ooh, look grandpa had a hand grenade in his stuff - lets pull the pin?

[gunsmith]

https://wgntv.com/northwest-indiana/sheriff-grenade-blast-kills-man-injures-two-sons-in-nw-indiana/

I think the family was sorting out grand pa's belongings after he passed away and found a genuine grenade.
   Hopefully, people will tell their loved ones that pulling the pin on a grenade is never a good idea unless it is the only good idea left.
 I bet grandpa got forgetful before he really had time for the heart to heart hand grenade talk with the kids

[WLJ]

Remember kids, once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend

[HankB]

Even if I KNEW it was live and had a safe place to throw it, I wouldn't mess with a old hand grenade dating back to WWII or Korea . . . or even one of our more recent conflicts. I don't know what the shelf life of explosive ordnance is, and I have no interest in finding out the hard way.

[MechAg94]

Even if I KNEW it was live and had a safe place to throw it, I wouldn't mess with a old hand grenade dating back to WWII or Korea . . . or even one of our more recent conflicts. I don't know what the shelf life of explosive ordnance is, and I have no interest in finding out the hard way.

Not to mention you don't know if the fuse will be slower or much faster than the original design.

[HankB]

Not to mention you don't know if the fuse will be slower or much faster than the original design.

PRECISELY! If the original 4-5 second (?) delay has become as many milliseconds due to age or other deterioration, or if the primer flash went past the fuze,  it could ruin my whole day.

Today, I wouldn't even try unscrewing the top of the grenade so I could dump out the explosives as the first step in making a salt and pepper shaker the way my Dad described doing when he was overseas during WWII.

[Boomhauer]

The YouTube channel farmer “Millennial Farmer” has a podcast called “Off the Husk”

On one episode they were talking about one of the cohosts who had a cannonball for decades in the family they would do *expletive deleted*it like “gift” during White Elephant gift exchanges at Christmas, hit with a sledgehammer, etc

Till one Christmas one of the girls in the family brought her new boyfriend who was retired EOD. He immediately freaked out and informed them it was a potentially live explosive shell since it had the fill/fuse brass plug in it. So they ended up called in Army EOD who transported it to an empty field cleared around for a long way and put a small shaped charge on it. They said either it will blow completely or punch a hole in it and it could be rendered inert and returned to the family. EOD said the plenty of people had been killed by these type of cannonballs, including one guy who had one simply roll off the shelf it was sitting on and go off when it hit the floor plus others who had been killed trying to disarm them by drilling holes.

When they detonated it it went off spectacularly.

[tokugawa]

There was thread on practical machinist forum about a guy who was looking for a way to use a shell of unknown potential he found for something or other, don't remember the age of the ordnance-  The comments were enlightening!
People still get killed every year by this sort of thing.

Gotta ask, though- with all the WW2 movies and documentaries, even a non military person should have SOME idea of what a grenade does? And what the pin is for?

I was watching some documentary about Vietnam combat vets returning to the country to reach some inner resolution or something, they are on an old battlefield, and one of them KICKS an unexploded mortar round sticking out of the dirt. In an area where every single piece of scrap metal has been collected by the locals.......

[Hawkmoon]

I was watching some documentary about Vietnam combat vets returning to the country to reach some inner resolution or something, they are on an old battlefield, and one of them KICKS an unexploded mortar round sticking out of the dirt. In an area where every single piece of scrap metal has been collected by the locals.......

[Thread drift warning]I have read about tours to Vietnam for U.S. soldiers who served there. The VFW magazine has written about them, and the VFW even seems to think they're good idea.

Personally, I don't get it. I'm not nursing any hatred for the Vietnamese people, but I have zero interest in ever going back there.
[We now return you to your regularly scheduled  discussion of live ordnance]

[BobR]

When I was growing up right next door to Ft Sill, as across the fence to the range. Every now and then someone, mostly kids would go out and explore the impact area and on the rare occasion would find some UXO to take home. I can remember a couple of houses that kind of up and disappeared (or parts of) as they were "playing" with their new toy in the garage or whatever. I have to admit, that was a popular pastime, riding our bicycles around the ranges looking for "stuff". As we got older (and dumber) we would ride our motorcycles out there. We also spent a lot of time on the tank trails on the East range.

bob 

[gunsmith]

when grenades are outlawed only grandfathers will have grenades.

  Are there any states where a person can legally own a hand grenade?
 Besides just being awesome, wouldn't a well regulated militia need to train at least once a year with how to use them effectively?

[BobR]

Remember kids, once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend

He can still be your friend until you let the spoon fly. Then you have about 4.9 seconds to get rid of it because he will be angry soon after. Up until the spoon flies the pin can be put back in.... carefully.

bob

[Nick1911]

  Are there any states where a person can legally own a hand grenade?
 Besides just being awesome, wouldn't a well regulated militia need to train at least once a year with how to use them effectively?

I think they are classes as destructive devices, and afaik are legal in my state (Kansas) at least.

I'm not sure if a filling other than gunpowder would be legal without following the orange book regs

[Pb]

  Are there any states where a person can legally own a hand grenade?
 Besides just being awesome, wouldn't a well regulated militia need to train at least once a year with how to use them effectively?

NFA destructive devices are legal in most states, I just found out.

https://www.nationalguntrusts.com/blogs/nfa-gun-trust-atf-information-database-blog/nfa-items-permitted-by-state

[HankB]

. . . Gotta ask, though- with all the WW2 movies and documentaries, even a non military person should have SOME idea of what a grenade does? And what the pin is for? . . .

Just going to comment that the only movie I remember seeing where a grenade "popped" and started smoking after the pin was pulled and the lever went up was To Hell And Back with Audie Muphy, who played himself.

[cordex]

Gotta ask, though- with all the WW2 movies and documentaries, even a non military person should have SOME idea of what a grenade does? And what the pin is for?

Given all the dummy grenades out there and how few lives ones most people see, why would they assume it was live?

[MechAg94]

NFA destructive devices are legal in most states, I just found out.

https://www.nationalguntrusts.com/blogs/nfa-gun-trust-atf-information-database-blog/nfa-items-permitted-by-state

You just have to register each and every one.  I was curious about that with 40mm grenade rounds also.  I have heard they are not cheap either. 

[Pb]

You can get / make non-explosive projectiles (filled with chalk and so) that are not NFA registered for your mortar, grenade launcher etc.

Looks like $4 each, which is a lot cheaper than I though they were.  Some people reload their own.

https://clydearmory.com/mast-m781-40mm-practice-chalk-rounds/

[tokugawa]

Given all the dummy grenades out there and how few lives ones most people see, why would they assume it was live?

 I don't know. My first reaction to something potentially dangerous and that I am ignorant of, is not to mess with it.
I had a friend who wore a beard. All the time. He did not have much of a face, because while helping someone move, his buddy found a pump gun in a closet, ran out into the living room with it, pumped the action, pointed it at my friend and pulled trigger.
Blam. Face gone. Same thing- rampant ignorance compounded with inherent stupidity.