Safety levers on US MkII grenades

[clancey2651]

I have noted that the safety levers on some MkII fragmentation grenades had the lower half of the lever painted black. I had heard that this was to indicate a casualty producing grenade, but have been unable to verify this.

Does anyone have any definitive information as to why these safety levers were painted partially black, or when the practice would have been stopped?

 

[paul the grenade]

the black indicates the lever has been salvaged from the gren range and re-used.
cheers, paul.

 

[Dirt Detective]

The info I have on why spoons have the ends painted black, says its to indicate a modified Grenade.

 

[sgtlynn]

Modified to what????

 

[Dirt Detective]

Modified to what????

Not sure what that means but In the pic above the top left pic it says " Stenciling Black stripe on fuze handle to Indicate modified Grenade" the pic below that one shows a case of Grenades and says " repacked Box". Repacked to me means they were pulled out for a reason and then repacked. ????

My guess is they are upgrading the case of grenades with a better / more reliable fuze...that's my opinion, I would love to see something in print that says they did it on salvaged spoons.

 

[sgtlynn]

I'd like to see the text that goes with the photos, anyone got a copy of TM9-1905 they could upload the relevent pages????

I doubt its about upgrading to a better fuze, the new fuze would already be painted properly, no need to repaint the levers... Hmmmm a mystery to be solved.

 

[paul the grenade]

the only mod i can think of is repainting yellow grens to green.
Paul.

 

[Dirt Detective]

I think the black stripe was added for a quick reference so the soldier would knows it was modified from a faster to a slower burning fuze. All they had to do was unscrew the fuze and then screw the upgraded fuze in.

 

[Dirt Detective]

Here is a photo of a newspaper article, dated 1-11-44 that is talking about a new quieter hand grenade primer. A Modified grenade from a noisy primer (giving your position away) to a new quiet primer. This may be a reason for a black painted spoon, to let the soldier know he has a quiet primer.

 

[sgtlynn]

Thanks Dirt Detective, thats an interesting piece, but I suspect they are talking about the new M204 fuze mechanism that was adopted officially in Feb 1945. It was noiseless, smokeless and sparkless.

 

[Dirt Detective]

Thanks Dirt Detective, thats an interesting piece, but I suspect they are talking about the new M204 fuze mechanism that was adopted officially in Feb 1945. It was noiseless, smokeless and sparkless.

I dont think there talking about the M204 fuze... if you read the article ( The new Primer For hand grenades) it talk's about the new PRIMER...not a whole new fuze and its dated Jan 1944, that's 13 months before 2-45. Here is the picture that goes with the article, it shows the girls holding a primer.