Yard Sale Grenades; Dewats??

[hcliffe]

You know the story. Today I stopped at a yard sale and asked if they had any miitary items. Low and behold this elderly woman comes back out of the house with 2 grenades in a shopping bag!! A WW2 US pineapple grenade and a German potato masher. Both appear to be fully intact. So not knowing a lot about grenades, I ask her if the powder had been removed. She does not know. So bought them and have them at home, but am a bit concerned. They were brought back by a US army vet. How can I tell for sure if they are okay? The potato masher has the pull string at the end of the handle. Is it okay to just unscrew the head? Would that be okay if there were still powder inside? On the US grenade, there is no hole in the bottom, and there is a pin holding the handle down. How do I check it? Help please.

[MG34NZ]

The potsto masher head unscrews , the most common inerting process was to cut the fuze well out so the can will be open at the bottom, if its not it may still contain a charge.
The pineapple fuze will also unscrew, both are standard right hand thread.
If in any doubt dont fiddle and get expert advice. inert-ord.net has some potato mashers pictured showing a couple of inerting techniques

[Glenn Barbaritz]

Harry, I by no means am saying this is a true tell sign but as far as the M24 goes. I would think if it is alive still it would be a bit top heavy from the fill in the head. I own 3 (of course empty) and they are quite light. naturally only thin sheet metal on the heads. is yours heavy? Glenn

[hcliffe]

Thanks so much for the help MG34NZ. I just weighed mine and they are 11 oz and 1lb 3oz. so they are deactivated. I unscrewed the head of the potato masher and the well was not cut out, but the head has been uncrimped. We are good to go!

Next question. The head and handle of the potato masher are marked "RR517 1938". The 2 "R"'s are facing forward. On my other original, the first one faces backward. I thought that if they both face forward it was the sign of a repro? But this one sure looks good.

[MG34NZ]

Rr

Your grenade sounds good the RR is the makers code for Richard Rinker GmbH, Iserlohn. the RR was either back to back or both the same way it just depended when it was made,this was the commercial logo not a code as a little later on anything made by Rinker was coded brb.
Love to see pics of them if you get a chance!
regards
Andrew MG34NZ

[Glenn Barbaritz]

true, Ive seen plenty of good examples with both styles of RR's. sounds like you got a great find. Glenn

[hcliffe]

Here are some pics.

[hcliffe]

2

[hcliffe]

3

[hcliffe]

4

[hcliffe]

US grenade, looks like it is missing the handle.

[Glenn Barbaritz]

wow Harry. they dont get much better than that. great find, great shape. Glenn

[MG34NZ]

Excellent find, well done they are great! nice early M24 and the pineapple is an early one as well being green over yellow, lever wont be to hard to track down to compleate it.
Andrew MG34NZ

[monte cassino]

very smart looking!!!

[Frans H.]

That German M24 potatoemasher is a nice original. What a beauty! Congrats on your find.

Frans