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Help with Grenades


Okie96
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Hello, I know pretty much nothing about greands except that they go for quite a bit and I was wondering what type these are and when they are from? Sorry if this doesn't come out right. i'm still rying to figure out how to post pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The one on the left is an M67 "baseball" grenade and the one on the right is a Mk2 "pineapple" grenade. I'll link a wikipedia article for each one below, you should be able to gather some decent info from there. Hope that helps a little bit.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M67_grenade

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_2_grenade

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Thanks for the info guys. :) The links will be very helpful. So just to clarify, they are dummys for training, like what you can get at a military show for like 15 or 20 dollars right?

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Thanks for the info guys. :) The links will be very helpful. So just to clarify, they are dummys for training, like what you can get at a military show for like 15 or 20 dollars right?

 

Yes, you are correct. The MK2 on the right is a commercially made novelty. The one on the left (M-67) could possibly be a training grenade. It appears the seam is horizontal and made of a superior metal, not a rough casting. I have seen the one on the left go for aroung $20 bucks, but the MK2 on the right is about $5-$10 bucks in my neck of the woods. Hope this helps.

 

Chris

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I was given a few of the MK2 grenades like yours. The threads for the fuze is larger than the WW2 style. Using a file, I shaped the fuze to accept a repro WW2 spoon, repainted the whole thing & aged it to look old. Now I have a few "WW2" grenades for use in displays. I have quite a few genuine WW2 grenades, but a few repros are nice to fill the holes in newer displays...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Coconut Harry

both are commercial paper weights sold as novelty items, not genuine trainers

 

value is about $5 each retail

 

 

The pineapple with what appears to be an M205 or A1 training fuze if Korean era dated is worth a bit more than $5 buck these days....these M205 fuzes are getting harder to find and could fetch maybe $20-25 easily to someone who needs it....also without better photos the body it's attached to "could" be an actual RFX Richmond Foundry training body that just has the blue paint worn and rusted...again this would make that one pineapple grenade worth a bit more than $5 if it's a Korean war or mid-late 50's, or early-mid 60's Vietnam era trainer........the other baseball type I'll agree is just a common dummy grenade casting with a very common and inexpensive M228 training fuze....on epay M228's can be had for 5 bucks....

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  • 2 weeks later...
Coconut Harry

Harry, what do you make of this grenade body? Neither top nor bottom hole is threaded. Practice/throwing grenade?.......More pix.

 

 

Hi Glenn, it's Steve, not Harry, but that's OK my friend...actually Coconut Harry is a coconut carved into Harry Truman and sent to him by an admirer I believe near the war's end...it's in the Smithsonian along with other gifts that were made and sent to different Presidents...I think it's a great piece of folk art...

 

Nice item you found, it's an unfinished-unthreaded MkII pineapple body-casting made by the "American Radiator Co." and most probably from early WW2 era.....but it could also be from the 1930's.....and it probably made it's way out of the factory as a "lunchbox special" (in a workers lunchbox) as a souvenir. :rolleyes:

..... these unfinished bodies could have been rejected for some imperfection, but if they were I think they would have been melted back down and re-cast during the wartime shortage of materials.

Some call them throwing practice grenades and certainly could have been used this way. "some" might have been....but the many I've seen are usually pristine looking like yours so I doubt the ones we see today in great shape were used for throwing practice. I really think they were taken by workers as souvenirs.

 

I've seen many unfinished bodies with many different markings... I have a few in my own collection, I think there kinda neat. I see them often for sale at $20-30 bucks or so if sellers don't think they have something really rare.

 

BTW, the American Radiator Co. is one of few known makers of pineapple bodies. All AR grenades I've seen have standard 9/16" lead fill plug in bottoms. I don't think they made any solid bottom bodies, which of course would be called proper an MkIIA1 which appeared approx '42-43 time period.

I'll post below the info I gave another member who asked me what other makers I know of that are known at this time for you & any other members who might have interest ....

 

Another BTW.....you'll also see some bodies marked "ARco" My feeling about the marking difference is "ARco" marked are earlier bodies from 1930's...BUT...they could even be earlier from mid-to late 1920's....there's just no real way to pin down the exact time they were made as no one has yet found the Gov. contract info & dates of the many, many makers contracted to make grenade bodies. You can generally tell the age (within a few years) of a MkII body by it's casting shape....there were some subtle & not so subtle differences over the inter war years.

 

Regards, Steve

 

 

 

**********************************************

**********************************************

 

KNOWN MkII GRENADE BODY MAKERS (that I know of) & (Rambling on about unimportant stuff)

 

AF = American Fireworks Co.

 

G = if the G is "square in shape" this is the Grabler Co.also known as the Square Gee Co. an iron pipe fitting company

 

L or L in a diamond = Littlestown Foundry...they made over 3 million grenade bodies & also made mines and mortar shells etc....you will also see many of these "Diamond L" bodies made into cigarette lighters in the early post war yrs by the Kravitt novelty company

 

AR or ARco = American radiator Co.

 

C = The Crane Co.

 

RFX = Richmond Foundry Co.

 

NOTE: info on RFX's: Richmond Foundry co. did make "real" solid bottom HE (high explosive) grenades during WW2, although for some reason they are rarely seen and are not common.

I know they made them as fact becuae I have an example of a WW2 solid bottom RFX with M10A3 fuze in my collection. Also another collector I know of has 2 "real" solid bottom RFX grenades (bodies only, & they are no doubt real, they do not have welded up or bondo filled holes on bottom)

But by far most of the RFX marked pineapple bodies you will see on the market such as at gunshows, eBay, Militaria websites, even well known Military museums gift shops are Fakes-Clones of the US issue RFX M21 training grenade. The RFX made M21 practice grenades started being produced just after WW2, and used thru Korean era thru the Vietnam era.

 

Real RFX made M21 training grenades will of course have a hole on the bottom to insert a black powder charge and then have a cork inserted and sealed with varnish type coating. They would have used an M205A1 or A2 practice fuze. The post war M204 series live fuzes & the M205 series practice fuzes both have 9/16" threads, the same size as WW2 era fuzes.. The tons of RFX marked fake pineapple bodies seen all over the place will usually BUT NOT ALWAYS have larger fuze threads that will only properly fit the modern "M228" practice fuzes as seen on ebay and elsewhere for only a couple of bucks..... (why the offshore and/or US? companies chose to copy the RFX M21's I have no idea!!)

 

A RECAP OF MY RFX RAMBLINGS.... So....ALL RFX's you will see are 1 of 3 things

 

1. A real solid bottom live MkIIA1 grenade made during WW2 with M10A3 fuze. I am not sure if they were also filled with TNT and used the M6A4C detonating fuze as I've never seen one nor has anyone else (of as of this post 2-24-13)

2. they are "real" post war M21 training grenades used from just after WW2 thru Korean and the Vietnam era and will only fit and use the M205A1 or A2 fuze w/ 9/16' threads.....

3. One of the 1000's of fakes-clones marked RFX (with various numbers and/or letters also on the body to appear as actual lot or casting numbers-letters)..... these can be ID'd easily by the thread size....if the bodies will fit the modern M228 practice fuzes they are 100% fakes-clones...

BUT not always...BEWARE....some fake-clones do have 9/16" threads!!!

 

So in conclusion to my "RFX ramblings" (I can hear some members saying...FINALLY he's done!!) :lol:

You really have to pay close attention to RFX marked bodies and it would help to have seen 100's of them to tell which is a real RFX (Richmond Foundry) made body....but remember (in general) if they do not have the smaller 9/16" threads they are FAKE bodies. Another thing to help spot the fakes even when they do have correct 9/16" thread size..... is the body casting itself...the fakes almost all the time have very poor casting features and look like a piece of Sh*t

 

OH NO!! you say...... he's not done rambling......As you will see when looking at WW2 & post war pineapple bodies there are dozens of different markings........the "lazy S" as called by collectors is an S on it's side in an oval (it's too lazy to stand up).....AA, A, AH, BB, ID, T, DD, D, O, a serif type "S"

Another common seen earlier marking on WWI MkI & early MkII bodies is N, or a diamond with F or other letter or number inside, and also marked on a frag segment above of below with + sign & other numbers or letters. Plus there are many many other markings seen....all unknown at this time .....there are some ex- and current EOD guys who are also collectors, and a few other collectors I know of who have access to, and are researching old Gov records and old minutes reports trying to compile more known contractors....but nothing new I've heard of as of yet...

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Good info, thanks for posting it. :)

"...and it probably made it's way out of the factory as a "lunchbox special" (in a workers lunchbox) as a souvenir. :rolleyes:"

 

I'll get it one piece at a time, and won't cost me a dime...

So the very next day when I punched in, with my big lunch box and some help from my friend,I left that day with a lunchbox, full of.... :D

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