Krešimir: Croatia's Truly Insane Grenade Launcher
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Published 2023-07-17
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The Kresimir is honestly the most bonkers weapon I have come across in a long while. Made by IM Metall in Croatia at the beginning of the Croatian Homeland War circa 1991, this is a semiautomatic grenade launcher. Most grenade launchers fire a big cartridge with an explosive warhead, but not this thing. Instead, it uses a 5-round magazine of M50 hand grenades with percussion fuses. A second magazine holds 7.62x39mm grenade-launching blank cartridges. Pulling the trigger drops two strikers in succession; first one to ignite the hand grenade fuse, and then one to fire the launching cartridge. What could possibly go wrong?
When you do fire, the recoil cycles the whole barrel and bolt backwards like a long recoil action, although it appears to be blowback and not locked. This loaded a fresh grenade in the barrel and leaves it ready to fire again with the next trigger pull. We don't know how many of these insane creations were actually made, but I have multiple reports of their actual wartime use from veterans of the conflict.
Thanks to the Sisak Municipal Museum for giving me access to film this!
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All Comments (21)
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Company rep: "This is a hand grenade launcher" Customer: "I think you meant to say grenade launcher" Company rep: "I know what I said."
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Krešimir is a psychological weapon. When the enemy sees our weapon, he will know that we are truly fearless.
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This is by far the most elaborate pipe bomb I have ever seen
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Finally, a weapon has been invented in which there is no need to clear a jam/misfire! Weapon self-clears in only 5 seconds. Also takes only 5 seconds to clear a trench of all troops within a 10 meter radius. Only downside is the troops cleared from the trench are your own, including yourself as the operator of the weapon.
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A dud AK round, forgetting the blank rounds, forgetting the tiny magazine, dropping/smacking the big magazine, short-stroking the action, pulling just the first "stage" of the trigger... The sheer number of ways this thing blows the operator up is comical, Elbonian Grenadiers need these immediately!
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About 15 years ago I worked at a restaurant and there was a Croatian dude there working as a line cook. He used to tell war stories. Some of them we chosed to believe, some less so. One of the ones I presonally thought was bogus was his story about a, as he put it, "pistol that shot handgranades". I think there might have been something lost in translation in his story but...damn...who knew?
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The weirdest part of this to me is how well made it seems to be. The concept and design is utterly bugfuck insane, but the execution is genuinely impressive.
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Getting a dud round in a normal gun: 1) Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction 2) Wait a short time to make sure it's not a hangfire 3) Ensure the magazine is seated 4) Cycle the action to eject the bad round and chamber a fresh one 5) Continue shooting Getting a dud round in a Krešimir: 1) Yeet the gun as far as you can 2) Run like hell in the opposite direction
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I rarely celebrate the deactivation of a firearm, but in this case I'm going to make an exception.
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When you see a man carrying that, you know he's serious. He got dressed that morning knowing somebody was going to die, and he doesn't care who it's going to be.
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It feels like if Games Workshop ever decide that Orks need a grenade launcher in their usual style of "technically works but by insane means and will probably kill you", this is their reference point.
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The fact that this clusterfuck of safety violations got used in actual combat both scares and amuses me to no end.
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The guy who first tried the first working prototype deserves a monument.
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This is definitely a "destructive device". What does this device destroy? Yes.
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Truly a weapon of terror: For the Operator, the Target, and everyone in the area.
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Before today I was conflicted on which is more dangerous, the weapon that fires when you don't want it to, and the weapon that doesn't fire when you absolutely need it to. Now I know the truth. Kresimir is the most dangerous weapon, whether it works or not. Thank you, Ian, for clearing this up.
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An even worse case scenario is if it fails to launch the grenade, blows up the launcher but doesn't detonate the rest of the grenades in the magazine, but instead flings said remaining IMPACT ACTIVATED FUZED live grenades in multiple directions. Turning it into the worlds smallest cluster bomb.
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The most effective way to use this to defeat enemy soldiers would probably be to issue it to enemy soldiers.
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I used to knew the dude that designed this. The prototype he mad was with an Ak47 like gun. Rest in Peace Misel, known as Slovenac. Great dude, great dad, great mechanic, motorcycle driver, and most of all, a great friend. PS - When the Serb Army attacked Petrinja, Misel used this for scarring the enemy. And on the military radio you could hear the Serbian screaming "Run away, the crazy Ustase are throwing grenades 500 meters" "Bezite bre, lude ustase bacaju bombe 500 metara"
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Just to add some more context. In Yugoslavian WWII mythology, there was a special place reserved for brave, skillful Partisans called bombaši (grenadiers) who were literally tossing grenades into bunkers, after sneaking and finding impossible angles. They were featured in pretty much every Partisan War movie, thus being able to throw a grenade was the most manly, the most bravely thing imaginable. Having this would turn you into an instant Giga Chad.
