New Addition: Russian Ceramic Grenades

[Kilroy was Here]

Hi, some new items I have found.

These are very interesting grenades, I believe they were experimental, and did not work so well. These are fairly rare. They are usually found broken or damaged. These are pretty nice. I have some nice orig. UZRG WW2 fuses on the way for them, and will show more pics, and give specs and weights soon. I think I will display one with an extra WW2 transit plug I have.

There is also a fatter version I call the "fat boy" It is shown on Lex's site and owned by a good friend of mine here. I keep on working on him to sell it to me, no luck yet.

Regards, Steve

 

[sgtlynn]

Congratulations, those are the best I have seen.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Congratulations, those are the best I have seen.

Hi, thanks. Wait for the good pics with nice correct fuzes, they will look even better!!

Regards, Steve

 

[jhonni \]

WOW!! GREAT condition!!!
Lucky Kilroy!
Where from this treasure???!!!
We will wait your photos.....

EUGENE.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

WOW!! GREAT condition!!!
Lucky Kilroy!
Where from this treasure???!!!
We will wait your photos.....

EUGENE.

Hello Eugene! Thank you, yes, I feel lucky to find these. I will post good pics of them soon. The grenades were recovered by a friend in Latvia.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Years. I hope it is a good year for all of us!!

Regards, Steve in Florida

"Dr. Ruby"

 

[dano1917]

Great finds Steve. I've never seen the like. Although I am not too knowledgable in this area i'd have to say they are quite rare. Thanks so much for sharing with us...Happy holiday...Dano

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Great finds Steve. I've never seen the like. Although I am not too knowledgable in this area I'd have to say they are quite rare. Thanks so much for sharing with us...Happy holiday...Dano

Hi Dano, Thanks. Yes, they are quite rare. There is also a "Fat Boy" I call it, here look....... It is owned by a good friend, and is one of his favorite grenades. I keep trying to get it, but I do not think it is going anywhere soon. The other 4 pics are my grenade, with 2 types of fuzes that could have been used. A Koeshnikov, and a UZRG.

I will continue the searching to find a fat boy. I will find one. I talked to another friend in Baltic area, and he knows where there was a factory that made these "experimental " ceramic grenades. He says he can go to the remains of the factory there, but it far from his home in the middle of nowhere . He says if he does go there again, the chances of finding some are always a gamble, and then when/if you do find some (they are hard to detect) it is very easy to break them with your shovel when digging etc.

My PMK-40 mine on Lex's site-- http://www.lexpev.nl/minesandcharges/sovietbalkan/russia/pmk40.html -- is the same thing. Hard to detect, and VERY fragile, but made of type of bakelite type material. My friend thinks these little things are not profitable enough, so he goes for the recovery panzer-tiger tanks and things like this.

So I think Yes, these types of Russian WW2 ordnance are very hard to obtain, and also not damaged.

Happy Ho, Ho, Ho!

Regards, Steve

 

[pointblank0]

Lovely collection there, and in very good condition. You must be proud!

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Lovely collection there, and in very good condition. You must be proud!

Hi Big Cow :tinysmile_fatgrin_t Thanks. Not so proud, a little maybe, just happy. With me "the search" is a big part of grenade collecting. Then finally having it in your hands. It is a fun hobby. I used to collect guns for 35 years or so, still have them all, but grenade collecting and research is more interesting and fun now for me. Keeps me busy.

Happy Holidays

Regards, Steve

"Dr. Ruby"

 

[JCB99]

Interesting

Very interesting. The russian Fat bodied grenade is very similar to a late war Japanese serrated ceramic grenade. For us Japanese collectors, this kind of serrated egg shaped ceramic grenade is a rare one. I can't find any WWII era reference on this kind of Japanese ceramic grenade. Pictures below.

Jim
USA

Japaneseordnance(at)yahoo.com

 

[jhonni \]

Hi Steve!!

I have many friends in Baltic area, but my friends was find only broken ceramic grenades :tinysmile_cry_t4:
--------
What is that on your Koveshnikov's fuze? Bush of delay tube very short and without cavity for detonator... It's newmade?

Eugene.

 

[vinnyw]

Jap ordanace

Hello,thats some nice looking stuff,i have saw a draft of a very large book on jap ordance that will be coming out in the future,its on bombs,mines,grenades,and so on,makes the 1953 study by the united states look small,its truely increadable,anyway i saw several different styles of the mine and the grenades you have there.
Vinny

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Very interesting. The russian Fat bodied grenade is very similar to a late war Japanese serrated ceramic grenade. For us Japanese collectors, this kind of serrated egg shaped ceramic grenade is a rare one. I can't find any WWII era reference on this kind of Japanese ceramic grenade. Pictures below.

Jim
USA

Japaneseordnance(at)yahoo.com

Hi Jim, happy New Year. Nice collection you have. I have looked at all your many good photos in the past, great! I like. I am in process of taking new pics of my collection. I said i was going to get organized this year! Ha! we'll see.

Yes, I have seen these odd type ceramic Japanese also you show. For some reason they just do not look Japanese to me, but they are I guess so if they say so. I have not seen them either in any period references.
They look more like something from Mexico I would see on Olivera St. in L.A. :tinysmile_grin_t: I read somewhere that they really were making Japanese grenade copies in Mexico, but one could tell the difference if experienced.

Here are all the different "real" :tinysmile_twink_t2: Japanese ceramics I could find so far. None are marked. I have seen some nice marked ones before, none for sale or trade yet.

Regards, Steve

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Hi Steve!!

I have many friends in Baltic area, but my friends was find only broken ceramic grenades :tinysmile_cry_t4:
--------
What is that on your Koveshnikov's fuze? Bush of delay tube very short and without cavity for detonator... It's newmade?

Eugene.

Hello Eugene, Happy New Year to you! No...it's old and orig tube, just in very good condition. There is a cavity on the det, here look...... I do not exactly know about this, I hope to find out here. I think it was a delay tube for boobytraps. What do you think, do you have any info? It would be a much shorter delay with it's length. It is marked. Maybe someone has a reference to these in Russian book or manual.

It has the same fine thread size as the longer one. In last pic is One (1) very strange Koveshnikov fuze. It has coarse threads, look at picture. These two det tubes will Not fit this Kovesh. The fuse also has the cap that will not fly off when thrown. I have seen this type of cap on later dated fuzes also.

I think maybe fuze with the coarse threads, this is a very early Koveshnikov fuze??? What do know, or think about this?

Regards, Steve
"Dr.Ruby"

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Hello,thats some nice looking stuff,i have saw a draft of a very large book on jap ordance that will be coming out in the future,its on bombs,mines,grenades,and so on,makes the 1953 study by the united states look small,its truely increadable,anyway i saw several different styles of the mine and the grenades you have there.
Vinny

Hi Vinny, sounds good. you saw the strange oblong Japanese grenades that Jim shows, in this new book? What book is it?

Regards, Steve

 

[JCB99]

oblong, egg shaped ceramic grenade

Hello. Kilroy: I have six of these, five of which came right out of Japan. I have a friend who also purchased one of these from a collector in Japan. I have no reference on this grenade. Its made out of the same ceramic material as the Ceramic type 3 mines. Wish I knew more. Vinny: I am aware of the book being written but I really can't comment about the details. Some of my stuff is pictured in his work. The author will comment on his work when he completes it. Jim

JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Hello. Kilroy: I have six of these, five of which came right out of Japan. I have a friend who also purchased one of these from a collector in Japan. I have no reference on this grenade. Its made out of the same ceramic material as the Ceramic type 3 mines. Wish I knew more. Jim

Hi Jim, I believe you. I hope you did not think I was saying "yours" are Mexican. I would like to see period Japanese documents or pictures or American military updates, books, manuals that were published for EOD personal back then. There must be something out there on these.

Have you ever seen a period photo with one of these grenades? What fuze type did they use. if they had to be interted when found back then, there must be something on paper about them I would think.

Let me know if you find more out on these interesting grenades.

Regards, Steve

 

[JCB99]

Refrence on Japanese Ceramic grenades

A collector friend has given me some pages out of a book that has illustrations of both types of serrated Japanese Ceramic grenades. We don't know the books title and the text is entirely in Japanese. I will post some pictures of some of the pages. I am hoping somebody out there can translate some of the text. I am very curious....

Jim
JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com


I will start a new thread and post the info I have. I'll also post on Gunboards, Japanese section.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

A collector friend has given me some pages out of a book that has illustrations of both types of serrated Japanese Ceramic grenades. We don't know the books title and the text is entirely in Japanese. I will post some pictures of some of the pages. I am hoping somebody out there can translate some of the text. I am very curious....

Jim
JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com


I will start a new thread and post the info I have. I'll also post on Gunboards, Japanese section.

Hi Jim, I can translate it, when you post it.

Regards, Steve

 

[US-Subs]

Hello. Kilroy: I have six of these, five of which came right out of Japan. I have a friend who also purchased one of these from a collector in Japan. I have no reference on this grenade. Its made out of the same ceramic material as the Ceramic type 3 mines. Wish I knew more. Vinny: I am aware of the book being written but I really can't comment about the details. Some of my stuff is pictured in his work. The author will comment on his work when he completes it. Jim

JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com

Hey Jim - the trick being as you say, "when he completes it". The Japanese Handbook is now well over 1100 pages in three columes, but there are still several key research sites I want to visit for photos, and then loads of text to enter. Time is the difficult part - there simply isn't any. I've got to finish an update for my workplace on the Pre-46 CW Handbook, and I'm looking at a move back to the US - both of which, combined with the normal work, are sucking me dry. We took 5 days for the National Archive while I was home this time, the worst 5 days we could have picked - got in 1 day, then the DC blizzard hit. Everything in the city was closed for 3 days while we sat in our hotel rooms. Got in one more day and headed home. Maybe next time.

Still need to get by and photograph your new stuff - JO