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The group shot - Lemons and Baseballs

GTR003121

GTR003121

Well-Known Member
Hi All, as promised here is a group shot, particularly of my Lemons and Baseballs which are my favorites. Aside from most of the Impact types, I am missing a marked M56. If anyone has one, I have some duplicates to trade as you can see!

V40: My collection isnt much more than this, I have another shelf with 20+ grenades, mostly modern European plastics and a small group of practice types. I am more into quality vs quantity!

I hope you guys like the pic and thanks for all your kind words.

Justin
 

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Who says money can't buy happiness?
Thats a mind boggling shot if you know what you're looking at.
Just try to find ONE.
 
A fantastic line up justin. You must have the entire US stock of lemons.
Any idea why they stopped putting the yellow band round the top on later grens?
Paul.
 
Thank you gentlemen, much appreciated!

Paul, I have often wondered the same thing about the discontinuation of the yellow band at the top of the body. Someone here may have the answer.
 
Gee Justin you certainly my perked my own interests? Very nice I say.

Can you show the plastic matrix ones too.


Oh, and by the way, are you by chance going back to Vietnam?:tinysmile_fatgrin_t
 
One other thing before I forget. How long did it take you to accumulate that many grenades, in particular the M26's and "Plastic matrix devices?

Mark
 
V40 said:
One other thing before I forget. How long did it take you to accumulate that many grenades, in particular the M26's and "Plastic matrix devices?

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark, and I haven't been to Vietnam yet, but that's in the works!
I will post pics tomorrow of the other shelf with the modern plastics/other types when the lighting is better. Thanks for your comments.

I have collected on and off for years but didn't get serious until about 8 months ago.
 
"SERIOUS" is an understatement. And you haven't even shown the crate. A super fine collection. Like you said, quality vs quantity. In this case, you covered them both.

Rick
 
Very impressive,I have been collecting grenades 31 years and I probably only have seen that maney 26,s,if that.Very nice.
vinny :tinysmile_shy_t:
 
Of course everybody knows that yellow on anything produced by the US means H.E. most of the time. I have an old FM 23-30 dated 1959 and it states and shows that every M26/A1's must have a yellow band painted around the top along with yellow painting on the grenade.

Even in my 1975 Jane's book shows th M26 and the M26A2's of that era were still being painted yellow around the top.

Justin, I am curious about something? Can you look through the grenades from the bottoms and/or from the tops? If so, you should be able to spot the "sealed" copper shaft sticking down almost 1/3d of the way down.

Now, if you can, tell me even if you look down into the grenade through the top that those hand grenades there and tell me what you find. What I am looking for is the copper tube inside the grenade.

Mark
 
Mark, all but one of my Lemons have the copper det well intact. When looking through the top or bottom of the grenade body, the det well is a uniform diameter until about the 1/3 mark at which point it narrows and continues with a smaller diameter for the remainder of it's length. I hope that answers your question. If not, let me know.
 
GTR003121,

The reason why I ask about the one without the copper detonater well could very well be an old original M26 or M26A1. This was there because it used a Tetryl Booster that seems to have been loaded from the bottom of the grenade or there might have been another way which I am not sure of. Those types typically used the M204A2 Fuse.

Just a tid bit of info. I asked the famous John Plaster about the grenades he used when crossing the border. After one year he switched from the M26A1 to the "Baseball" types. He also told me that the "Baseball" types where much more powerful than the old M26's. He said that basically you could still charge toward a bunch of NVA or VC and throw it into the gaggle and there might be somone whole will survive after the concussion wore of.

When you threw the M67, he stated, that the M67 was just plain awsome and more powerful than the others. Basically his make up of weapons was anywhere from 800-1100 rounds of ammo with his CAR15 and in his other canteen pouches where the canteen pouches were full of grenades, mostly of one canteen pouch consisting of full of M67's and another canteen pouch full of V40's, inwhich he liked too.



So GTR003121, can you send me pictures of the one that has no copper det well?


V40
Mark
 
Hey Mark, the one with the det well removed is an earlier M26, dated 6-53 that had the base cap left crimped so somehow the det tube was removed from the top. There's a pic of this one in my recent thread entitled "Why are US Lemons so rare?".

As for the Tetryl Boosters, from what I know they started using them on the M26A1 series and continued to use them on it's successor, the M61. Both of those indeed used the M204A2.
 
The other shelf

As requested, pics of the other shelf with some modern plastics and practice types among others. Kind of cluttered really, need a new bookshelf! Also a pic of the shrapnal/cutaway table. Not much, but interesting. I recently found a matching can for the low ordered M67 on the left, can't be many sets like that floating around!
 

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