This is a general collection of the world's many different type of ammunition for grenade launchers in caliber.
Several countries have developed or adopted grenade launchers in 40 mm caliber.
NATO
NATO currently uses three standardized 40 mm grenade families: 40 mm low velocity (LV), 40 mm medium velocity (MV), and 40 mm high velocity (HV). Low- and medium-velocity cartridges are used for different hand-held grenade launchers, while the high-velocity cartridge is used for automatic grenade launchers.
40×46 mm LV (40 mm low velocity)
40×46 mm LV (low velocity) is a NATO-standard high–low grenade launcher cartridge meant for hand-held grenade launchers, such as the M79, M203, Milkor MGL, and Heckler & Koch AG36.
The propellant has low pressure and gives the projectile an average velocity of depending on the ammunition type.
40 mm low-velocity ammunition types (NATO)
Besides combat ammo there also exists crowd control ammunition like sponge grenades.
40 mm low-velocity ammunition types (Sweden) Sweden currently operates the M203 grenade launcher (designated in Sweden) and thus uses the 40 mm low-velocity cartridge. Going against Swedish military tradition, the 40 mm low-velocity cartridge currently lacks a specified indigenous designation in Swedish service. Instead only the projectile types have designations.
Currently these projectile types can be found in Swedish service manuals.
Mockups and inert types also exist for loading exercises and educational purposes.
40 mm low-velocity ammunition types (Romania) Romanian arms producer ROMARM has made a version of their 40 mm rifle-mounted grenade launcher AG-40 chambered in 40×46 mm NATO (then designated AG-40PN). Production of Romanian 40 mm low-velocity ammunition is handled by the arms factory , a subsidiary of ROMARM. The projectiles seem to be of Romanian origin based on available information.
SAGM fuze
The United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) began development of a 40 mm smart airburst fuze (proximity fuze) in 2011 to improve the ability of grenade launchers like the M203 and M320 to engage targets in defilade. Called small arms grenade munitions (SAGMs), they double the lethality of the standard M433 grenade round by adding a small "smart" fuze sensor that detonates in the air to hit targets in cover or behind obstacles. The airburst function is similar to the XM25 CDTE, which has an onboard laser system to determine the distance to the target, but SAGMs are considered complementary to the XM25 rather than competing against it, as the XM25 provides low-angle fire while 40 mm launchers fire a lobbing trajectory. Integrated sensors and logic devices scan and filter the environment and then autonomously airburst the fuze without needing to be told to by the firer, thereby not requiring the soldier to carry extra weapon accessories. SAGMs enable soldiers to accurately incapacitate personnel targets in defilade at ranges between 50 and 500 meters. The round is engineered with three firing modes: airburst; point detonation; and self-destruct. A successful demonstration occurred in November 2013. Although the SAGM sensor does not need a laser rangefinder or any pre-fire programming sequence, it does require some skill by the user to aim and fire the round correctly so that it can detect the wall or obstruction to detonate in the air. The SAGM was to undergo evaluation in July 2015 and, if successful, transition into an official Army Program of Record by the end of the year. Not only does the fuze burst over walls, but it can detonate when passing cover like trees, bursting just as it senses and passes the trunk. The sort of sensor SAGMs use to differentiate clutter from triggering obstacles is highly classified, but shows airburst reliability of 76 percent.
40×51 mm MV (40 mm medium velocity) 40×51 mm MV (medium velocity), also known as 40×51 mm extended range low pressure (ERLP), is a NATO-standard high–low grenade launcher cartridge meant for hand-held grenade launchers. Its purpose is to be an intermediate cartridge between the 40×46 mm low-velocity and 40×53 mm high-velocity cartridges and is thus referred to as 40 mm medium velocity.
The propellant has medium pressure and gives the projectile an average velocity of depending on the ammunition type. It has a maximum range of 800 meters, exceeding conventional extended range low-velocity variants by up to 375 meters.