I think suppression can absolutely come from the one guy who was milling about, and then went down, even though merely wounded, from a lone round. Everyone else scatters and begins looking around frantically.

With the 203, what is actually the biggest issue? Is it familiarization with the weapon itself, is it the sighting systems, or is it skills regards judging distances? If it is the latter, than can that be overcome with training more specific to solving that issue, not requiring so much use of ammo?
On the NZ 203’s we have pretty basic (nay, crappy) sights but the Oz 203’s seem to have far better ones, with what looks like a red dot, similar to the ‘piggy back’ that you see on some Acog’s. see picture.
In the case of what I have seen within the USMC, we do not hav enough ammunition in the quantities required to build up the skill at utilizing the crude sights. The picture you posted looks like out quadrant sight, with a miniature red dot instead of a screw-in post and ghost ring that flip out. The PSQ-18 sight was a nice try at improving accuracy, but it is so bulky and heavy that no one uses them...at least in the battalion I am in. The rudimentary front sight, good to 250 meters, is decent enough I suppose, but I personally never liked the awkward firing position you had to assume, nor the means of manipulating the trigger.

I don't know what the standard number of rounds required is, off the top of my head, for by-the-book qualification and sustainment training. I do know that when Gunner Eby was establishing pre-deployment training and qualification standards for 203 gunners going back to Iraq in 2004 with RCT-7, the number 27 comes to mind. 18 for training and 9 for a qual run. Nowadays and then, we're lucky to get 27 for all four 203 gunners in a platoon.

I like the idea of rifle grenades solely because you don't have to have the 203 mounted to be able to employ a fight-breaker. We don't even follow good practices by training grenadiers...it gets assigned as a collateral duty to the team and squad leader. If I were top dog, I'd enforce the proper MTO&E with a grenadier working truly in that role.

I had those two longer posts where I had a lot more to say, but I've been celebrating the 4th pretty heavily today guys, and the pitchers of sangria are doing me in. More to follow tomorrow.

And on the note of the 4th, you guys inspire me to do what I do, at here and abroad, and to try to be a better warrior. Hats off to you all who are working to make the modern warrior of the free world more lethal and efficient when he needs to be.