Mystery Munition of the Month - December 2014
Admit it... we've all been there, digging around In the dirt with tools better suited to a flower garden than the red Georgia clay or hard pack you find yourself in now. You've dug it up and now it's yours, but what is it? Our first reaction is often 'what the hell is that?' followed soon after with 'is it even ordnance related?'
That's where our crew was once again and yes, I admit, not the first time for me (or anyone else being honest). It's in my hand 'cause there's obviously no explosive hazard, and the exam begins. Looks like cheap pot metal mostly but there are a couple steel bars too, plus a stainless steel plate on the base. Seems poor construction idea, what with dissimilar metals galvanic corrosion is assured and obvious (save the stainless plate). A couple through and through holes, a half round depression, and that's about all there is. First impression is manufacturing item or maybe vehicular... but being in the middle of a burn/demo area raises doubts in that realm.
Methinks that this whatzit of the month may be what's left of the bottom of a BLU-18 or M-43 dispensed submunition grenade without wings,fuse,exploding ball or delivery dispenser or projo. Regards, HMH
M39 sub munition....pretty lil butterfly lost its wings :)
It is definitely the: USA SM M 39 (M39 Grenade minus its arming vanes) The photos clearly show the Stainless Steel Striker Plate with perforations, the curved 'Kill Mechanism' Ejection chamber, the two posts with rusted steel pins where the arming vanes pivot.
Another mystery may be, How did it/them get into the demo burn pit?
Bryan and Bob are right. It is a M39, General Purpose, Anti-Personnel, Grenade. Expelled from a 105mm, M444. The striker plate was the give-away for me too.
