WW II FUZE M6A4C

[Brian Keith]

Here is a grenade fuze that was donated to a museum I’m associated with. The fuze is interesting in that the spoon appears to have always been straight, not curved to conform to the body of a grenade, and not shaped to conform to a body of a canister type grenade. Also, the length of the spoon has been painted grey.

It was in with a group of assorted fired and blank ammo, grenade fragments, 60mm mortar pins and things. They all seem to be from the WW II era, and the donors stated they were souvenirs of a WW II soldier.

Comments welcome,

Thanks for looking,

BKW

[Kaptainssurplus]

That is odd it is straight like that, the C marked M6 fuzes are supposed to be curved, used on MK2A1s. The D marked M6s are straight and used on M15s and later on early M34s. 

[Brian Keith]

Thanks for your comments. I'm sure it has always been straight. Likely a clue to it's use is the grey paint. While we don't know much of the history of this vet, they said he was sent to the Pacific Theater later in the war. Sharp eyes may notice the Japanese signature "chop" in the leather case. The assortment of souvenirs would seem to indicate he was an Infantry soldier.

Best Regards,

BKW

[SubgunFun]

Looks like 11 brass M52 fuse safety pins that spring out of the fuse upon firing that are all on a dog tag chain? Very cool. I've wondered how far out of the tube those are ejected. It seems like it would happen right away but maybe they get blown out a long ways from the tube? I wonder how difficult it would be to collect that many after firing. I'm almost wondering if and why they were removed from the fuses if done by hand?

[bbmilitaria]

The bouchon is an m10 series with the bluish green sealant.

[917601]

6 hours ago, bbmilitaria said:

The bouchon is an m10 series with the bluish green sealant.

Correct. Good catch. The spoon does not match the fuze body. The M6 fuze was a later war fuze that was developed for a TNT filled grenade. They had red sealant color.Also, the fuze body has the half moon pin, notice it is just above and forward of the grenade safety pin.The half moon protruding pins were a later war modification that prevented the spoon from being gripped to hard and causing the spoon to fall off.No idea why the spoon is not curved.