The general rule of thumb with a hand grenade is to throw it away after the safety pin is pulled and the lever released - holding it in your hand won't end well at all. They explode you see and you'll not live to get a second chance at doing it right.

T͙͇̦h̠̘̺r͖̪̠o̢͇w̝͇ i̫͍͙t̻̞̟ f͖̙͖a̺̫r̡̙̫ a̘̞͔w͇̞a̦͇͓y͉̫ b͓̙̪e̼̪̫f̻͔o̙͕͓r̢̞̻e͕̞ i̢̻̠t̞͕͉ e̺̙̝x̠͖p͉͔̠l̻̻͙o̢͜d̺͔̠e̝̝̞s̟̫͔ i̪̫̼n͍̙͚ y͉̪͜o̺̘͕u̼̞̻r̞͜͜ h̡͇̻a̻͓͉n͉̪̺d̡̘̠

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This is my hand grenade and before you say fucking fuckety fuckballs that dude has a hand grenade, you need to know that whilst it is an actual hand grenade, a real one, there is no fuse delay, detonator or explosive material inside it. You'll note there are a couple holes drilled into the body which render it useless as an actual hand grenade. Make no mistake about it though, it's real and it's heavy - if it hit you in the noggin it would hurt...it just won't explode.

This is a Mills Bomb, a cast-iron anti-personnel fragmentation hand grenade, developed by William Mills in 1915.

The early models were used in World War One, some seventy five million were supplied to England and her allies (Australia included) and subsequent versions were used all the way through to the early 1970's, this is one of the later versions, the 36M.

These could be thrown up to around 30 metres away so the thrower needed cover. It weighs just under a kilogram (1.68lbs or so) and has an explosive range of about 90 metres. That means, if one went off within 90 metres (295 feet) of you and you had no cover, you were pretty much fucked - this is why it's suggested to throw it far away rather than hold it in one's hand once the pin and safety lever is released. It just makes good sense.

I decided to take some shots, once again in low light similar to what I did in this post a few days ago, and I liked how it came out; the grooves in the cast-iron body created some shadowed areas which give it a sinister look. They're not there for that purpose though, those grooves allow the cast-iron body to fragment when the hand grenade explodes and that's what rips into human beings killing or rendering them combat-ineffective.

I've had this grenade cerakoted (ceramic paint baked on) so all the original paint markings have gone, but it still looks cool sitting in my home office with all the other curiosities and military paraphernalia I have about the place.

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That's it for this post folks, although I'd like to invite you to comment if you feel inclined. Have you ever held a hand grenade, thrown one or even caught one and thrown it back like they do in the movies? Trust me, that's not advisable unless you're in a movie, these grenades had a seven second fuse, later revised to a four second fuse...catching one and throwing it back wasn't much of an option.

Feel free to make any comments you like, select your favourite image and let me know which it is or pretty much just say hello if you want, I'll respond either way.