US MK II Color Marking Info

[Eodtek]

For those that are interested in the minutiae of ordnance:

MINUTES OF THE ORDNANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD THURSDAY MAY 6, 1926
AT 10:30 A.M.

ITEM 5404

PAINTING OF FRAGMENTATION HAND GRENADES:
Mr. Adelman read the following report on Grenades:

"1. References:
0.0. 471.611/636
0.0 471.611/647

"2. In Report No.7 of the Marking Board, Ammunition etc., dated February 21, 1919, it was specified that a fragmentation grenade shall be painted gray when loaded for combat use. Picatinny Arsenal is now preparing a specification for loading of fragmentation hand grenades, Mark II, with TNT. These grenades, when manufactured, are painted Battleship Gray, according to Specifications EW 514-5, paragraph II 5.

"3. At the present time, the chemical ammunition is painted gray and in addition to other markings, there are green bands to denote persistency. In keeping with the recommendation of the Marking Board, high explosive ammunition is designated by the application of a specific color, yellow.

"4. The sub-committee recommends that high explosive grenades be painted yellow, the color now prescribed for painting H.E. projectiles.

Action required by: Manufacturing Service.

A motion was made, seconded and carried that the report of the Sub-Committee be approved.

I've been asked by one of the professional organizations I belong to (IABTI), to write a few articles with some info on US grenades being one of them. Since the entirety of my article can't be "Stop blowing them up because you don't know what they are and they're probably empty anyway" I have to put some background info in too. That's where all this comes in. I have quite a bit more but I thought that this was interesting enough to toss in here.

Oh and for those that were wondering:

MINUTES OF THE ORDNANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD THURSDAY October 21, 1926
AT 10:30 A.M.

ITEM 5761
Grenade Explosive Adoption of E.C. Powder as Standard.

I just haven't completed copying it over from the scanned text format that I have it in now and it's a few pages long.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

This is fantastic Mike. Fascinating. Please post more of this important information.

It looks now as if the Military was planning on the change to Yellow for HE grenades as early as 1926. The info about the addition of EC powder is also great. Thanks for posting.

Please continue to post as you find more pertaining to grenades.

Regards, Steve

p.s. I hope your book writings will keep the EOD guys around the country from blowing things up for no need. They probably blow up some rare examples sometimes.