M26 or M26A1 ?

[DEADLINE222]

How does one determine if they have a M26 or an M26A1 grenade?

Wikipedia states that the 26 has circular shaped coil where the A1 has square coil.

I was repairing a very rusty 26/26A1 and the coil began to come apart and the shape is more triangular-square-ish.

I initially machined down a 9/16"-12 nut down to the original profile and intended to press it into the un-threaded hole but it did not go as planned. I attempted to tac weld in the threads but the metal began to cook and cook fast -destroying the original top and releasing the fragmentation coil. I was going to machine a larger top but an un-machined nut fit perfectly (and would absorb a good amount of heat from the weld) so I went with it.

And yes, I am more than aware of the M-30 practice grenade spoon......

 

[DEADLINE222]

The family is slowly growing.

Got the 26/26A1 on Ebay for $30.00 and the cut-away 61 for $25.00 at an antique mall.

 

[sgdbdr]

Hi,

From TM 43-0001-29 :



Regards,

S.

 

[Fragman]

Hi. Whilst there may be variations, the M26’s I’ve seen have the body crimp facing downwards and the M26A1 has the crimp facing upwards. Also, the frag coil of the M26 is notched on the outside edge, so when you look inside the body there are no notches visible. The M26A1 has visible notching when you look inside the body (hopefully that makes sense). Here’s a pic of the different types of US lemons. Cheers

 

[Pascal]

Hello

According to sgdbdr and also from TM 43-0001-29, the whole datasheet

 

[Fragman]

Hi. Good information, thanks. Here’s a couple of pics showing the typical differences between M26’s and M26A1’s (with the booster removed). Cheers

 

[timmymac]

As Fragman stated, Ive only seen the M26 have the crimp facing downward. All grenade bodies in the series following, were facing up.