over a high obstacle like a wall. I can see some negatives though, some of which have been mentioned:
• Requires lots of practice rounds. Good luck with that. There are typically 6 to 9 grenadiers to a platoon against only 1 (for armies that have’m) commando mortar. They would all need to be trained in this additional technique. They don't get enough playtime with 40 mm as it is.
• A 60 mm bomb makes a reasonably big bang and can therefore afford to be off target a bit and still be effective. A 40 mm grenade needs to be pretty much bang on (pun intended) or all it does is throw up a bit of dust. So lobbing 40 mm in an indirect fire mode may be somewhat disappointing in most cases.
• The ‘aim by sling’ method is not particularly scientific and accuracy will be easily affected, even just by not being on perfectly level ground (between baseplate/buttstock and locking foot). This will exacerbate the above point. Firn’s suggestion of using a better sight would make more sense.
So it would a useful technique to add to the toolbox but I think we need to be careful with assuming that we can easily and effectively use a light direct fire weapon in the indirect fire role. Armies that do not yet have them are IMO better off with adding a 60 mm commando mortar at platoon level ….. sure, more weight, but the tool has been specifically designed for this role.
While we’re drifting towards commando mortars, the South Africans use two different conversion sets for their M1 mortar. One uses the ‘aim by sling’ method. The other uses a clip-on handgrip with an incorporated laying table/levelling bubble thingy. Now a simplified version of that could work on a 40 mm. That would however add yet another sticky-out thing to the weapon, to add to the Christmas tree effect.
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