Prop/ demilled grenades?

XOIIO

New Member
Hey everyone, something I have wanted for a while is a prop or de milled grenade, preferably one that has been emptied out.

On ebay all the ones I see are paperweights, however, I would like one that is visually functional, you can pull the pin, toss it and the lever/spoon will flip out. I have seen several sites from the US that sells "dummy" grenades, real ones with the spring mechanism intact, however finding one that will ship to Canada is tough, though I did find one that has an M18 smoke grenade that is emptied but apparently can be filled, so I'm assuming the mechanism still works. They also didn't have the usual "this item can not be shipped out of the US" disclaimer so maybe I'll get lucky, it's only $18 as well.

Anyways, what I want is one with a working mechanism, and one that is preferably an actual decommissioned grenade, or at least metal, I'm sure rubber ones are used most often but I'd really love a nice, authentic feeling metal one that I could fill with sand if I wanted so that it had the proper weight and everything. Considering I am in Canada, am I out of luck? (I'm interested in both a smoke grenade and classic pineapple grenade).

Also for anyone who has one of these or just military experience, I'm pretty sure the spoon isn't made to get put back in, but more info on the mechanism would be great, if you pull the pin and chuck it for in a video, can you just grab the spoon and pin and put it back together?
 
Yes, the spoon can easily be put back together, it just slides into place. the pins, real pins, you'll need a set of pliers to do it "right". They should last a few times depending how much you bend them back and forth, like regular metal. The trick will be the spring...
 
Yes, the spoon can easily be put back together, it just slides into place. the pins, real pins, you'll need a set of pliers to do it "right". They should last a few times depending how much you bend them back and forth, like regular metal. The trick will be the spring...

Does the spring come out too?

I have seen several listings for grenade pins on ebay, but I would be careful not to lose it anyways, and you can probably find similar springs easily if they do come out, I'd just carefully and slowly release the mechanism to take out the spring and find replacements pre-emptively
 
If the mail is opened by customs, it will be confiscated. Been there done that ... A real grenade can have the mechanism re-****** and the spoon put back on a number of times, but as you point out, it is designed for one time use. The striker mechanism uses a pretty hefty spring to power the striker, throwing the spoon off in the process. Repeated use wears everything out and can result in bent/broken parts (the lugs of the spoon are particularly easily worn out). Replacing the striker spring with a weaker spring would help, but you would probably have to make the spring yourself. The only exception I know of to the above is the WWII "Mills Bomb" British hand grenade which had a very robust mechanism. Training versions were used for years with not much wear.
 
Does the spring come out too?

I have seen several listings for grenade pins on ebay, but I would be careful not to lose it anyways, and you can probably find similar springs easily if they do come out, I'd just carefully and slowly release the mechanism to take out the spring and find replacements pre-emptively

The spring is around a pin that is pressed into the mechanism. The spoon holds it in place (again it is only designed for one time use) and in use does sometimes come out. You can probably glue the pin in, or strike the edge with a punch to have it stay in place. As I previously noted the spring is pretty strong and I would suggest replacing it from the get go, or taking some of the temper out of the spring by heating it.
 
Forgot to point out that the strong spring can fling the spoon a fair distance. If you throw the grenade (as opposed to the Hollywood trick of releasing the spoon in your hand and then throwing - bad idea with a real grenade) the spoon comes off early in the throw and can end up a fair distance away. Depending on the area, it can be hard to find.
 
all you need is to buy a demilled one from your local army navy, close up the hole at the bottom where they drilled out the charge, and fabricate a spring mechanism to launch the spoon upon pinpull. the demilled assemblies will have a reproduction or original firing mechanism missing a few pieces.

you will note when you see it, there are 3 sets of holes in the upper unit that screws onto the body. the lowest is the pin hole. the second, the biggest hole, is one which holds a small section of rod with a spring wrapped around it much the same manner as a spring that holds a chip clip, as well as the striker which slams the spring loaded plunger. I am unsure of the final hole's purpose. pulling the pin releases counterpressure on the spring and striker, flipping the spoon and depressing the round plunger in the middle of the mechanism

operation.gif

EDIT: if you feel like being slightly less DIY, heres a site that sells grenade spring kits.

https://oldsargesdropzone.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=417
 
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I have a real, de-miled 'pineapple' grenade. It had a plastic detonator when I bought it, but it broke and I ordered one on eBay that was not only metal, but has a spring in it. It was a little tricky to set it, but I managed to do it and set the pin. I love to leave it sitting on my coffee table and duck for cover whenever someone picks it up and pulls the pin.

Seriously though, why is it everyone's first instinct when they pick up a grenade to pull the pin? Maybe it's just the people I hang out with, but that makes even less sense because of anyone they know I'm the most likely to have a real grenade.
 
I have a real, de-miled 'pineapple' grenade. It had a plastic detonator when I bought it, but it broke and I ordered one on eBay that was not only metal, but has a spring in it. It was a little tricky to set it, but I managed to do it and set the pin. I love to leave it sitting on my coffee table and duck for cover whenever someone picks it up and pulls the pin.

Seriously though, why is it everyone's first instinct when they pick up a grenade to pull the pin? Maybe it's just the people I hang out with, but that makes even less sense because of anyone they know I'm the most likely to have a real grenade.

Probably the same voice that makes you want to jump when looking off of a tall building or cliff.


Seems like the best bet would be to find a way to buy the body and mechanism separately, that would probably get through customs, though finding a source for those is still gonna be tricky. There are lots of dummy paperweight ones on ebay but those are probably just one big cast chunk of metal, and sadly no military surplus stores around here. Well, there is one, but it's all clothing and stuff like that.

Anyone who has one kicking around want to set up a couple private listings for the body and striker mechanism separately? lol

(I'm guessing the striker mechanism is the entire part that screws in, right?)

edit: just occured to me no need for ebay I guess, there is the junkyard section that I could post a WTB thread in when I have some more posts under my belt, I guess it would just be a matter of paypal and shipping things in different boxes, though I guess it depends on how strong the morals are of the person who might be selling. I guess splitting up an item that would not normally pass through the border into separate parts might not be seen as a good thing by some people.
 
Well it's not like you're intending to make it into a functional weapon, which is what customs would be concerned about. Even if you were, this would be a long way to go to do it.
 
Well it's not like you're intending to make it into a functional weapon, which is what customs would be concerned about. Even if you were, this would be a long way to go to do it.

True, and heck, it's this hard to get a non functioning one, it would be damn near impossible to source the materials to make it functional .
 
A few years back I bought an airsoft grenade to keep on my desk. The body of the grenade is foam, but the spoon and top assembly are metal and functional, you pull the pin and the spoon flies off. You then notch the spoon back into the top and compress the spring and put the pin back in. It was relatively cheap and could serve as a base for a replica.
 
I have a small cache of prop grenades, rubber, plastic, real demilled... Some with static but others with functional mechanisms and spoons. After some use and resetting the spoons as mentioned do tend to bend or break at the stress points as do the pull pins. The way around it is to remove the actual spring itself and install a lighter spring in its place. In a pinch ive had to use simple retractable ball point pen springs. Reason is more to do with the super fast action of the spring and short throw meaning it doesnt have much play between holding the spoon down and the spring popping.

Track down the parts individually and piece one together if customs wont allow you to have a heavy paper weight. Once demilled they are just that.

Forgot to mention, the pin and loop/finger pull can be swapped out or doubled for a generic cotter pin and key ring.
 
I dont know about shipping to canada but the cheapest i have found is wild bill wholesale, just google that and you'll find thier site, they have 3 different styles, problem for me is they wont ship them to california
 
CA never gets the cool stuff. :angry

I've been looking for some grenades for my Tomb Raider / Uncharted collections (game props)
 
You can get them from Hero surplus, and they ship across Canada.
They do not include the striker or spring. Those you can order from the USA or just put a coil spring under the spoon. That should give you the desired affect.
 
In case anybody is still looking for some sweet grenades (inert ones of course), I just got my Coleman's Military Surplus catalog and they are selling actual hollow-core grenades (pin and all) for $10 apiece. On top of that, they have pineapple, lemon, and baseball, pretty sweet selection. Anyways, if you want an actual metal grenade for your cosplay, it's pretty hard to beat ten bucks. :)

www.colemans.com
 
I bought one some time back for a Nathan Drake costume on Amazon but I think it ran me about $15... that doesn't beat ten. lol
 
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