U.S. VIETNAM era practice grenades

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

Wanted to start a thread on U.S. Vietnam era practice grenades. The reasoning here is to get a look at what is out there in others collections. For a number of reasons I prefer the practice grenade over an inerted live version. The blue color would be one and the fact they are obviously practice units and the question should never surface as to whether they're dangerous or not....Dano

6.5MS · Oct 29, 2010

'Blue' grenades

I have one of the larger ones in my collection which has full colouring. Don't ask for a photo as its in a cabinet and to get it out is a nightmare....Will do so when time and patience allows as it has a skittle effect on lots of other things.....!

EODGUY · Oct 29, 2010

Dano, Not much to offer from me. Three "blue" grenades. The M67 is a not to common variation. Both have the M217 impact fuze in them. The M18 dummy smoke grenade has the M201A1 fuze.

Fragman · Oct 29, 2010

Hi. EODGUY, thanks for sharing those great variations. I knew of their existence, but had never seen them. Cheers

paul the grenade · Oct 29, 2010

thats the first practice smoke gren ive ever seen.:tinysmile_grin_t:
cheers for showing them, paul.

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

Appreciate that EODGUY. Very interesting practice variants. Stuff like that is EXACTLY what I had hoped to see. C'mon guys keep 'em coming.....Dano
P.S. Never seen a practice blue baseball with "M67" stenciled on the body and same as Paul had never seen a practice smoke. Most excellent...........Dano

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

M31 beater

Oops, almost forgot to include my $17.00 "beater" M31 practice rifle grenade, dated 12-64 (you get the beat-up ones cheap). Nose and fins painted black to cover a multitude of sin. There are much nicer ones out there but the price escalates rapidly when they're in good shape.....Dano

Anders · Oct 29, 2010

dano1917 said:
C'mon guys keep 'em coming.....Dano

Here is a nice (except for the rusty spot) Mk.II Practice grenade.

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

Beautiful MKII Anders, thanks for sharing it with us. I do like the U.S. shade of practice blue. Classic. Thanx again.....dano

US-Subs · Oct 29, 2010

The M48 red smoke was used as practice for the M47 CS grenade. Also here is the talcum filled practice version of the ABC M25 CS grenade. Finally a re-usable experimental practice, but I'm not sure if it was Vietnam era, or just after. EODGUY should know. I've only got a datasheet on it someplace, but I'm pretty sure its the wrong fuze and spoon on it. - it came with it and I've yet to find a better one.

EODGUY · Oct 29, 2010

Yes, your experimental re-loadable grenade, the 3F65/2A Type 1 by name, was developed in the Vietnam period. It was demonstrated at Ft. Belvoir, VA on 7 Oct 1970 to simulate the M26A2 HE grenade. It produced a noise, smoke and a red dye material to mark targets. They also reportedly made it to simulate the M67 baseball grenade, but I have never seen one of those. The 3F65 is a VERY hard grenade to locate, especially in good condition. Sold mine off several months ago, but to a good home. There was a standard igniting fuze and a re-useable mechanical fuze available. No one adopted it as far as I know. Both the Marines and Army expressed interest, but I don't think the program went very far.

inertordnance · Oct 29, 2010

XM69 Practice Grenade with XM228 Practice Fuze Dated October 1970. Note the Early Type Fuze "Jungle Clip".

Stay Safe,

Frank

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

Most interesting information gentlemen. The experimental is especially intriguing to me. Just has a "classic" look to it, that of the lemon. This thread has far exceeded my expectations many fold already. Glad to know that 3rd grenade in photo is of the Vietnam era. There appear to be a bunch of fish to fry in the Vietnam era of practice units alone. I am cutting teeth in the vietnam era of ordnance but can tell it is going to be fun as I am learning big time as I go along. My nickname for that one will be the "Swiss Cheese Lemon" LOL........Dano

inertordnance · Oct 29, 2010

M69 Practice Grenade with M228 Practice Fuze Dated 1973 (First Photo). All Viet Nam Era M69 Practice Bodies will have FSN-1330-178-8515 marked on them.

M69 Bodies Manufactured after 1975 (Approximately) will have NSN-1330-00-178-8515 marked on them (Second Photo). A body marked this way will not be proper for a VN Era Example.

Stay safe,

Frank

GTR003121 · Oct 29, 2010

Here is my small group of practice types. Only a couple are Vietnam era, but I figured I'd show them all.

First is a plastic Lemon which I know nothing about and can find no information on. Maybe someone can shed some light on it. Next is a marked M30 with matching can, an early M69(came with the M228 fuze shown, but I have an XM228 with early jungle clip in it now), an M21 with matching can and a modern M69. Hope you guys like them.

Justin

inertordnance · Oct 29, 2010

GTR003121 said:
Here is my small group of practice types. Only a couple are Vietnam era, but I figured I'd show them all.

First is a plastic Lemon which I know nothing about and can find no information on. Maybe someone can shed some light on it. Next is a marked M30 with matching can, an early M69(came with the M228 fuze shown, but I have an XM228 with early jungle clip in it now), an M21 with matching can and a modern M69. Hope you guys like them.

Justin

Hello Justin,

The plastic "lemon" body shown in your photo was commercially manufactured approximately 15 years ago and was not a US Military Issue Grenade.

I am not sure why they were manufactured (Probably Novelty) and at that time were being sold by a dealer In The Shotgun News in great numbers.

Stay safe,

Frank

GTR003121 · Oct 29, 2010

Thanks Frank! It's good to finally know what the deal is with the plastic one, even if it's not necessarily good news lol. Btw, did you find a Lemon jungle clip yet?

dano1917 · Oct 29, 2010

Great grenades Justin. Thanks to you and all who have contributed to this thread thus far. I am currently trying to buy a practice (blue) V40. The V40's are so tiny but I guess I will need one for the display. The first 2 m69's I got (left photo) came to me pretty much as seen. The one was painted OD so I stripped it to see what was under the paint. It was the U.S. practice blue but the stenciling was gone so I decided to redo the OD until I can find a real m67. I had a couple of deals in the works for a real m67 but for one reason or another both fell through. The right photo is the earlier m69. Am off to an okay start but hope to add to the Vietnam stuff in near future. Had a whole bunch of my WW1 German doubles for sale on Gun Broker to help offset monies spent on practice U.S. Lemon and the Viet Cong stick. Well those sold out quick. I made a decision to put some of the rarer WW1 German grenades up on the block to see how that goes. If they do sell I will try to obtain a few Vietnam pieces to add to collection. Not abandoning WW1 German ordnance by any stretch, just decided to go 2 directions....Dano

Fragman · Oct 29, 2010

Hi, There are some great examples on display in this thread. Here's a tray of the standard fuzes for the M69. So, who's got a tray of the impact fuzes they can spare a couple from?:bigsmile: Cheers

dano1917 · Oct 30, 2010

A great big THANKS to all. What information! I have learned much. Here is my Vietnam collection thus far and a few more in transit.......Dano

U.S. VIETNAM era practice grenades

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