Armory Sponsor
Posted: 10/23/2008 6:58:50 PM EDT
|
How long do those things last? I mean are they still in use? Would a WWII grenade still work today? Phessor 
|
I was thinking the same thing!|
Depends on ALOT of variables that all compund with time.
First two primary issues are MECHANICAL and CHEMICAL reliability. MECHANICAL 1. Mechanically is there enough spring tension left to make the mousetrap snap? 2. Will the mousetrap have enough energy and force AND is the firing pin shaped/aligned correctly to impart the required energy into the primer? 3. Will the primer still be of sufficient construction to fire? Meaning has the primer lost its anvil or grown mold or corrosion within? (which would inhibit the MECHANICAL action?) CHEMICAL 1. Will the chemical DEcomposition have occurred around the primer to fuze delay junction? 2. Has the chemical decomposition occurred in the delay fuze itself? 3. Has the chemical decomposition broken down the junction/interface of the delay element and detonator initiating element? 4. Has the chemical decomposition affected the detonator? This can affect the sensitivity or even the explosive force of the det. 5. Has the chemical decomposition altered the sensitivity of the primary charge? Grenades aren't what movies and media make them out to be. They are mass produced (especially under wartime conditions) and QC just isn't there. Ever lit old firecrackers? Slow fuze vs fast fuze? Yeah - that happens with grenade fuzes too! ANNNNND - ZERO second fuzes (no delay boobytrap grenades) are NOT externally marked! As soon as the spoon lets fly and the primer fires the grenade detonates. Click -N- Boom! How's that for an "eFF U!" from Dear old Gran Dad? EOD observes a ONE HOUR wait time on pyro fired products in the event of a misfire! This is due to the slow burning & smoldering that decomposition has brought about in the time fuze element. I have witnessed some SLOW firings and fast firings in vintage Russian/Serbian ordnance while deployed to Bosnia and to Kosovo as EOD. 
Don't be stupid. I also ask that you don't hurt the innocents & try not to affect other peoples lives by road closures or having someone clean up your tattered and scattered remains or make an emergency responder perform immediate aid on your wretched carcass while they haul it to the hospital while you are in screaming/writhing agony IF YOU DO DO SOMETHING STUPID. Or you can do the SMART thing & call the Police to take care of it for you. Your call - may you use your brain case for something other than a decorative hat display. -William |
| It's amazing what Granddads can leave around. I grew up with both of mine driving around with a stick of TNT in the gloveboxes of their trucks. One was a farmer that used to use it to clean out other farmers ponds of fish before filling them in for more land( I need to find that photo of him in the rowboat with a cigar lighting sticks) and my other grandfather who was an aircraft mechanic that used it to blow stumps when they where building new runways at the Leesburg, FL airport. He finally got rid of his last stick in the mid 80s. hahaha |
Armory Sponsor