Item:
ON7664

Original WWII Soviet Russian Experimental Ceramic F1 Hand Grenade - Inert

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a totally inert BATF approved example that cannot be converted to an explosive device. This is an incredibly RARE experimental WW2 issue Soviet Ceramic body F1 hand grenade. It was designed as an anti-personnel fragmentation defensive grenade and was based on the French F1 grenade. It was originally designed t0 contain a 60-gram explosive charge (TNT). Due to its shape, it is nicknamed the limonka (fem. "lemon"). It is also nicknamed Efka (Russian: Эфка) for the letter F. It is similar to the American Mk2 grenade "Pineapple grenade", which was also ultimately modeled on the French F1.

Little is known about the Russian experimental Ceramic F1 production, it is theorized that they were produced to lower production time and cost as well as to decrease the overall weight of the grenade so soldiers could transport more of them and throw them further. In many decades of Militaria collecting only a handful of these have been discovered and very few with a correct 1944 Dated UZRGM fuze.

Fuze
The UZRGM (Universal'nyi Zapal, Ruchnaya Granata, Modernizirovannyi > “Universal Igniter, Hand Grenade, Improved") fuze is a universal Russian type also used in the RG-41, RG-42, RGO-78, RGN-86 and RGD-5 grenades. The standard time delay for this fuze is 3.5 to 4 seconds. However, UZRGM fuze variants are available which give delays between zero (i.e., instantaneous, specifically for use in booby-traps) and 13 seconds. It is possible to hear a loud "pop" as the fuze ignites and begins to burn.

History
The F1 was introduced during World War II and subsequently redesigned post-war. It has a steel exterior that is notched to facilitate fragmentation upon detonation and to prevent hands from slipping. The distance the grenade can be thrown is estimated at 30–45 meters. The radius of the shrapnel dispersion is up to 200 meters (effective radius is about 30 meters, by some sources (Russian)). Hence, the grenade has to be deployed from a defensive position to avoid harm. About 60 percent of the grenade body pulverizes during the explosion, only 30 percent of the body splints into 290 high velocity sharp cut splinters each weighing around 1 gram with initial speed of about 700 meters per second.
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