I have never been in the military so I need some enlight from you guys. What’s the proper procedure to throw a grenade (like a pineapple MkII, a lemon, or a baseball type)? If possible, can anyone explain what will happen after you pull out the pin? It seems that some movies show one side throws a grenade too quick and the other side throws it back. Is today’s grenade different than those in WWII, Korea, or Vietnam? I know I can’t trust the movies some time, but what does the military train our troops in the situation that a not-explode-yet enemy grenade landed beside your feet? Thanks in advance.

Steven Lu

i do know that once the pin is pulled, you need to let go the lever before the fuse is ignited.

as for the rest, id be intersted to know myself.

Frank

Well, it's been many, many years since I last threw a fragmentary hand grenade, but I'll take a shot at answering your questions.

First, there are basically five kinds of grenades: fragmentary (like the WWII MkII "pineapple," the M26 "lemon" and the current M67 "baseball"), concussion and flash-bang grenades, smoke grenades, incendiary grenades (including white phosphrous), and chemical grenades (CS for military purposes, though we had others when I was in corrections).

Frags, flashbangs and incendiaries all have time-delayed fuses; smoke and chemical grenade fuses are pretty much instant, though they tend to start slow, then hit full blow in 2-3 seconds.

The time delay on a U.S. grenade fuse is about 4-5 seconds. Notice I say " about" because even today this is inexact. If the grenade is tossed a short distance, the target may have time to pick it up and throw it back. This is not recommended, as it could go off any time after the pin is pulled and the spoon released.

The proper reaction to having a grenade thrown at you is to fall flat to the ground face down, feet together (and toward the grenade, if you can do it), eyes closed, mouth open and ears covered with your arms as you wrap them around your head to protect it. If the grenade is on the ground, almost all of the blast goes up and -- again in theory -- you might be laying right next to one and be unhurt (see Joe Toye in the Band of Brothers episode where they take the artillery positions at Normandy -- this really happened).

Back when I went through basic in the mid-70s, all of our drill sergeants were Vietnam vets. They taught us to release the spoon, count one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, then throw the grenade. This increased the likelihood of the grenade going off in the air near the enemy, and greatly decreased the likelihood of the grenade being thrown back. I don't think it is still taught that way these days, though it might be unofficially "suggested."

Here's the official task, condition and standards for "Employing Hand Grenades" -- http://www.atsc.army.mil/itsd/comcor/in4407s.htm

Hope this answers your questions.

Thanks Bob for the detailed answer. When you pull the pin and let the spoon go, does the spoon "fly" (spin) off the grenade or just drop staight down? Thanks.

Steven

Dusting off some old knowledge and experience as a pit NCO on a couple of occasions for this one, but here goes.

Out of the tube, a grenade has two safeties, a thumb clip and the pin, the thumb clip holds the spoon tight against the fuse and the pin allows the spoon to come off and ignite the fuse.

Now, to arm/throw the grenade, you strip off the thumb clip, pull the pin (hold down the spoon, but don't milk it!) and then throw. Fuse is approx 4-5 seconds.

In the open you want to loft the grenade so it airbursts and there isn't a chance for it to be tossed back at you.

In urban/room clearing we were taught that you throw it as hard as you can down into the room so it will skate along the floor and bounce around and keep moving until it detonates, to keep anyone from getting to it and throwing it back out at you.

The smokes we used had a similar spoon set up, so you could pull the pin and hold it before it would go off.

Remember, these things are made by the lowest bidder, so you don't want to hold on to them for too long after the spoon is gone, since you might have one made on a Friday afternoon with a shorter fuse.

The pin in nothing more than a cotter pin with a ring (similar to a key ring) on it. There is a small but powerful spring that swings the firing pin into the detonator. This spring is what makes the spoon fly off.

The spoon stays against your palm, not towards your fingers. This way if your fingers happen to open up, the spoon won't slip past your fingers and pop off. As you throw the grenade, the pressure on the spring is released from the spoon when the grenade leaves your hand. The spoon just flies where it may. The spoon is just a hinged lever that keeps the firing pin in the open position.

The pin stays on the finger you pulled it out of the grenade with.

This is correct...do not do a John Wayne and use your teeth. Also save them in case you run across trip flares that need to be safetied.

We were always taught to throw them like a baseball for accuracy, and from behind cover if at all possible. Had an officer cadet try to throw it like you see in the movies, released it too late and it came off the wall back into the throwing bay. Threw her and myself over the wall into the impact area and waited until it blew.....then let the range officer have at her. She was really dangerous....turned around on the SMG range a few days later with a loaded weapon in her hands.

I know a guy who tried to "John Wayne" the grenade pin, and ended up pulling out two of his teeth.

Thank you for the information. When in an open field encounter enemy troop, do you put your rifle on the ground, reach grenade, pull the pin, throw the grenade, pick up your rifle and shoot or you just remove one hand from your rifle, keep the other hand on the forearm of the rifle, use the free hand to hold a grenade, release one finger from the hand that holds the rifle to pull the pin, then throw the grenade, put your hand back to pistol grip of the rifle and shoot while you have a ring and the pin on your finger of the hand that holds the forearm of rifle? Thanks. Steven

Thank you all for these very detailed information.

Steven

Your other questions have been answered very satisfactorily, so I'll handle this one-
Most times the M4 is slung-even during combat. The last thing you want is to lose your primary weapon. You don't have to put it down-just let it hang.
You can alos short fuse yor grenades. Better to let your 18C handle this. Then you don't have to wait the two seconds before throwing it.

Thank you for your reply. What is 18C?

Steven

Also, if you happen to be a Southpaw like myself, the proper way to hold the grenade prior to throwing is with the grenade upside down so the spoon is against your palm...
"Stand"
"Pull Pin"
"Prepare to Throw"
"Throw"
Then duck really fast....

Which was a drag because you were not able to watch the grenade go off.

THAT's why I liked being a 203 gunner, we could see our results!

Loved those things...give me a couple of bandoliers of rounds, a range full of old hulks, and I could spend all day lobbing rounds down range.

The only thing missing was a grill and the beer.

Anyone fire an M79? They have a pretty healthy recoil?

Steve

Around 2 years ago we were trained in using grenades in our ROTC class. I remember one day in ROTC training back in the breifing room, there is an apple type grenade at the center of the table. Now one stupid mate of mine played around with it and tried juggling it in his hands (but he didn't pulled the pin), then the instructor came and pulled the pin. I swear we almost all run outside the room and he (the instructor) showed us and it was a dummy. We all were scared to death.

Man those were the ROTC days... basically, we were taught to pull pin, release, wait and throw.

They're ok, Like getting punched in the shoulder. By a really BIG man.

Last year I was firing an M203, on a range when at about 475 meters a deer trots out on to the range. The grader standing behind me goes "I'll give you extra points if you hit the deer." The way I had been shooting (hit every target, dead on) I would have gotten it, had the deer not taken off........

We were out with the M-60s on a range day and some deer crossed out onto the lanes. One of the troops got a wild hair and tried to shoot some of the deer. Range Officer closed down the firing line, they jacked this kid up right then and there and he was later handed an Article 15 for his troubles.

We did however, manage to shoot up an engineer's shack with a 50 Cal once. It looked like it was within the the range boundries...and our Company Exec said...yeah go for it.

It was the same day we set the range on fire from firing full belts of tracer (we didn't have enough ball). Seem to recall we smoked a couple of barrels too.

It was one of those days for the 5th MP Co... :-)

Steve

18C is an MOS (Military Occupation Speciality - your job in the military). 18C refers to a Special Operations Engineer. What he is talking about is setting the fuze to have a shorter time between ignition and detonation. Because this is high-explosives we are talking about and, as mentioned, each grenade behaves differently than the next, leaving this to someone with knowledge of explosives is the best way to go.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for the explanation.

Steven

Which would be the NCO standing in the pit with all the gray hair and years of anxiety etched into their face from dealing with newbies throwing their first grenade.

my hat is off to them.

Steve

AJ, I think both companies had an M-79 for use in riot control lobbing CS rounds. I know we had a converted flame thrower that was used for the same purpose. Come to think of it, I think the 5th had a recoiless as well. For what I have no idea. I know we didn't have a jeep with mounts for it.

Got to agree with you there, the -203 was just fun to shoot. I put so many rounds thru mine one day that I actually reheated the glue holding the handgrip to the tube and it came off in my hand as I was in the process of reloading!

I just wish I had gotten a chance to fire the buckshot round a couple of times. It seems we either shot training ("orange death") or HEDP.

When my father was doing his basic training in the Royal Marines in late 1944, they ran out of practice grenades and were handed No 69 bakelite cased grenades instead, as they produced little in the way of fragments.

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/spinnaker/982/no69.html

Sadly, one of his platoon ended up with a grenade between his small pack and his neck. Then he was standing there without a head.......

Hi all

Most important part i remember of grenade drill was "pull the pin from the grenade not the grenade from the pin" i know it seems a simple thing but dont half move frigging quick when they get it wrong a "Rupert" did it once didnt do it again after the sgt drove his size 10 right up his arse good shot though exactly where his bloody brains were.
Cheers Chris

Great things?.. Or very dodgy?... Never trust a grenade!

During my time in the Falklands I was part of the DS (Directing staff) on a series of live firing exercises. My primery job, as a Sapper, was the battle sims. My secondery duties were dealing with any blinds. The worst kind of blind is a grenade. Modern grenades are unlikely to malfunction, but like anything they can. One I dealt with was handed back to the thrower with words I cannot repeat here. He was a sprog, not long out of the factory, and had forgetten to close the split pin so when he went to pull the pin the ring was pulled of it (pin remained in the grenade). I still had to get up close and personal with a device that may have gone off at any time, to discover the error. With the whole company watching from a safe distance.
As an aside, during the same series of live firing exercises I showed an ex SAS trooper (who was a colour sergeant and leading his Platoon) how to remotely fire a 66mm LAW (my own design). I went along to the "ambush" that night and helped set up half a dozen of 'em. What an ambush that was
Mal