tigerfan Posted October 28, 2015 Share #1 Posted October 28, 2015 Bought some WWI - WWII American military things today and this grenade was part of it. I have searched everywhere I can think of but can't find this one. Does anyone know what this one is? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted October 28, 2015 Share #2 Posted October 28, 2015 it looks like a Viet Cong grenade, Ive seen similar types in Vietnam War collections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted October 28, 2015 Share #3 Posted October 28, 2015 judging by the crude construction it appears to be some type of improvised grenade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted October 28, 2015 Share #4 Posted October 28, 2015 more reference photos crude manufactured VC / NVA hand grenades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerfan Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted October 28, 2015 Very interesting grenades. Would a VC grenade have what appears to be a makers stamp on it? Notice that this one has the letters FA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted October 28, 2015 Share #6 Posted October 28, 2015 Very interesting grenades. Would a VC grenade have what appears to be a makers stamp on it? Notice that this one has the letters FA. the grenade body could also possibly be a piece of scrap metal off of something like a pipe cap or something like that? the letters FA could be a company that made the mouldings for something, like plumbing or pipes, etc? the VC often used anything to make a grenade / bomb, old coke cans, c ration cans filled with nails, & broken glass, anything to use as shrapnel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaA257 Posted October 28, 2015 Share #7 Posted October 28, 2015 Take this for what it's worth, but I saw our bomb disposal unit with one extremely similar to that one years ago. They said it was French WWII era. Of course the French were in Indochina as well so if it is VC that may explain the shape....just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rifleman Posted October 29, 2015 Share #8 Posted October 29, 2015 Looks similar to this one with a different fuse. http://lexpev.nl/grenades/europe/france/df1917.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerfan Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share #9 Posted October 29, 2015 Looks similar to this one with a different fuse. http://lexpev.nl/grenades/europe/france/df1917.html Yes, looks very similar besides the fuze. On another note: I had a chance to go back where I got this grenade along with other WWI - WWII military things as a few more things were found. I was informed that the WWI items were from the grandfather and the WWII items were from an uncle. There were a few French WWI related things in this lot including a bayonet, a few insignia and a 1918 brass knuckle knife French made. Everything is being found in a house clean out not far from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted October 29, 2015 Share #10 Posted October 29, 2015 maybe the uncle that was in WWII brought the French style grenade back during the 1940's, lots of older stuff left over from WWI was also reused during WWII. could be something used by the French resistance, the different fuze could be a later modification from the 1930's - 40's or possibly a variation of the WW1 model, since they mfg three different versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rifleman Posted November 1, 2015 Share #11 Posted November 1, 2015 Here's another possibility.The fuse is what stumps me,never seen one like that. http://lexpev.nl/grenades/americas/brazil/dmbdefensive.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted November 3, 2015 Share #12 Posted November 3, 2015 the grenade may not even be related to the estate sales grandfather or uncle's WWI - WWII service, it could be something acquired some other way , could still be something a vet brought back from Vietnam, a modified French DF 17 grenade body so the use by the VC / PAVN or some other country is still a possibilty. lots of vets have collectables in their collections that came from another source, not always something they brought back personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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