QLZ-87 (Type 87) Chinese 35mm Automatic Grenade Launcher

The QLZ-87 (also known as Type 87 35 mm automatic grenade launcher (AGL) is an air-cooled, gas-operated fully automatic weapon and is crew transportable (12-20 kg) with limited amounts of ammunition. The QLZ-87 is being complemented by the QLZ-04, which is fed from a belt and thus is better suited to be mounted on tripods and vehicles. The QLZ-87 is in fact a derivative of Type 85 heavy machine gun, featuring a similar tubular steel receiver, direct gas impingement operation, and flap locks (derived from the Degtyarov-Shpagin system featured on the DShK machine gun). It is magazine-fed from 6- or 15-round drums from the bottom; in order to make room for ammunition to be fed from the bottom, the fire selector controls are mounted on the right side and offer safe, semi-automatic, and automatic firing modes. The grenade launcher retains the bipod of the W87 and weighs the same at 12 kg (26 lb) as an 8 kg (18 lb) tripod, though the new tripod has articulated legs and a crank elevation adjustment. Its carrying handle is an external part of the bolt group, which is cycled by redirected propellant gas as part of the operating system, but unlike the M16 rifle propellant gasses are not vented into the receiver; it also functions as the charging handle and forward assists. Once the bolt group starts to recoil, remaining gasses are immediately vented outward, and spent cases are ejected directly upwards. To manage recoil the weapon has a large, twin-port muzzle brake, thick rubber butt pad, and an internal buffer to the rear of the bolt group, but recoil is still harsh and only semi-automatic fire is viable when not mounted. While American and Russian AGLs are heavy, crew-served tripod-mounted weapons employed at battalion level, the QLZ-87 in its "light" configuration can be used by one soldier from the shoulder or bipod as a company-level support weapon. In this configuration, it is typically fired semi-automatically and fed from the 6-round drum. In its "heavy" configuration (which includes the tripod) it is carried by a crew of three and can make effective use of the 15-round drum and fully automatic fire. Like heavier AGLs, it can be pintle-mounted on vehicles, but troop feedback indicates mounted magazine reloading is both difficult and frequent because of the low ammunition capacity.