pzgr40
Well-Known Member
Cutaway modeof a WW1 Italian BPD grenade. BPD stands for the facory that produced these grenades: Bombrini Parodi-Delfino. The grenade was introduced in the Italian army in 1916 and was far from popular as it was heavy, and due to the open pyrotechnic fuze and percussion cap must have been prone to failure when in wet and muddy conditions. The grenade was fully made of cast iron, exept for the brass anvil for the percussion cap and the lead screw off protection cap for the percussion cap. The pyrotechnic fuze started in the center of the head and ran around a circular channel machined into the head to end into the center at the base of the head. The fuze groove is closed by a sheet steel ring which is fixated by a nut. It took 14 seconds for the fuze to burn up, so this may have ended up in an interesting game of tossing back and forth with the enemy. A slot was machined in the side of the top cover for two reasons: to allow the gasses of the pyrotechnic fuze to escape, and to light the fuze with a match if the percussion cap refused to activate. The fuze length however was than reduced to nine seconds.
The filler of the grenade consists of a central tube made of flashpaper (paper impregnated with nitric acid), filled with guncotton. Around this central tube the space was filled with ballistite grain. The pyrotechnic fuze ended in the gun cotton.
According to descriptions the grenade could be thrown 30 meters, which is highly doubtful taking the weight of the grenade into consideration.
The grenade was activated by unscrewing the lead protection cap, hitting the percussion cap on/with a hard object and tossing the grenade towards the enemy.
Complete length : 127 mm.
Diameter : 56 mm.
Weight : 1140 grams.
Explosive charge : 75 gram Ballistite.
Regards, DJH
The filler of the grenade consists of a central tube made of flashpaper (paper impregnated with nitric acid), filled with guncotton. Around this central tube the space was filled with ballistite grain. The pyrotechnic fuze ended in the gun cotton.
According to descriptions the grenade could be thrown 30 meters, which is highly doubtful taking the weight of the grenade into consideration.
The grenade was activated by unscrewing the lead protection cap, hitting the percussion cap on/with a hard object and tossing the grenade towards the enemy.
Complete length : 127 mm.
Diameter : 56 mm.
Weight : 1140 grams.
Explosive charge : 75 gram Ballistite.
Regards, DJH
