22 mm grenade

M7 grenade launcher with 22 mm grenade fitted on the end of an M1 Garand rifle.

The 22mm rifle grenade is inserted over the firing mechanism on the front of rifles that are equipped with the appropriate launcher, either in the form of an integral flash suppressor or a detachable adapter. As with most rifle grenades, it is propelled by a blank cartridge inserted into the chamber of the rifle. 22mm grenade types range from powerful anti-tank rounds to simple finned tubes with a fragmentation hand grenade attached to the end.

The first rifles to utilize the 22mm grenade were the American M1903 Springfield, M1 Garand and M1 Carbine, all of which required an adapter (the M1, M7, and M8 grenade launchers, respectively). After the formation of NATO, the 22mm grenade was adopted as its standard rifle grenade. Many NATO small arms, such as the Belgian FN FAL, West German Heckler & Koch G3, French MAS-36/51, MAS-49/56 and FAMAS, British SA80, and American M16/M4 are equipped to launch 22mm grenades without an adapter. Some non-NATO firearms, such as the Yugoslavian SKS and Spanish CETME (which predated Spain's entry into NATO) are also compatible with 22mm rifle grenades, and Israel employed a 22mm adapter for the Mauser K98k rifle.