Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

adrian · 1st November 2013, 10:29 AM

The subject of hand grenades & small common shells is too broad to receive an accurate answer to, various countries altered what they used/did as they progressed & not every country did the same thing etc.

However if you ask about British practice there is quite a bit of information covering approx. 1750 onwards.

Some snippets:

Hand Grenades
Some mention has to be made of the hand grenade. The service grenade was a small hollow sphere of iron, with a single hole in it into which was fitted a beechwood fuse.
The sea service hand grenade was 31/2 inches diameter (actually 3.49 inches), and weighed 3 lb 11 ½ oz. The land service hand grenade was smaller: 2 3/4 inches diameter weighing 1 lb 13 1/2 OZ. These sizes were standard from at least 1755 , to 1790 . The fuse had a burning time of 9 seconds , and was tilled with a mixture of equal parts of mealed powder, saltpetre and sulphur. The hand grenade contained 4 oz. of powder. No record has been found of how useful or efficient they were, but the mere fact that 200 of them were carried in a 74-gun ship in 1765 suggests that plenty of employment was found for them. They were supplied in boxes, 20 grenades to a box; some degree of deterioration in the fuse was anticipated, as 20 were carried, fully fixed, as spares, which assumes a 10% unserviceability rate . As an aside, it is worth mentioning that the French Navy issued practice grenades, made of of papier-máché, but there is no trace of any such device in the Board of Ordnance papers of the British Navy. There was however a hand grenade made of glass, of which examples are in
the Rotunda Museum, Woolwich, but when, where and by whom they were used is uncertain.
Bron;
The Historie of English Sea Ordnance 1523-1875.
Volume I: 1523-1715. The Age of Evolution.
Caruana, Adrian B.

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circa 1865 info

Handgrenades.

There are two sizes of Handgrenades - 6 pr for Sea-Service, and 3 pr for Land Service. They are simply small shells - the thickness of metal being 1/7 of the diameter. The fuze hole is small; .677", not tapped or countersunk, but closed up with a Cork and bee’s wax. They are painted Black.
A well trained man can throw a Handgrenade from 28 to 32 yards. They are also used as pound shot for Mortars - as Pierrier charges - and are generally issued empty & loose.

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The designation of 3 and 6 pr does not refer to their weight but rather to the size of their shell. It can be appreciated that a land service grenade may be transported quite some distance, before it is thrown at the enemy, hence the preference for a rather small shell. Whilst a naval grenade would, usually, be lobbed on to an enemy ship, and little effort comparatively was required with its transportation. A larger heavier grenade was preferable in these circumstances.

The usage of grenades as pound shot has been explained already, vide page 11. Traditionally the tallest and strongest men were selected and trained to carry and throw grenades. These troops were called grenadiers and were commonplace in the 18th century. By the end of that century this practice was virtually a thing of the past. Although grenadiers continued to be generally selected from the tallest and strongest of recruits they fought as regular line infantry and did not carry grenades. For the next century grenades played a fairly insignificant role until they became established as a significant infantry weapon in WWI. Through this entire period they had remained relatively unchanged and the “new” No. 15 Grenade introduced in 1915, or “cricket ball” grenade as they were known, was virtually the same device as had been in service for the previous 200 years, but with an improved fuze.
Various devices were introduced to increase the range to which grenades could be projected. These varied from flintlock “hand mortars” and flintlock carbine grenade cups of the mid to late 18th century to catapulting devices of several designs used in WWI. The Great War also saw rod grenades that loaded into rifle barrels which in turn were followed by the introduction of quite effective grenade cups attached to SMLE .303 rifles.

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Land Service 3pr Grenade. Diameters, max 2.778", min 2.738", mean 2.758". Mean metal thickness .379". Fuze hole dia top .6775", bottom .634". Average weight empty 1 lb 10 oz, filled 1 lb 11 oz 12 dr.

Sea Service 6pr Grenade. Diameters, max 3.496" , min 3.456" , mean 3.476". Mean metal thickness .485" . Fuze hole dia top .6775", bottom .634". Average weight empty 3 lb 9oz, filled 3 lb 13oz.

1st November 2013, 10:29 AM	#15
adrian Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 117	The subject of hand grenades & small common shells is too broad to receive an accurate answer to, various countries altered what they used/did as they progressed & not every country did the same thing etc. However if you ask about British practice there is quite a bit of information covering approx. 1750 onwards. Some snippets: Hand Grenades Some mention has to be made of the hand grenade. The service grenade was a small hollow sphere of iron, with a single hole in it into which was fitted a beechwood fuse. The sea service hand grenade was 31/2 inches diameter (actually 3.49 inches), and weighed 3 lb 11 ½ oz. The land service hand grenade was smaller: 2 3/4 inches diameter weighing 1 lb 13 1/2 OZ. These sizes were standard from at least 1755 , to 1790 . The fuse had a burning time of 9 seconds , and was tilled with a mixture of equal parts of mealed powder, saltpetre and sulphur. The hand grenade contained 4 oz. of powder. No record has been found of how useful or efficient they were, but the mere fact that 200 of them were carried in a 74-gun ship in 1765 suggests that plenty of employment was found for them. They were supplied in boxes, 20 grenades to a box; some degree of deterioration in the fuse was anticipated, as 20 were carried, fully fixed, as spares, which assumes a 10% unserviceability rate . As an aside, it is worth mentioning that the French Navy issued practice grenades, made of of papier-máché, but there is no trace of any such device in the Board of Ordnance papers of the British Navy. There was however a hand grenade made of glass, of which examples are in the Rotunda Museum, Woolwich, but when, where and by whom they were used is uncertain. Bron; The Historie of English Sea Ordnance 1523-1875. Volume I: 1523-1715. The Age of Evolution. Caruana, Adrian B. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ circa 1865 info Handgrenades. There are two sizes of Handgrenades - 6 pr for Sea-Service, and 3 pr for Land Service. They are simply small shells - the thickness of metal being 1/7 of the diameter. The fuze hole is small; .677", not tapped or countersunk, but closed up with a Cork and bee’s wax. They are painted Black. A well trained man can throw a Handgrenade from 28 to 32 yards. They are also used as pound shot for Mortars - as Pierrier charges - and are generally issued empty & loose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The designation of 3 and 6 pr does not refer to their weight but rather to the size of their shell. It can be appreciated that a land service grenade may be transported quite some distance, before it is thrown at the enemy, hence the preference for a rather small shell. Whilst a naval grenade would, usually, be lobbed on to an enemy ship, and little effort comparatively was required with its transportation. A larger heavier grenade was preferable in these circumstances. The usage of grenades as pound shot has been explained already, vide page 11. Traditionally the tallest and strongest men were selected and trained to carry and throw grenades. These troops were called grenadiers and were commonplace in the 18th century. By the end of that century this practice was virtually a thing of the past. Although grenadiers continued to be generally selected from the tallest and strongest of recruits they fought as regular line infantry and did not carry grenades. For the next century grenades played a fairly insignificant role until they became established as a significant infantry weapon in WWI. Through this entire period they had remained relatively unchanged and the “new” No. 15 Grenade introduced in 1915, or “cricket ball” grenade as they were known, was virtually the same device as had been in service for the previous 200 years, but with an improved fuze. Various devices were introduced to increase the range to which grenades could be projected. These varied from flintlock “hand mortars” and flintlock carbine grenade cups of the mid to late 18th century to catapulting devices of several designs used in WWI. The Great War also saw rod grenades that loaded into rifle barrels which in turn were followed by the introduction of quite effective grenade cups attached to SMLE .303 rifles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Land Service 3pr Grenade. Diameters, max 2.778", min 2.738", mean 2.758". Mean metal thickness .379". Fuze hole dia top .6775", bottom .634". Average weight empty 1 lb 10 oz, filled 1 lb 11 oz 12 dr. Sea Service 6pr Grenade. Diameters, max 3.496" , min 3.456" , mean 3.476". Mean metal thickness .485" . Fuze hole dia top .6775", bottom .634". Average weight empty 3 lb 9oz, filled 3 lb 13oz.