Trials XM69 Practice Grenade?

[J.Q.M.D.]

Greetings all,

 

I won a lot of grenade parts at an auction recently and this one was in there.  I've never seen one quite like this.  It shares characteristics of the earlier M30 grenades, but is obviously an M69 style body.  The markings on the body very faintly identify it as "XM69".  The fuze is marked "FUZE XM228 / PA-E-90576 / 8-69".  There is no hook on the underside for the jungle clip and the spoon has a red end as opposed to brown.  The body is cast iron with a vertical seam.  The part that the fuze threads into almost looks like a separate piece.  It sounds funny, but it basically looks like a squished M30.  My first thought was that it might be one of the common gun show grenades, but it is absolutely FULL of blasting cap shrapnel, indicating that it was used a lot.  So, what do I have here?  I've searched online and can not find another example like mine.  Could this be one of the trials XM69 grenades?  With the fuze date of "8-69", this would have to be an extremely early one.  Any help would be appreciated! 

 

Thanks,

JQMD

[Inertord]

Nice example!
 

Some info on the XM69 Trials: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0866896.pdf

 

Frank 

[J.Q.M.D.]

On 6/21/2024 at 12:15 AM, Inertord said:

Nice example!
 

Some info on the XM69 Trials: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0866896.pdf

 

Frank 

Thanks!  I found the same thing online while I was researching it.  I noticed in those trials notes that the picture they show at the end is the standard sheet metal type grenade that we normally see.  I wonder if mine is a prototype grenade being that it's cast iron, has a completely different shape, has a beveled hole in the base for a plastic plug, etc.  I'd love to see another example that is the same as mine, but I'm coming up empty handed in all my searching.

[AmmoNut426]

If you can read the NSN fully, I may be able to find some old documents or something about it. 

[J.Q.M.D.]

5 hours ago, AmmoNut426 said:

If you can read the NSN fully, I may be able to find some old documents or something about it. 

It looks like the NSN reads as follows: 1330-178-8515-10 (or 18).

 

Thanks!