I assume these grenades are shipped unarmed, but arm or “fuse” themselves in flight, after the propellant is ignited?? Does anyone know for sure?
Minot ‘lost’ record of some nukes en route to Louisiana ten years ago. Are these actually messages or something?
The grenade is armed by the force acted upon the grenade when it is fired and by a certain number of rotations of the grenade imparted by the barrel. Even if it’s not armed it can make a 40mm hole in the head if fired.
I would imagine so.
No fuse, they explode on impact.
“I assume these grenades are shipped unarmed, but arm or “fuse” themselves in flight, after the propellant is ignited?? Does anyone know for sure?”
Spin to arm after leaving barrel.
Yes, they fuse in flight.
CC
Yes
The rounds arm themselves after about 18 to 36 meters.
IIRC the M918 TP (Target Practice) rounds arm in 18 meters, while the M383 HE (High Explosive), and the M430 HEDP (High Explosive - Dual Purpose) arm in 36.
The HE and HEDP have a kill radius of 5 meters and can wound out to 15 meters
The max range is 2,212 meters against area targets, with an effective range against point targets being 1,500.
The Mk-19 Mod 3 was my baby when I was in 2nd ACR. The serial number of mine was 2700.
When I went through Ft Knox a long time ago, there was a story of a DAP (Dumb A$$ Private) who upon return from the range was tossing a HE round up in the air and proceeded to scatter himself to the four points of the compass.
They’re armed after a certain number of revolutions after being fired and explode on impact. They are live rounds. My understanding is that they’re also different from what is used by M203 gunners. If you fire a Mk19 round out of an M203 grenade launcher, it’ll probably break a shoulder.