Gunner Asch wrote:
On Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:55:00 -0500, E Z Peaces
wrote:

Gunner Asch wrote:
On Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:12:39 -0500, E Z Peaces
wrote:

Rob H. wrote:
If this is a racquet grenade and a racquet grenade was actually an
antipersonnel mine, the wide board makes sense. It would reduce the
killing radius on the "friendly" side.
Sounds reasonable, though I think I would prefer a thicker piece of wood
if it was meant to protect against shrapnel.

Is it about an inch thick? The MK2 "pineapple grenade" had big shrapnel
like the racquet grenade. It could inflict casualties up to 10 yards or
so. I infer that the fragments were slower and more easily stopped than
most pistol rounds.

I wish I knew where to research the paddle device!

It had a Lethal range of 15 yrds...and a wounding radius of about 50
yrds or more.

Gunner

I have no experience with the MK2. My source is Ledgard's /Soldier's
Handbook, Volume 1/. It says the bursting radius is 10 yards. I took
that to be the limit where it was likely to produce casualties.

I used the M26, an improved grenade with the same weight as the MK2.
They say both kinds can throw shrapnel 250 yards, but there's little
chance of injury. The lethal radius of the M26 was 5 meters. The
casualty radius was 15. Helmets and body armor were excellent
protection. They weren't reliable protection against bullets.


The old pineapple had IRRC, 18 segments that traveled when it burst.
Those could go a fair way, but it was a black powder charge, a low
velocity projectile.

Gunner


I think the black-powder grenades went out with the 19th Century. I
think the French F1 may have been the original pineapple grenade. Lots
of countries seem to call their grenades F1s. I read about a modern F1
that uses steel balls. The lethal radius is 6m, casualty radius 15m,
and safe radius 30m. That's closer to the 50m you mentioned.

After you mentioned black powder, I was surprised to learn that two
versions of the US MK2 used smokeless powder because TNT could cause
"over fragmentation."

At 2 meters, the surface of a sphere would be about 50 square meters.
If a grenade produced only 18 fragments, it seems likely that somebody
standing 2 meters away would not be hit. (I haven't experimented!)
That seems to be a shortcoming of pineapple grenades.

Slow projectiles tend to transfer their kinetic energy to what they hit,
so it seems feasible that a board attached to a grenade could protect
somebody 10 meters away although the board would be destroyed.