Ok, I thought I would throw this out here. While doing some research for my 16th century persona, I came across references to the begining of the Grenadiers in a 16th century grenade launcher. Sometime around 1580 or so, someone got the bright idea to make a 'hand mortar" thrower, a wheel lock device that looked similiar to an M79 grenade launcher. It fired a genade or grenado, much the same as a musket or pistol fires a ball. I think this is a really neat weapon, although from what I have read it was not terribly practical and was just as likely to kill the user as any of the enemy (and thus was terribly unpopular among the troops). From this humble weapon came the flintlock versions of the 18th century found in Grenadier units (which coincidently through my research I discovered were pretty much just as dangerous and unpopular). Does anyone out there know of anyone making functional reproductions for living history people? I have tracked down a flintlock 18th century version, but so far no luck with the wheel lock ancestor.
