British Ordnance Collectors Network
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
M62/M30 Grenade, Hand, Practice
- Thread starter Fragman
- Start date
Here is also a shot of a US M26 Frag Coil from the exterior, showing the earlier type notches on the exterior of the coil (away from explosive).
Stay safe,
Frank
Attachments
Very nice piece, thanks for showing!
V40
Well-Known Member
I am not so sure of that just quite yet. I will do some research on mine own. You will probably end up being right.
But with fragmentation you have to be very careful on what you are looking for as is there is no perfect frag pattern and probably will never be. The M26 series has some serious flaws when it comes to this and it is this lead to one of the changes from "Lemon" shape to the "baseball" shapes of Vietnam.
Also, FYI, the M30 was called the T39 too. That is probably the most worthless info that I can remeber while taking notes to become an Instuctor on Chemical and Less Lethal and in Boob-trap and trip wire classes that I can remember. The insructor just happened to be an old Marine Drill Instructor and he demanded that you will know all nomenclature of all ordnance in this/his class in order to become an "Instructor" in his Boob-Trap mind.
But with fragmentation you have to be very careful on what you are looking for as is there is no perfect frag pattern and probably will never be. The M26 series has some serious flaws when it comes to this and it is this lead to one of the changes from "Lemon" shape to the "baseball" shapes of Vietnam.
Also, FYI, the M30 was called the T39 too. That is probably the most worthless info that I can remeber while taking notes to become an Instuctor on Chemical and Less Lethal and in Boob-trap and trip wire classes that I can remember. The insructor just happened to be an old Marine Drill Instructor and he demanded that you will know all nomenclature of all ordnance in this/his class in order to become an "Instructor" in his Boob-Trap mind.
Last edited:
Hi Mark. The only other lemon maker I’m aware of is Australia. As for baseballs, Holland (V40), Singapore (SFG75), South Korea (K400), and Switzerland (HG85) are the only manufacturers of internally segmented smooth ball shaped grenades since the 1970’s that I am aware of(see attached photo). Cheers
Frank, That’s a fantastic example. Very nice to see some of the rarer ones getting a viewing. Thanks for sharing.
Would be good to see a red cement filled M26A1 and the lemon with the external frag coil, if the owners care to share an image.
Cheers
Attachments
Last edited:
paul the grenade
Well-Known Member
dano1917
RIP
Paul my friend, that is no hijack, would call that an awesome compliment to this thread. Best.......Dano
Fantastic examples Paul, I was hoping you would add them. Ive had to join forces with GTR003121, EODGUY, INERTORDNANCE and SPLITTER to even get close to those beauties.
Ive tried to capture some of the information from this thread in the attached photo. If Ive got it wrong, or you have nicer examples of the lemons, or more information that you want me to add, then attach them to the thread and Ill amend the picture.
Thanks again to GTR003121, EODGUY, INERTORDNANCE and SPLITTER for allowing me to include some of their very nice examples. Cheers
Ive tried to capture some of the information from this thread in the attached photo. If Ive got it wrong, or you have nicer examples of the lemons, or more information that you want me to add, then attach them to the thread and Ill amend the picture.
Thanks again to GTR003121, EODGUY, INERTORDNANCE and SPLITTER for allowing me to include some of their very nice examples. Cheers
Attachments
Last edited:
paul the grenade
Well-Known Member
Spectacular examples. My L3 looks like it been through a concrete mixer and doesn’t make public appearances:tinysmile_angry2_t:. Cheers
V40
Well-Known Member
Also,
Did explain on how SOG silently threw a grenade at night, especially when they hearing in the pitch black the enemy trying to encicle their position at night? Besides the extreme fear factor for the team, they (The NVA) would also use flashlights and dogs to track them at night, especially during a full moon. They would would take the grenade and place it right against the ear and slowly, let the spoon up until you hear the firing pin click. They would then remove the spoon and throw in any direction were they thought the enemy was closest. They tried it with the V40 but somehow the click was much louder and they thought it would be too much for use during the night.
Then they started experimenting with the V40 and found if you did it in betwen your legs they removed the spoon and threw. It worked.
Now the only problem that they had in SOG was that most of the guys were use to throwing the M33 and the M67 which weighed allot more than the tiny V40 in which they could carrry about 10-12 in a hollowed out canteen holder. Usually on top of this they would carry at least 4-6 of the large "Baseball grenades and usually 1-2 M34's. All of these were too heavy to carry with the exception, again, with the V40.
They would throw the V-40's way too far when they were using them in Combat. Hence no harm would really come from the blast because and at least 8 to 1 exploded harmlesy behind the NVA. This is how it usually worked at night too.
They loved their M34's and the M33's and M67's. They claim that the previous aforemention grenades were much more powerful than the M26A1-2's. Plus they had an excellent frag pattern. They were also allot louder than the 26's so they would usually either kill at 20 feet by fragmentation or stunned by the explosion which gave than a few seconds needed to get some more meters behind them. Claymors used with some M26 fuses would give them 4-5 second delay and would usually stop allot of enemy in their tracks our stun them enough to not be capable to continue the chase.
If some of you people want to learn more about this kind of war and many tactics they used across the fence, you have to read about it, especially books by John "Plasticman" Plasters book entitled "Secret Commandos" Behind enemy Lines with ELITE WARRIORS OF SOG" By Plaster. ISBN is: 0-684-85673-5. This book is the quentissential book to read about MACVSOG. You will laugh, Have the hair on the back of your neck rise, and cry. But, I will bet you that you cannot believe what they did and how they accomplished their missions under extreme odds of usually 30-40 to 1. Fragman, GTR003121, Frank, and Dan, you willl learn many things about the SECRET War in SEA. Buy it before you buy another Grenade. Jack who is a member here might even tell of his stories here while serving in CCC. But I think there is something going on here that only includes me.
Sorry for the long winded explanation of the use by SOG of the M26 series and the M33, M34 and M67 grenades and Claymores. But like my signature states, I am a historian and ordnance buff about SOG. Especially when it comes to allot of other countries donations and/or given to SOG along with Mr. Ben Baker, their answer to "Q" in the James Bond movies.
I aslo feel it pertains to this thread.
Did explain on how SOG silently threw a grenade at night, especially when they hearing in the pitch black the enemy trying to encicle their position at night? Besides the extreme fear factor for the team, they (The NVA) would also use flashlights and dogs to track them at night, especially during a full moon. They would would take the grenade and place it right against the ear and slowly, let the spoon up until you hear the firing pin click. They would then remove the spoon and throw in any direction were they thought the enemy was closest. They tried it with the V40 but somehow the click was much louder and they thought it would be too much for use during the night.
Then they started experimenting with the V40 and found if you did it in betwen your legs they removed the spoon and threw. It worked.
Now the only problem that they had in SOG was that most of the guys were use to throwing the M33 and the M67 which weighed allot more than the tiny V40 in which they could carrry about 10-12 in a hollowed out canteen holder. Usually on top of this they would carry at least 4-6 of the large "Baseball grenades and usually 1-2 M34's. All of these were too heavy to carry with the exception, again, with the V40.
They would throw the V-40's way too far when they were using them in Combat. Hence no harm would really come from the blast because and at least 8 to 1 exploded harmlesy behind the NVA. This is how it usually worked at night too.
They loved their M34's and the M33's and M67's. They claim that the previous aforemention grenades were much more powerful than the M26A1-2's. Plus they had an excellent frag pattern. They were also allot louder than the 26's so they would usually either kill at 20 feet by fragmentation or stunned by the explosion which gave than a few seconds needed to get some more meters behind them. Claymors used with some M26 fuses would give them 4-5 second delay and would usually stop allot of enemy in their tracks our stun them enough to not be capable to continue the chase.
If some of you people want to learn more about this kind of war and many tactics they used across the fence, you have to read about it, especially books by John "Plasticman" Plasters book entitled "Secret Commandos" Behind enemy Lines with ELITE WARRIORS OF SOG" By Plaster. ISBN is: 0-684-85673-5. This book is the quentissential book to read about MACVSOG. You will laugh, Have the hair on the back of your neck rise, and cry. But, I will bet you that you cannot believe what they did and how they accomplished their missions under extreme odds of usually 30-40 to 1. Fragman, GTR003121, Frank, and Dan, you willl learn many things about the SECRET War in SEA. Buy it before you buy another Grenade. Jack who is a member here might even tell of his stories here while serving in CCC. But I think there is something going on here that only includes me.
Sorry for the long winded explanation of the use by SOG of the M26 series and the M33, M34 and M67 grenades and Claymores. But like my signature states, I am a historian and ordnance buff about SOG. Especially when it comes to allot of other countries donations and/or given to SOG along with Mr. Ben Baker, their answer to "Q" in the James Bond movies.
I aslo feel it pertains to this thread.
dano1917
RIP
Removing the pin with the grenade between your legs sounds at a minimum to be "high risk". Never heard of a Claymore used as a hand grenade but do know the use of field expedients did not wane with time as I have seen in my US Army FM. Necessity is the mother of invention so guess all is possible. I sure would not want a live grenade anywhere close to the proximity of the "family jewels".....Dano
Hello COLIN, GTR003121, EODGUY, and SLICK
Great Job Gentlemen! If you want to add photos of related fuze variation(s) to your reference, here is a M204A2, M205A2 and M215 to get you started. Also photos of the M26 Frag Coil and M26 Factory Inert loaded if you want to add.
You may also want to consider starting a separate thread with this project, to keep things on topic and verified as accurate for future member reference and additions.
Thanks and stay safe,
Frank
Attachments
dano1917
RIP
Hi Frank. On the tops or your grenade spoons I see in the last row of stenciling 9 -68, 8 - 68 and 4 - 70. Would these be manufacture dates or lot numbers??? Dano