My Collection - WW2 F1 Grenades

[Kilroy was Here]

Here is a few photos to share of my F1 collection that I have been gathering for almost two years now. It's a lot of work taking pics, and still the quality of these photos is not too good, so sorry. If you want to see any grenade better, let me know and I will try to get better pictures.

There's some interesting small differences in the many different F1's made during WWII. They are not the prettiest grenades to some people, But I like them all. They were very practical, simple, and rugged, like just about all Russian items.

Only very few I have found were painted. The majority of WW2 Soviet F1's were unpainted apparently. I have found a couple grey ones, a nice green one, a black one, and a nice dark brown-green one (the one at top left with the rounded lead plug on bottom)
I have heard the F1 called the grandfather of modern grenades and somewhat agree with that statement.

I hope you enjoy seeing them.

I also have 15-20 different WW2 canvas F1 grenade pouches I will post pics of. I will shoot some pics of them soon.

 

[banksy-2k10]

hello

verry nice collection ! how many diffrent types are there ?

 

[dano1917]

Great collection of F1's Steve, thanks for showing......Dano

 

[paul the grenade]

An excellent selection of F1's Steve.
Thanks for sharing them with us.
paul.

 

[dano1917]

F1 question

Hope I am not getting too far off the subject, but seeing Steves WWII F1's brought a question to me I have been pondering for a while. The 2 F1's in my photo to the left are known WWI F1 bodies. The F1 on the right was sold to me as a WWI grenade but when comparing to Steves photos it really resembles a WWII body moreso than a WWI body. Do you think it is a WWII body or could it go either way.....Dano

 

[Grenademan2005]

For me it is a French WWII body.

 

[Grenademan2005]

Good collection Stve. In the third pic the ATS one is a French body with a Belgian fuze, (not easy to find today) and the one at its right side it is also a French body with French Billiant fuze. About paint it is easier to find early F1 bodies painted green than later bodies, I have two solid base ones with remains of green paint too.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

hello

verry nice collection ! how many diffrent types are there ?

Hi banksy, I'm not sure how many different types and makers there were, but for sure more than I have shown.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

The F1 on the right was sold to me as a WWI grenade but when comparing to Steves photos it really resembles a WWII body moreso than a WWI body. Do you think it is a WWII body or could it go either way.....Dano

Hi Dano, I think the one on right is for sure a French F1. I see some markings that look like the French F1's.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Good collection Stve. In the third pic the ATS one is a French body with a Belgian fuze, (not easy to find today) and the one at its right side it is also a French body with French Billiant fuze. About paint it is easier to find early F1 bodies painted green than later bodies, I have two solid base ones with remains of green paint too.

Thanks Miguel, Paul, Dano and everyone, you can see I like F1's a little bit. :tinysmile_twink_t2:

Yes, the 2 F1's at top on right are French solid bottom bodies. I just added them to the photo. The Red French F1 has a V and O cast in the body, and was originally a light blue HE grenade that was dipped into red paint at some point to make into a practice grenade? I wonder if this was a normal thing the French did to make practice grenades??

The green painted WW2 Russian F1's are hard to find for sure. I like also the grey painted, there are 3 grey F1 in my pics, but you cannot really tell they are painted from the photos. 2 have almost 90% paint.
My favorite F1 I think is the "workshop" or "Siege" grenade at the top, the one with the round lead plug on bottom. It also has almost 90% of a very interesting dark green-brown paint remaining.
These siege-workshop type F1 are rare to find. It has no markings, so it's maybe an older French body, or maybe also could be an early Russian body with fill hole on bottom, not sure about that one. Eugene had shown a couple of these siege grenades here before. One I think had a very rare Leningrad made Koveshnikov fuze with a rivet on the top. :bigsmile:

Miguel..... the F1 in your photo has the same marking as one I have also. Does yours also have this marking on both sides of the body? and also a number on the body close the bottom?

 

[dano1917]

For me it is a French WWII body.

Miguel, I tend to agree. The two known WW1 units (ones on left) have a different shape and both have the bottom plug. The one on right (also definately French) does not have provision for a base plug and the body seems to have the classic WWII shape to it. I know the two left grenades are WWI because I know where they were found (both Verdun), but the one on right I have no idea where it was found. I think someone put a WWI fuze into a WWII French body. I know there is nothing concrete here but that would be my take on it. Thinking of finding a WWII French fuze for F1 body on the right....Dano

 

[Grenademan2005]

Original WWII French fuzes are not easy to find. Most of them for sell are post War. You can see the difference between WWII fuzes and post War in the maker marks. WWII ones are marked AEM, post War SAE.

 

[Grenademan2005]

The Red French F1 has a V and O cast in the body, and was originally a light blue HE grenade that was dipped into red paint at some point to make into a practice grenade? I wonder if this was a normal thing the French did to make practice grenades??
All countries with large stocks done this, just with a change of paint you can have a different grenade.

These siege-workshop type F1 are rare to find. It has no markings, so it's maybe an older French body, or maybe also could be an early Russian body with fill hole on bottom, not sure about that one. Eugene had shown a couple of these siege grenades here before. One I think had a very rare Leningrad made Koveshnikov fuze with a rivet on the top. :bigsmile:
For what these grenades were used? Practice?

Miguel..... the F1 in your photo has the same marking as one I have also. Does yours also have this marking on both sides of the body? and also a number on the body close the bottom?
Yes, both sides and number 13.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

I wonder if this was a normal thing the French did to make practice grenades??
All countries with large stocks done this, just with a change of paint you can have a different grenade.
OK, thanks, did not know if normal for French to do this also.

These siege-workshop type F1 are rare to find. It has no markings, so it's maybe an older French body, or maybe also could be an early Russian body with fill hole on bottom, not sure about that one. Eugene had shown a couple of these siege grenades here before. One I think had a very rare Leningrad made Koveshnikov fuze with a rivet on the top. :bigsmile:
For what these grenades were used? Practice?

No not practice, regular HE grenades. The "Leningrad siege" or blockade grenades is nickname. Not enough proper material's and machines, so some grenades were made in small workshops, or like this one I show, maybe an older French body, and they did not have threaded screw plugs. So they just plugged with metal. The plug in my F1 is lead. In another thread Eugene or somebody showed one that looked like mine, but with a steel rounded plug, not lead. I'm not sure if pics are still there? Do they remove pics after a certain time? here is the old thread.
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/russian-ww-ii-t55825.html


Miguel..... the F1 in your photo has the same marking as one I have also. Does yours also have this marking on both sides of the body? and also a number on the body close the bottom?
Yes, both sides and number 13.

OK, thanks. Mine has 6's on both sides.

 

[Kilroy was Here]

Could these be the same.......

Here's a photo from probably a small Russian factory or workshop, and the F1's in the crates look almost the the same as the type I have shown with unusual looking grooves on neck and bottom.

Miguels F1 grenade has the same makers mark as mine, but a "13" number on body, and the neck grooves looks a little different.