US Army hand fragmentation grenades. Lighter in the form of a hand fragmentation grenade M26 A2

The grenade traces its origins to the English Mils grenade from the First World War. The predecessor of this grenade was used during the Second World War. Since then, only the composition of the explosive used in the grenade has changed.

Remote action fragmentation grenade. The grenade explodes 4-6 seconds after the pressure lever is released (you must first remove the safety ring by pressing the lever with your fingers to the grenade body). Those. Handling the grenade is similar to handling the Soviet F-1, RG-42 or RGD-5 grenades.

The body of the grenade is made of thin metal. Inside, a wire is wound around the body, which is the main fragmentation agent. The total weight of the grenade is 453.6 grams. The mass of the explosive charge is 141.8 grams (a plastic composite explosive of type “B” - an analogue of the Soviet “Plastit-4” (PVV-4)). The radius of continuous destruction by shrapnel is 5 meters, the radius of possible damage is 15 meters, the safety zone for friendly troops is 235 meters.
From the author. The ranges are quite strange. Safety zone of 235 meters -American standard safety zones for all fragmentation munitions and does not correspond to real lethality. At the same time, the radius of complete and possible damage is clearly underestimated, obviously based on tactical calculation data. The author’s experience suggests that all fragmentation ammunition, regardless of caliber (both grenades and mortar mines, And artillery shells, and fragmentation bombs) mainly affect within a radius of 30-35 meters. Only isolated and very, very rare fragments can fly further (mainly large and heavy fragments of the hull, most often head part with fuse mechanism). The probability of injury from such fragments is vanishingly small. However, as the soldiers say: “If you’re unlucky, you’ll catch a virgin.....”

And further. The grenade ring is not used for hanging it on a belt or other place, but for removing it from the safety cocking. Grenades are carried in a bag specially designed for them (and only for them!). All other methods of carrying grenades give one single result - blowing up a soldier with his own grenade.

Fuses used are M204A1 or M204A2.

The pomegranate is colored olive-grayish. Marking yellow color(only the batch number is indicated).

Hand fragmentation grenade Mk2,

designed to destroy manpower in defensive combat and belongs to the “classic” type defensive grenade with an external notch of a thick-walled body made of cast iron. Mk2 hand grenade is a modernization of the Mk1 fragmentation grenade model 1917. The characteristic shape of the grenade earned it the nickname "Pineapple" (pineapple).

The grenade consists of a body, an explosive charge and a fuse. The grenade body is made of cast iron and has longitudinal and transverse notches.
An explosive charge is located inside the case. In the upper part of the case there is a hole into which the grenade fuse is screwed.
The fuse consists of a body, a firing pin with a mainspring, a safety bracket, a safety pin with a ring, and a detonator capsule. The body has a channel in which the igniter primer is fixed. Below in the channel there is a powder retarder. The firing pin with a mainspring is put on an axis fixed in the body. In official use, it is pulled down and held in place by a safety clip.

The safety bracket with its forked end is inserted under the bosses of the body and secured with a safety pin inserted into the holes of the bracket and the body. The detonator capsule has a metal body. It is put on the tube of the igniter body. After removing the safety pin, at the moment of throwing, the firing pin, under the action of a spring, discards the safety bracket and punctures the igniter primer. The beam of fire from the igniter capsule is transmitted to the powder retarder, and after it burns out to the detonator, which leads to the explosion of the grenade charge. The Mk2A1 hand grenade differs from the Mk2 in the absence of a hole in the bottom of the body. Grenades were used with several models of fuses.

Initially in Mk2 fuses M10 and M10A1 were used, and in Mk2A1 - M10A2, which were later replaced by more modern fuses M6A4 and M204. The fuses M6A4 and M204 differed in their retarding composition. M204 used a composition based on smokeless powder, so the M204 fuse was preferred.
The M6A4 and M204 fuses had a rotating striker with a sting, a torsional spring, a safety lever, a pin with a ring, an igniter primer, a tube with a retarding compound, and a detonator cap. The safety lever engages the T-shaped protrusion of the igniter body and is held against the body. The fuse is inserted into the grenade body on a thread. This fuse design has become standard for NATO countries and adopted in many other countries.

To use grenades you need:
1. take the grenade in your hand so that the safety bracket is pressed against the body,
2. straighten the antennae of the safety pin,
3. remove the safety pin and throw the grenade at the target.

Offensive high-explosive hand grenade MK3A2

The modern American hand grenade, commonly referred to as a concussion grenade, is designed to cause damage primarily by explosive force. It also strikes with fragments, but they play a secondary role here.

The main task of this grenade is to cause destruction, damage unarmored or lightly armored vehicles, small structures (dugouts, crevices, rooms, fuel tanks, containers with property) and incapacitate enemy soldiers located in confined spaces (in cars, shelters, dugouts, premises).

A significant high-explosive effect is achieved due to the large explosive charge (TNT) in the grenade - 227 grams with a total grenade weight of 443 grams. The length of the grenade is 13.8 cm. The diameter is about 5 cm. According to American standards, the radius of fatal damage to a person by a shock wave is 2 meters. Grenade fragments can fly up to 200 meters. The radius of safe removal of its soldiers is 235 meters.

Fuses used are M206A1 or M206A2.

Remote action grenade, i.e. the explosion occurs 4-6 seconds after the release of the clamping lever. Before throwing, the soldier presses the lever to the body of the grenade, pulls out the safety ring and throws the grenade at the target. You can only throw a grenade from behind cover.

The maximum throwing range of an average soldier is considered to be 40 meters.

The grenade is painted black. Yellow markings on the side of the grenade.

This grenade gained great popularity during the Vietnam War in the sixties, when with their help American soldiers They destroyed the Viet Cong hiding in underground passages. It was not possible to do this with ordinary grenades. A grenade can have some effectiveness in street battles and mountain conditions. In normal field battle its effectiveness is questionable.

Hand fragmentation grenade M67

M67 grenade (M67 Fragmentation Hand Grenade) - American hand fragmentation grenade.

Designed to defeat manpower in battle. A grenade is delivered to the target by throwing it with a human hand.

The grenade body is made of heavy metal, which is a fragment former.

The diameter of the grenade is 6.35 cm, the length along the fuse is 9.22 cm, the weight of the grenade is 396.9 grams. The mass of the explosive charge is 184.3 grams. The fuse used is M213.

Many have been invented in the USA various types and types of hand grenades. In the relatively short history of the independence of this public education the first explosions of “pocket artillery” said their weighty “Boom!” back in the era Civil War for independence. In those days, there was no grenade department or design bureau, so private individuals often initiated the production of one or another model. They invented them, patented them, and the best samples were awarded mass production.

For example, one of the most popular models was Ketchum grenade, patented on August 20, 1861 by one William F. Ketchum. It was a cast-iron ellipsoid, on one side of which there was a flat plate of a pressure-action fuse, and on the other, a stabilizer shank, necessary for the grenade to land with the plate down.

The large-scale use of these ammunition did not produce the expected effect. The stabilizer worked poorly, and in some cases played into the hands of the enemy. During the siege of Port Hudson, the Confederates simply caught abandoned cast iron with sheets and sent them back from the walls. And those, falling from top to bottom, exploded. The Confederate troops even had their own copy of Ketchum's product - Reines grenade, which had a modernized stabilizer and fuse.

Ketchum grenade...

...and Reines

Hans Excelsior's percussion grenade developed at the beginning of 1862, it is similar to an anchor mine and is similar in principle to it. It was a cast iron ball with pressure fuses protruding from it. To prevent the device from triggering in advance, an additional outer casing was provided, consisting of two shells. Before use, one half had to be removed, the fuses screwed into the open part of the grenade, and then, using the second half of the body as a handle, thrown at the target. The ammunition turned out to be very dangerous, primarily for the user.

Moreover, known cases This model is not used in combat. However, the grenade, although rare, is found in museums and private collections. Here we cannot help but focus on the fact that this was the first (or one of the first) attempts by the Americans to create hand grenade with impact fuse. Despite all its apparent simplicity, this problem has not yet found a solution. Even the Soviet RGO and RGN have a backup detonator with a delay. So the question of creating 100% reliable and safe grenade impact fuses remains open even after a century and a half.

Excelsior grenade in a case and with fuses screwed on

Adams grenade. It was not possible to find an exact description of this ammunition, but the surviving drawing shows that it was developed in 1865, and the principle of operation is based on the use of a grating fuse with a delay. A very progressive thing for that time, and the use of a grater in detonators proved to be excellent in German grenades during the First and Second World Wars, many airsoft players still use it with pleasure.

Adams grenade with grate fuse

In addition to the above, in the battlefields of the American Civil War, they were widely used as ersatz grenades made from artillery ammunition, as well as factory cast iron with good old wick fuses. The wicks did not allow accurate calculation of the burning time and were prone to “overshooting” when the fire beam jumped some distance, which on short fuses could lead to a premature explosion. Foreign-style grenades have also found some use.

The truly era of hand fragmentation grenades as standard equipment for a fighter, and not a sort of “wunderwaffe” requiring a separate branch of troops, came with the beginning of the First World War. It was then that all self-respecting states began to actively introduce this type of ammunition into the troops. Since the United States also took part in the crucible of European hostilities, it was quite natural that it acquired its own model.

The first American defensive fragmentation grenade received the designation Mk I, was developed and put into service in 1917, at the end of the war. It did not last long as it had a five-stage starting system and proved too difficult to use. Often, in the heat of battle, fighters did not complete the initiation procedure and threw grenades at the enemy to no avail, only to receive it back, only already cocked. And all this, despite the fact that a training model, the Mk IA1, was also developed. It is quite reasonable that after 2 years a new, easier to use Mk II entered service, and they tried to safely forget about the first-born.

Mk I grenade

Mk II – hand fragmentation grenade developed in 1918 and in service since 1920. Used until Vietnam War. It basically has a cast iron body with notches filled with explosives. The use of an explosive filler - smokeless powder - did not require a detonator, so a simple powder igniter with a reliable moderator was used as a fuse. The notches on the body were initially intended to make it easier to divide into damaging elements, but later it was found that cast iron bursts in the abstract, and a grenade with notches is simply more convenient to hold and throw.

There were several modifications of the Mk II. So, for example, initially the body had two holes on top for a fuse, and on the bottom for filling explosives; over time, the bottom hole was abandoned. The grenade is called Mk IIA1 in unofficial circles, but the military never called it that. There was a model filled with TNT instead of gunpowder, which had a striking feature - too small fragmentation of the body from the TNT charge. The damaging elements turned out to be very small and quickly lost lethal force. Such garnets were painted in bright yellow color(then simply applied a yellow stripe) and received the designation Mk II HE(high explosive).

Mk II HE grenade

Also for battle history This grenade used various fuses - M5, M6, M10 and M11. The M5 and M6 sparked noticeably when ignited, and the M10 hissed loudly. When using TNT filler, cases were recorded when the main charge was triggered by the igniter capsule. By the end of the service, all grenades were equipped with safe and silent M204 fuses.

Training “pineapples” were also in service. The pomegranate received this slang name for the characteristic shape of the body, so we have “lemons”, and they have “pineapples”.

M21 practice grenade

Transportation of TNT versions was carried out with the fuses removed, and the powder versions were supplied completely assembled so that the gunpowder did not spill out. There is no information about the use of plugs like on Soviet F-1s. In April 1945, as part of a general reorganization of army identifiers, Roman numerals were abandoned and the grenade was redesignated Mk 2

And that was it. Special attachment for firing a grenade from a rifle

Mk III (Mk 3) – high-explosive hand grenade, designed specifically for operations in confined spaces. Quite an interesting idea. The body is made of thick cardboard, and the only metal parts are the top and bottom covers and the fuse. Hit the enemy not so much with fragments, but with a shock wave from the explosion large quantity BB (227 g). The wave formed indoors is amplified many times due to the reflection effect. This model appeared in March 1918 as an anti-bunker model, but was used mainly for operations inside buildings.

According to the user's recollections: " A Mk 3 explosion inside a room can end a battle very quickly and there is no fear that shrapnel will pass through thin walls and hit its own" Also adopted by the navy as an anti-diving weapon. At the moment, it is slowly disappearing from the “counters”, since the last remaining consumer - the navy - has developed a new grenade (depth charge), specialized specifically in combating divers - the Mk40.

Mk III grenade

There were three different modifications in total, differing in the body material and the fuses used. There is fragmentary information that thermobaric grenades have replaced (or are preparing to replace) infantry units, but it was not possible to find specifics. At least, if the Russian RG-60TB grenade was developed, then why shouldn’t there be an American analogue.

M26 grenade– developed to replace the Mk 2 grenade fragmentation action. The designers tried to deprive the new product of the shortcomings of the previous model, namely, unstable fragmentation of the body. Powder charge tore his predecessor too much large pieces with reliable lethality, but in small quantities, and TNT produced a cloud of small fragments, while reducing the radius of destruction.

The new grenade was made of two stamped halves, inside of which, around the circumference, a steel wire with notches was placed. This combination made it possible to use cast explosives - “composition B” (a mixture of TNT and hexogen) and had better lethality. Due to the elongated shape of the body, it quickly received the nickname “limon”, which, however, is almost an international phenomenon. It was put into service in 1952 and the first baptism of fire of the grenade took place in Korea, where it performed well, but the Vietnamese theater of operations led to the appearance of a variation “for the jungle” - M61.

The fact is that soldiers often wore lemons over their vests, the phenomenon was widespread, and in the jungle there were many different branches that tried to catch on the ring. Installing an additional safety lever solved the problem. Moreover, there were even training grenades with such a lever. So designers should take note - in military affairs they also need to adapt to the consumer.

Fuses were used M204, and then M217, which, according to the principle of their operation, were similar to the same M5/M6, their main difference from their predecessors was the absence of sparks and noise during combustion.

M61 with additional fuse

The wire with notches is clearly visible

M33/M67 grenade- a fragmentation grenade that replaced the M26 in 1968 and is still in service. The wire was removed by making notches on the body with inside. This slightly reduced the radius of continuous damage (to 5 meters), which made it possible to use it as an offensive weapon and reduced the cost of production. In addition, the grenade became round, making it more convenient and accurate to throw.

The M59 modification deserves special attention. The ammunition is interesting in that it uses an M217 electromechanical impact fuse (but with a backup moderator). The impact detonator does not work reliably, and the moderator burn time increased to 7 seconds gives too many chances to the enemy. Although the attempt was counted, it does not stand up to comparison with the UDZS used on the RGN/RGO.

M33/67 grenade

The history of the development of fragmentation grenades in the United States largely follows the path of other countries. And it cannot be said that they came up with something special or too unsuccessful. Overall, this is a very good product that fulfills its intended purpose. Perhaps there is not enough variety, unlike the same Soviet assortment, but, apparently, there was no need.

The Evolution of Death: Hand Frag Grenades (Part 2)