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The Pakistani commercial firearms company Daudsons Armory or DSA is much more known for their handguns and historical reproduction shotguns sold in the United States through Cimarron. However, the company also has a 40x53mm High-Velocity Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL) that they have been developing for over a decade at this point. Currently, the PAK-40 AGL is undergoing Pakistani Army trials that could potentially lead to replacing U.S. Mk.19s and MKEK designs that are being used now. Testing consisted of severe temperature firing in both cold and hot extremes in addition to accuracy testing at 500, 1000, and 1500 meters. The AGL was also sent to South Africa to be tested with RDM ammunition (jointly owned by South African and German companies), in addition to NATO standard and Korean 40mm linked grenades.
The company also makes handheld 40mm systems.
From Daudsons-
The DSA Automatic Grenade Launcher PAK-40 has recently undergone Pakistan Army Trials in Pakistan. The DSA PAK-40 was put through stringent technical scrutiny. Firing tests conducted on the DSA PAK40 with RDM 40mm HEDP ammunition included ambient firing, high-temperature firing at 55degrees C, extreme low temperature firing at -34 degrees C after 24 hours conditioning of both, weapon platform and ammunition for each progressive test. TheDSA PAK-40 was also put through a stringent accuracy test at 500m, 1000m, and 1500m, maximum range test at high elevation and low elevation tests.
The DSA PAK-40 was also tested for compatibility with RDM Ammunition at RDM South Africa in March 2016. The trial yielded favourable results and the DSA AGL PAK-40 was recommended with strong potential for use with the RDM ammunition. It is worthy to note that the DSA PAK-40 has also been previously tested in-house with NATO compliant 40mm ammunition from Chemring Ordnance USA and Hanwha South Korea.
One might assume from outward appearances that the AGL has some features in common with the Mk.19 AGL but this isn’t so. In fact, there isn’t a single operational part that is interchangeable between the two. Apart from the tripod because it is somewhat based on the Mk.19 version but this will change in the future if full production capacity is eventually reached.
A comparison between the two weapon systems.
In addition to the iron sight is an Aimpoint CompM2 red dot optic mounted on a Picatinny rail that can be adjusted for trajectory. Note that the rear sight appears to be in 100-meter increments of adjustment.
The belt system is an in-line belt that differs from the Mk.19s and isn’t compatible with 40x53mm NATO belts. Also unlike traditional AGls, the pistol grips are horizontal instead of vertical, similar to H&K’s GMG. The barrel is also fluted, presumably to decrease weight and increase cooling during high rates of fire.
This photograph comes from testing in South Africa.
Specifications of the PAK-40 AGL:
All images are courtesy of Daudsons.
