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WW1 US MK. 1 Grenade


Gildwiller1918

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When the US entered the war in 1917, they were not prepared to say the least. Initially they used British and French grenades, and continued to do so throughout the war, mainly for logistical reasons. The US however, wanted to have a grenade of their own. The US grenade was modeled on several types already in use on the Western Front. The grenade was made from malleable iron, in roughly a lemon shape and weighed 22 ounces. The body of the grenade is coated with a rust proofing agent which turned the metal black in appearance. Typically these grenades supposed to be painted grey to indicate they were live. The bottom of the grenade has a filling port with a screw plug, and the top had an opening that was threaded to take the fuse. This particular model used a bouchon which is the cast assembly containing the fuse and related components, this bouchon had smooth sides where the it screwed to the grenade, later models had tightening lugs which looked like small rectangles. The main problem with this grenade was the fuse, which required 5 steps to use the grenade, and during combat, if all the steps were not completed and the grenade was thrown, it would not go off. The grenade was condemned in May of 1918. However by August the MK 2 was in service to replace the MK 1. These MK 1 models are very hard to find especially with the fuse intact. 

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Here is another MK 1 grenade, with the second model bouchon, the type with the tightening lugs. It also has the twist spoon handle assembly, which was replaced with the flat handle and fuse assembly for the MK 2 models. The MK 1's are really hard to find, the body's show up every so often as they were also used as practice models and were painted red. 

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Nice clean examples. Seldom see any Pineapples over here especially Mark 1s. Infact there'nothing American over here. Thanks for sharing.

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Well its kind of to be expected, for example, around 500,000 MK 2's made it overseas before the war ended. Mainly the AEF used French and British models just because they had nothing else. While in Russia, the US forces also used Russian grenades as well. There were also a small group of US soldiers in Italy and they used local ordnance also. If going for US examples, I would go for the No. 5 Mills, French F1 and OF1 models, and the French lemon grenades. 

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Here is a period MK 2 model, the WW1 version had a much shorter fuse handle than the WW2 versions. Note the lack of the protrusion fill area on the bottom as seen on the MK 1. As stated earlier only about 500,000 made it overseas before the war ended, however over 21,000,000 had been made in total. Some of the makers were; Spacke Machine & Tool Co., Stewart-Warner Speedometer Co., American Radiator Co., International Harvester Co., Miami Cycle and Manufacturing Co., Doehler Die Castings and Precision Castings Co.

Since there are so many manufacturers, there are a lot of variations that can occur among this grenade. 

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Here is a MK 2 body with out the fuse.

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Lots of points to note in relation to the spoons on all these WW1 grenades in particular the distance they sit from the body & the width of the spoon.!

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Yes, the spoons and fuses were quite different than the WW2 versions, but you can tell how they evolved. Good visual examples are very helpful in this area. When I go to shows or flea markets, etc. I also carry reference materials with me or photos/links on my phone. 

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