History

 The China Lake Model (or China Lake Pump-Action Grenade Launcher) is a pump-action grenade launcher that was developed by the Special Projects Division of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, which provided equipment to Navy SEALs.

Navy SEALs were unsatisfied with the single-shot nature of the M79 and XM148 grenade launchers, and the repeating T148E1 grenade launcher was unreliable, so they made a request to China Lake engineers. SEAL Teams were pleased with the resultant pump-action grenade launcher, since the tubular magazine held three 40x46mm grenades, and so with one grenade in the chamber, four grenades could rapidly be fired before reloading. In fact a skilled operator could fire four aimed shots before the first one landed. The grenade launcher was extremely light for its size, since a significant portion of it was made of aluminum. The weapon actually weighs 1-1/2 pounds less empty than an empty M79. Loaded with 4 of the 8 ounce rounds, the 4 shot weapon weighs only 1/2 pound more than the single shot M79. Despite this advantage in firepower, it did have limitations as it could not reliably feed the more oddly-shaped 40 mm grenades.

The pump-action grenade launcher featured leaf iron sights similar to the M79. The front sight is a fixed square notch. Depending on if the leaf is folded or not, the rear square notch is either fixed or adjustable from 75 to 375 m in 25 m increments.

Though meant for the SEAL Teams, a handful were used by Marine Force Recon and Army 5th Special Forces Group. Sources differ as to how many weapons were produced. One claims that between 20 and 30 were made. However, according to another source, only 16 were made.[1] The highest original receiver number found is 50, but it may never have been made into a functional weapon.[2] Since it was made on an ad hoc basis for special operations forces, it was not formally adopted and has no official designation. It is sometimes referred to as the "China Lake NATIC" or mistakenly as the EX-41. The EX-41 was a design concept created in the mid-1980s based upon the earlier China Lake Model Pump 40mm. The EX-41 was produced in prototype form a full 2 decades after the China Lake Model was produced. The China Lake NATIC designation is also erroneous as the weapon was never known by that designation.

At least two grenade launchers are on display in museums. One, serial number 4, is at the UDT/ SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida while the other, serial number 13, is found in the War remnants museum in Vietnam.

Singleplayer/Co-Op

The China Lake is first used in S.O.G. in a tunnel area near the part with the mortared out forest and is later used on a jeep while destroying tanks. It is also seen in the mission Crash Site when in the crashed plane fuselage, with Woods questioning why the Russians would be using American weapons, and in the first weapons cache in Numbers. The China Lake in singleplayer has a 4 round capacity, unlike in multiplayer and zombies where it only has 2 rounds. It also appears to be the only gun which has more rounds per magazine in the campaign than its Nazi Zombie counterpart.

When Pack-A-Punched this gun is called the "China Beach." It is very effective for clearing out large waves but disorients the user after firing too close. While this drawback can be fixed by taking a PHD Flopper, it is still considered inferior compared to the M72 Anarchy in terms of ammo, utility and damage. Overall it is a poor choice for close-quarters combat. The China Beach holds five grenades and cycles faster. The China Lake is also available as a power up in "Dead Ops Arcade". Here it seems to be automatic, but it is still pump action as the player can see the character model pumping the weapon before firing. The China Lake only goes a small distance before exploding which allows zombies to get close if the player is not aiming in the right direction. The China Lake is effective when firing into a large masses of zombies and on lower waves.

Multiplayer

Damage 155 - 25
 
Magazine Size 2 rounds (4 rounds SP)
 
Tier 18
 
Unlocked at 48
 
Cost (Black Ops) 2000
 
Cost (Nazi Zombies) 950
 
Starting Ammunition 2 (MP)
 
Maximum Ammunition 4 (MP)
 
Rate of Fire 2.05
 
Radius 7.5
 
Fire Mode Pump-action
 
Used by USMC, SOG
 

It is the last weapon unlocked at level 48. The China Lake has a 2 round capacity, and is pump-action. The pumping action is very slow, thus lowering the rate of fire as compared to a pump action shotgun. This gun also has very poor mobility, similar to a LMG. When the player hip-fires it, the sights will be brought up before firing, like the Thumper in MW2. Because of these traits, the player has to make sure that the first grenade kills, as otherwise they will have to deal with the long pumping animation while moving too slowly to avoid the enemy. Also, the player will have to lead the shot due to the gun's delay between pulling the trigger and it actually firing. A good tactic is to reload immediately after first shot, as it takes less time and can be reload-canceled unlike pump-action. When using Scavenger Pro the player will start with two extra grenades in reserve (note: like all launchers, grenades will not be scavenged when using the regular Scavenger). With this extra ammo, it is important to note that reloading the gun after each shot is actually faster than pumping it (especially when using Sleight of Hand Pro). Using this technique significantly increases the China Lake's rate of fire. The China Lake does 155-25 damage with a 7.5M blast radius. It drops about 17 damage per every meter meaning the lethal blast radius is about 3M.

Challenges