It is hard to overestimate just how much movies shape modern gun culture. Like many, I attribute my fascination with firearms to Hollywood movies. But I am only aware of one instance when a movie gun accidentally created a new type of armament.This story begins in 1967 in the jungles of Biafra in West Africa. British journalist Frederik Forsyth is embedded with the rebels who fight the government forces in one of the largest civil wars in the history of Nigeria. According to Forsyth, during that trip, he met many mercenaries from different countries, as well as rebel leaders who inspired him to write a book on this topic.Based on that experience, in 1974 he published ‘The Dogs of War’, a novel about a group of mercenaries who plan to execute a coup d’état in a small African country of Zangaro. The book became a cult classic. In his books, Forsyth was extremely diligent when it came to technical accuracy, and the mercenaries in the book used mortars to gain fire superiority over local government forces. Photo Credit: movie poster for 'The Dogs of War’ (United Artists, 1980) In 1980, the movie was made based on a book. Starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger, it was a bit less authentic, and one of the main changes made to the story was the weapons used by the mercenaries.Instead of mortars, which in the book were cleverly procured in a grey market deal in Yugoslavia, mercenaries in the movie relied on a different kind of firepower - a mysterious and imposing grenade launcher called XM18E1R. For the movie, a fictional but very convincing advertisement was created.THE XM18E1R PROJECTILE LAUNCHERThe XM18E1R is an 18-round, 20mm projectile launcher. It represents the ultimate in assault technology. While being lightweight, it is able to launch 18 projectiles within a 5-second period for a distance of 100 meters and beyond.Giving one man the capability of launching either one solid mode of action or a combination of smoke, gas, etc. It also provides the ability to launch high-impact flashette loads or other anti-personnel systems. Photo Credit: Still from 'The Dogs of War" (United Artists, 1980) It was quite realistic - from the designation of the weapon to the terminology and overall style, it looked like it was printed on the pages of ‘Soldier of Fortune’ magazine, which was very popular at the time.In reality, the prop used in the movie was the Manville Gun, designed in the early 1930s by Charles J. Manville. The version used in the movie was chambered for 26.5 mm shells. This weapon was designed primarily for riot control and fired less lethal flare, smoke, and riot gas shells, however it could be used to fire very lethal 12 gauge rounds.The Manville Gun was used by the Indiana National Guard during the Terre Haute General Strike of 1935, but overall, the weapon did not sell well, so in 1943, Charles Manville’s company ceased production of the gun, and he destroyed all machinery, dies, diagrams, and notes. Photo Credit: Still from 'The Dogs of War" (United Artists, 1980) But in the early 1980s, there was no internet, and the weapon looked as convincing as it could. So a young South African weapon design engineer, Andries Piek, decided that since such a weapon already exists, he could invent something similar.Now Andries Piek is known as ‘The Father of the Original Multiple Grenade Launcher, worldwide known as the MGL’, but at the time, he had just finished his first design, the BXP ("blowback experimental parabellum") submachine gun. It was based on the Rhodesian LDP 9mm carbine.Andries Piek ordered LDP from Rhodesia just before it became Zimbabwe, and South African customs impounded it. Andries managed to modify the gun and convert it to a semi-automatic, making it legal in South Africa.In 1980, Milcor was founded, and Andries Piek went to work for them, gaining the opportunity to make XM18E1R a reality. Instead of shells, it used conventional 40x46 mm grenades, just like the iconic M79 or M203 UBGL (underbarrel grenade launcher). Photo credit: Lance Cpl. Judith Ann Lazaro, 2nd Marine Division. DVIDS/Public Domain In 1983, his creation was accepted into service by the South African Defense Force. Since then, over 50,000 units have been produced, and Milcor MGL is used by over 20 different countries, and adopted by the US Marine Corps and units within the US SOCOM (United States Special Operations Command).Interestingly enough, the Manville Gun inspired one more gun designer, Michael Rogak, who invented the Hawk MM-1, also in the early 1980s. It used the same grenades and had one truly iconic movie role - in ‘Terminator 2’, Arnold Shwartsenegger used it in a scene where he gets into a shootout with a SWAT leaving the Cyberdyne Systems office. Photo credit: Lance Cpl. Brian Bolin Jr.,24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. DVIDS/Public Domain These days, revolver-action multiple-shot grenade launchers are everywhere - they are produced by Turkey, Poland, Serbia, Russia, the USA, and Bulgaria. But it all started with one young engineer who was convinced by the movie magic that such a grenade launcher was possible and turned a clever movie idea into a real weapon.The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.