A soil nail launching device and method are provided wherein the launching
device includes an improved configuration for the protective shroud and
an improved configuration for a connection between the breach and barrel
of the launching device. For the protective shroud, a plurality of
removable shroud plates are provided to ease maintenance of the shroud
plate, as well as to provide more consistent pressure release after the
launcher has been fired. The improved breach and barrel design includes a
connection that does not reduce the area of the annular space that is
evacuated during firing of the device, thereby optimizing the available
volume of air to be transferred to the breach for launching the soil nail
through the barrel.