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A R Co. WW II Dummy grenade?


Brian Keith

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In the FM 23-30, “Grenades” dated June 15, 1942, in the chart of hand grenades one of the “types” listed is:

“Body, Grenade, Hand, Fragmentation, Mk. II, with or without hand grenade fuze M5 (for dummy use)” the fuze column lists, “With or without M5 fuze, without detonator.”

So, from that info, would this grenade be a WW II dummy of that type? Or is this a factory reject, or “lunch box special” that somehow made it into the market place?

It was never threaded at the top nor the bottom filler hole. Note the body is marked, “A R Co.”. I found a chart that list the AR marked bodies as being Mk. II, but the maker is unknown. It has a overall coat of rust pitting, so I can’t tell if it ever had any paint.

Thought anyone?

Thanks for looking.

BKW

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Kaptainssurplus

My guess I it's a reject or lunch box special. I don't think it was a training dummy as they had live fire MK2 and M21s trainers also the solid dummy MK1A1s trainers already in use. 

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I disagree, I have it’s twin and I believe it’s a rough cast dummy grenade from the WW1 to 1920s period. There should be a post on this forum discussing it back in 2012 when I originally acquired the item.  
 

I found this reference in a 1918 field manual on grenades:

 

"Dummy Grenades: These are intended for the early practice in throwing...they are nothing more than body castings, smoothed to remove any fins or projections from the casting."

 

Also, American Radiator Co. (A R Co) merged with Standard Sanitation Co. and changed its name in 1929. 

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Kaptainssurplus
15 minutes ago, gap said:

I disagree, I have it’s twin and I believe it’s a rough cast dummy grenade from the WW1 to 1920s period. There should be a post on this forum discussing it back in 2012 when I originally acquired the item.  
 

I found this reference in a 1918 field manual on grenades:

 

"Dummy Grenades: These are intended for the early practice in throwing...they are nothing more than body castings, smoothed to remove any fins or projections from the casting."

 

Also, American Radiator Co. (A R Co) merged with Standard Sanitation Co. and changed its name in 1929. 

 

This is a later type 3 body, which is post 1928ish, so the 1918 field manual wouldn't apply to this body type. The body type it was talking about is the MK1 body that was unfinished, unthreaded fuze well and bottom fill hole. 

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12 hours ago, Kaptainssurplus said:

 

This is a later type 3 body, which is post 1928ish, so the 1918 field manual wouldn't apply to this body type. The body type it was talking about is the MK1 body that was unfinished, unthreaded fuze well and bottom fill hole. 


If “AR Co” is in fact “American Radiator Co.” then the grenade body had to pre-date 1930 when the company merged and became American Standard.  Of course, it’s possible that “AR Co” stands for something else entirely. 
 

 

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Kaptainssurplus
3 hours ago, gap said:


If “AR Co” is in fact “American Radiator Co.” then the grenade body had to pre-date 1930 when the company merged and became American Standard.  Of course, it’s possible that “AR Co” stands for something else entirely. 
 

 

Your correct, like I said this body was probably produced in the late 20s or right at 1930. That is when the type 3 body was first introduced, according to documentation. The reference you spoke of was talking babout the MK1 dummy, which there are examples of, and is the typical MK1 unfinished body. Since this body is a later body, in which at that time there was the solid cast MK1A1 dummy and the MK2 trainer, this is likely an unfinished body instead of the trainer mentioned in the 1918 manual. 

 

This website can explain better in more detail about the timeline of the MK2 and all it variations, markings, versions, etc. The TGRM is pretty much the bible of grenades. 

 

http://tgrm.foxed.ca/Americangrenades/Mk II/The Mk 2 grenade.html

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