No. 6 grenade

Grenade, Hand No. 6
Type	Time-fused grenade
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1915–1917
Used by	United Kingdom
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Royal Laboratories^[1]
Designed	1915
Produced	1915 ^[2]
Specifications
Weight	1 lb (0.45 kg) ^[3]
Length	4 in (10 cm) ^[3]
Diameter	2 ¹⁄₄ in diameter^[3]

Detonation mechanism	Timed Friction Fuse

The No 6 Grenade is a hand grenade used by the United Kingdom during World War I.

The No 6 was a concussion grenade. A variant of it called the "No 7" contained shrapnel, making it a primitive fragmentation grenade. Pulling a loop at the top of the grenade ignited the fuse. Once the loop was pulled, the grenade was armed and had to be thrown immediately.^[3]

History

The No 6 was one of the intern grenades created because of problems associated with the No 1 Grenade.^[1] It is one of the few intern grenades that uses a friction-based lighting system. While this seemed fine in theory, in practice it had multiple problems. The most prominent of all was that the arming method did not work as intended. In many cases pulling the loop was too difficult for one man to do and it required two men.^[1] For a lone soldier, the best method was to hold the grenade between the knees and pull on the loop with both hands. However, this often resulted in cutting the fingers in addition to igniting the fuse.^[1]

Another danger was that the friction igniter was very sensitive, a powerful blow to the grenade with the detonator inserted could set it off.^[1] This made the No 6 almost as dangerous as the percussion cap grenades that it was designed to replace.

At the end of December 1915, the No. 6 and No. 7 were declared obsolete.^[1] However, it appears they were still in use up to at least 1917, as grenade manuals made during that time have a section on how to activate and ignite it.^[3]

Variants

No 7

The No 7 is a variant of the No 6. Unlike the No 6, it has an inner and outer casing. The inner casing contained the explosive while the outer contained scrap that was intended to be used as shrapnel. Generally, the No 6 was used in preference to the No 7 as it was lighter and there was the possibility of shrapnel from the No 7 hitting friendly soldiers.^[1]

References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Saunders, pp 17–19
↑ Saunders, p.27
1 2 3 4 5 Ainsile, pp10-11

Bibliography

Saunders, Weapons of the Trench War,
Ainslie, Graham M Hand Grenades, A Handbook on Rifle and Hand Grenades (1917) text at Scribd.com

British Grenades of World War I & World War II

Anti-personnel	Grenade, No 1 No 2 grenade "Hales Pattern" Nos. 3, 20, 24, 35 "Hales Rifle Grenade" Nos. 5, 23, 36 Mills No. 6 grenade No. 15 Ball grenade No. 69 Nos. 8, 9 Double Cylinder Jam Tin

Anti-tank	No. 68 AT (Rifle) No. 73 Thermos No. 74 Sticky bomb No. 75 AT Hawkins

Special Types	No. 82 Gammon No. 76 (WP) No. 77 (WP) Lewes bomb Bomb, ground, 6 lb

British Empire small arms and ordnance of the First World War

No. 1
No. 2 Hales Pattern
Nos. 3, 20, 24, 35 Hales rifle grenades
Nos. 5, 23, 36 Mills
No. 6
Nos. 8, 9 Jam Tin
No. 13 Battye
No. 14 Pitcher
No. 15 Ball
No. 16 Oval
No. 17 Opera hat
No. 18
No. 19
No. 21 "Spherical"
No. 22 Newton-Pippin
No. 25 Sangster
No. 27
No. 28 Chemical
No. 29 Gas
No. 31 Day Signal
No. 32 Night Signal
No. 32 "Spherical E"
No. 34 Egg
No. 37
No. 39 Steuart Pattern

Artillery

Tank guns	QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss QF 6 pounder 6 cwt

Infantry guns	1.59-inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II ("Vickers-Crayford rocket gun")

Field Artillery	BL 12 pounder 6 cwt QF 12 pounder 8 cwt QF 12 pounder 18 cwt QF 13 pounder BL 15 pounder BLC 15 pounder QF 15 pounder QF 18 pounder QF 4 inch gun Mk III BL 4 inch gun Mk VII QF 4.5 inch Howitzer

Mountain artillery	RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun BL 10 pounder Mountain Gun BL 2.75-inch Mountain Gun QF 2.95 inch Mountain Gun QF 3.7-inch mountain howitzer

Howitzers, medium, and heavy artillery	QF 4.7 inch Gun BL 5 inch Howitzer BL 5.4 inch Howitzer BL 60 pounder gun BLC 6 inch siege gun BL 6 inch Gun Mk VII BL 6 inch Gun Mk XIX BL 6-inch 26 cwt howitzer BL 6-inch 30 cwt howitzer BL 8 inch Howitzer Mk I - V BL 8 inch Howitzer Mk VI - VIII

Siege artillery	BL 7.5 inch Mk III naval gun BL 9.2-inch howitzer BL 9.2 inch Mk X naval gun BL 12 inch Howitzer BL 12 inch Mk X naval gun BL 15 inch Howitzer

Coastal artillery	QF 12 pounder 12 cwt QF 4 inch naval gun Mk I – III BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX–X RML 9 inch

Mortars

Grenade launchers

Smoke and chemical weapons

Railway guns

Anti-aircraft guns

Foreign weapon designs
in British Empire Armies use

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