F 1 transcript. Hand fragmentation grenades and fuses used with them. Where did the “limonka” come from across the Russian land?

The F-1 hand grenade is a reliable and effective means of destroying enemy personnel in defensive battle. The effectiveness of the grenade is ensured by the scattering of fragments formed from its cast-iron body at the moment of explosion. The destructive power of these fragments remains at a distance of up to 200 m, which is its destruction radius.

The history of the creation of the Russian F-1 grenade

The basis for the development of the first version of the Russian grenade was following systems, which were in service at the beginning of the last century:

• French hand grenade F-1;
• English grenade of the Lemon system.

This is precisely what explains the markings of that grenade, which is used in the Russian army to this day, as well as its widespread nickname “Limonka”.

In the early Russian version, a far from perfect fuse of the Koveshnikov system was installed, the explosion delay time of which was 6 seconds. This defensive grenade was first modernized in 1939. Two years later, in 1941, a Vinzeni system fuse was installed in it, which delayed the grenade explosion by 3.5 - 4.5 seconds. Later, this element began to be called a unified fuse for hand grenades (UZRG), which until the eighties of the last century was a single fuse for all fragmentation hand grenades being developed. Its characteristics have satisfied and continue to meet the requirements of modern close combat.

Technical characteristics of F-1 grenades

• F1 grenade weight – 600 g;
• explosive mass – 60-90 g.
• case diameter – 55 mm;
• body height, including fuse – 117 mm.

F-1 grenade device

A hand grenade consists of:

• metal case;
• UZRGM fuse;
• charge explosive.

The building is the location firing mechanism, the striker of which is guided by a washer fixed inside the grenade. In addition, an igniter equipped with a threaded bushing is screwed into the body.

The design of the trigger mechanism assumes the presence of:

• safety lever;
• safety pin with ring;
• striker with mainspring.

The detonator is in a metal case, and its device includes:

• detonator capsule;
• igniter primer;
• powder retarder.

How does the F-1 grenade fuse work?

In the normal state, the striker is loaded with a mainspring and secured with the fork of the safety lever, which is associated with its shank. The upper end of the mainspring rests against the chamfer of the guide washer, and the lower end rests against the chamfer of the firing pin washer. Fixation of the safety lever is ensured by a safety pin inserted into the holes of the housing and lever.

After removing the safety pin, the fighter must hold the lever with his hand. When thrown, the spring forces the lever to rotate, resulting in the release of the firing pin. The mainspring pushes it, and it punctures the body of the igniter primer, which causes the moderator to ignite. After the latter burns out, the fire reaches the detonator charge, which causes the F1 grenade to explode.

Features of using "Limonka"

The explosion of the combat charge causes the grenade body to be crushed into fragments having the following indicators:

• quantity – about 290 pieces;
• initial speed – 730 m/sec;
• damage radius – 200 m;
• the reduced affected area is up to 82 sq. meters.

Grenades are supplied to military units in wooden boxes, each of which contains 20 lemons and two metal boxes containing 10 fuses. The boxes are opened using knives located there. The weight of each box is 20 kg.

The markings on each box indicate:

• name of fuses and grenades;
• number of grenades;
• weight of grenades;
• manufacturer's name;
• batch number;
• danger sign.

The resulting ammunition is placed in grenade bags or in special pockets of unloading vests. Each hand grenade is placed separately from its fuse. Grenades are equipped with fuses immediately before battle; the fuse is removed from a grenade that is not used in battle and stored separately. When transported in armored vehicles, grenades and fuses are also placed separately in special bags.

Fuses and grenades are thoroughly inspected before being placed in the bag. The body of each grenade and each fuse must be free of dents and rust marks. If the fuse has cracks or a green coating, it should not be used. In addition, you need to make sure that the cheeks of the safety pin are spread apart and that there are no cracks on the bends.

All ammunition should be protected from moisture, fire, shock, impact and dirt. If they are dirty or wet, if possible, they should be thoroughly wiped and dried, but not near a fire. Drying grenades must be done under constant supervision. A defensive fragmentation grenade, like any other, can only be used by soldiers who have undergone special training.

Preparing and throwing the F-1 defensive grenade

Preparing a grenade and throwing it is carried out in three steps:

• the ammunition is taken in such a way that the safety lever is pressed tightly against the body;
• the antennae on the safety pin are unclenched;
• the pin is pulled, and the grenade is immediately thrown at the target.

Video about the F1 defensive grenade

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Lemon system grenades that were supplied to Russia during the First World War. Another possible origin of the slang name is its shape, which resembles a lemon.

Initially, F-1 grenades were equipped with F.V. Koveshnikov's fuse. In 1941, E.M. Viceni and A.A. Bednyakov developed a universal UZRG fuse; after the war it was modified and serves to this day under the name UZRGM ( at universal h apal R scientific G Ranat m Odernized).

French F-1 grenade model 1915

Due to the difficulty in manufacturing and using the RGD-33 grenade, which was in service in the Soviet Union at that time, a decision was made to develop a reliable and technologically advanced defensive infantry grenade. The development of this device was entrusted to the designer F.I. Khrameev. In 1939, two months after receiving the technical specifications, he developed the F-1 grenade. According to the designer himself, the greatest difficulty for him in developing this grenade model was the selection of shell material and ensuring the reliability of the fuse.

Preliminary testing of this type of weapon was minimal; 10 prototypes were made, which were soon tested, and then the design was launched into production. mass production. Here is what F.I. Khrameev himself said in an interview with journalists about this:

Was some kind of selection committee created? - Not really! Again I'm alone. The head of the plant, Major Budkin, gave me a chaise and sent me to our training ground. I throw grenades one after another into the ravine. And on you - nine exploded, but one didn’t. I'm coming back and reporting. Budkin shouted at me: he left a secret sample unattended! I'm going back, alone again.
- Was it scary? - Not without that. I lay down on the edge of the ravine and saw where the grenade lay in the clay. He took a long wire, made a loop at the end and carefully hooked it onto the grenade. Tugged. Didn't explode. It turned out that the fuse had failed. So he pulled it out, unloaded it, brought it, went to Budkin and put it on his table. He screamed and jumped out of the office like a bullet. And then we transferred the drawings to the Main artillery department(GAU), and a grenade was fired at mass production. Without any experimental series.

The most common belief is that the F-1 grenade originated from an English grenade from the First World War, known in Russia as the “Mils grenade”. For those times it was the most destructive grenade. They are similar in shape and principle of the fuse. F. Leonidov in the magazine “Weapons” (No. 8, 1999) in the article “Prepare grenades” claims that the basis for the development of the F-1 was the French F-1 model of 1915 and English system Lemona. It was not possible to establish whether this is so.

Khrameev, in an interview with Kommersant magazine, acknowledged the origin of the grenade from the French F-1 model. Below is an excerpt from of this interview.

Shown is a French hand grenade F-1 mod. 1915, weighing 550g... In the USSR, the F-1 grenade is used in the USSR with a Koveshnikov fuse, which provides more reliable action, safety when throwing and ease of handling.

This is another confirmation of the version about the origin of the Soviet grenade from the French F-1.

When the F-1 grenade was created, it had a Koveshnikov fuse, then it was replaced by a standard unified UZRG fuse; after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the fuse was improved, the reliability of operation was increased, and it received the designation UZRGM.

Design

F-1 grenade with UZRG fuse

F-1 grenade with UZRG fuse

The F-1 grenade has the following tactical and technical characteristics.

The F-1 grenade is a hand-held anti-personnel, long-range defensive fragmentation grenade. Its design turned out to be so successful that it has existed to this day without fundamental changes. The design of the fuse was slightly changed and modified in order to increase operational reliability.

Like most anti-personnel grenades, the F-1 consists of 3 main parts.

• Fuse. The grenade has a universal fuse UZRGM (or UZRG), which is also suitable for RG-41, RG-42, RGD-5 grenades. The UZRGM fuse differs from the UZRG by changes in the shape of the trigger guard and the design of the striker, which made it possible to reduce the frequency of weapon failures.
• Explosive. The explosive charge is 60 g of TNT. It is possible to equip with trinitrophenol. Such grenades have increased destructive power, but their shelf life in warehouses is strictly limited; after expiration, the grenade poses a significant danger. The explosive block is insulated from the metal body with varnish, paraffin or paper. There are known cases of equipping grenades with pyroxylin mixtures.
• Metal shell. Externally, the grenade has an oval ribbed body made of steel cast iron, the profile resembles the letter “Zh”. The body is a complex casting, poured into the ground, and possibly die casting (hence the shape). Initially, the fins were created to produce fragments of a certain size and mass during an explosion; the fins also perform an ergonomic function, facilitating better retention of the grenade in the hand. Subsequently, some researchers expressed doubts about the effectiveness of such a system for forming fragments (cast iron is crushed into small fragments regardless of the shape of the body). Cutting the body makes it easier to tie the grenade to a peg. Total weight grenades with fuse - 600 g.

The composition of the UZRG fuse includes, in addition to the body itself, the following elements:

Usage

To use a grenade, you need to straighten the antennae of the safety pin, take the grenade in your right hand so that your fingers press the lever to the body. Before throwing a grenade, insert the index finger of your left hand into the pin ring and pull it out. The grenade can continue to remain in the hand for as long as desired until the lever is released, the firing pin cannot break the primer (in principle, if the need to throw a grenade has disappeared and the pin has not been thrown out, it can be inserted back (without releasing the lever!); after bending tendrils of pomegranate pins are suitable for normal storage). After choosing the moment of the throw and the target, throw a grenade at the target. At this moment, the lever will rotate under the influence of the striker spring, releasing the striker, and fly off to the side. The drummer will puncture the primer and after 3.2 - 4.2 seconds an explosion will occur.

The grenade is designed to destroy manpower and unarmored vehicles. The damaging factors are the direct high-explosive action of the explosive and the fragments formed when the metal shell of the grenade is destroyed.

Labeling and storage

A combat grenade is painted in green color(from khaki to dark green). The training and simulation grenade is painted black with two white (vertical and horizontal) stripes. In addition, it has a hole at the bottom. The fighting fuse has no color. In the training-imitation fuse, the pin ring and the lower part of the pressure lever are painted scarlet.

F-1 grenades are packed in wooden boxes of 20 pieces. UZRGM fuses are stored in the same box separately in two metal hermetically sealed jars (10 pieces per jar). Box weight - 20 kg. The box is equipped with a can opener designed to open a can of fuses. Grenades are equipped with fuses immediately before the battle, when transferred from combat position the fuse is removed from the grenade and stored separately.

The purpose of packaging fuses in sealed containers is to ensure maximum safety during the entire storage period, to prevent corrosion and oxidation of the components of the detonating mixture.

Combat use

Tactical features of combat use

In open areas, the effective range of destruction of the enemy when a grenade explodes directly from the high-explosive action of the ammunition is 3-5 meters. The radius of continuous damage to manpower by shrapnel is 7 meters. The chances of injury from grenade fragments remain at a distance of up to 70-100 meters, but this statement is true only for large fragments of the shell. The larger the fragment, the higher its potential damage range. The initial speed of grenade fragments is 700-720 meters per second; The mass of fragments is on average 1-2 grams, although both larger and smaller ones are found.

Peculiarities damaging factors garnets naturally determine the areas of application in modern conflicts. Grenades have the greatest effect indoors and confined spaces. This is due to the following factors. Firstly, in a relatively small room, up to 30 meters in size, the entire space is in the destruction zone of fragments, and fragments can also ricochet off the walls, ceiling and floor, which again increases the chances of hitting the enemy, even if he is in cover. Secondly, the high-explosive effect of a grenade in a closed room is amplified many times over, causing concussion, barotrauma, disorienting the enemy, which allows one to take advantage of the moment to enter the room and use other weapons to destroy it.

The F-1 grenade is more effective compared to offensive grenades when storming confined spaces and premises; due to its higher mass it gives more quantity fragments and has a more pronounced high-explosive effect, all this makes it more likely to incapacitate the enemy.

Tactical features of sabotage use

Also, F-1 grenades are often used when setting tripwires, this is due to the number of fragments, which increases the chances of hitting the enemy, and a reliable fuse, which will not be damaged by prolonged exposure to unfavorable conditions before the trap is triggered. In special forces, the F-1 grenade is “modified”; before installation as a trip wire, the detonating charge is cut off and the fuse is removed. Thus, achieving an almost instantaneous explosion and depriving the enemy of 3.2 - 4.5 seconds. for salvation.

Application in military conflicts

In service

F1 in cinema

In action films, you can often see grenades suspended from a safety pin ring on a belt or vest. In reality, a sane person will not do this: during a battle you have to move over rough terrain, where there is a high risk of something catching on a grenade and pulling the safety pin out of it. After this, the grenade will quite naturally explode, most likely destroying the fighter or at least unmasking him. During combat, grenades are kept in a grenade pouch or unloading vest, and in their absence, in clothing pockets.

IN feature films The main character can often be seen effectively pulling the pin of a grenade with his teeth. In reality, in most cases, such an action will lead to tooth loss. This is because significant physical effort is required to remove the safety pin: this is done deliberately to prevent accidental grenade detonations.

Also in many films you can see how a grenade falls on a group of people, scattering them in different directions, killing most of them. In practice this is far from the case. When a grenade is detonated, a powerful blast wave is not generated: indeed, people located within a radius of 2-3 meters from the explosion site receive barotrauma, concussion, and often fall to the ground, but no one is thrown ten meters away from the explosion site. The fragments only affect those directly close to the explosion site. Having a small mass and low penetrating ability, the vast majority of fragments are not capable of penetrating the human body. This is the basis of the principle of saving comrades by covering a grenade with your body.

In some films and many illustrations, the F-1 grenade is black, which creates the impression that the black color of the grenade is standard. In fact, the black color means that the grenade is training or is a dummy; combat grenades are painted green.

F1 in computer games

Due to its long history and popularity around the world, the F-1 grenade has become widespread in the gaming industry. In particular, it can be found in the following games.

Fighter training

When hit by grenade fragments, the proportion of chance is high: for example, detonating a grenade in close proximity to a fighter can only stun him; There are also cases where a single fragment of a grenade hit a soldier located in cover at a distance of 70-80 meters from the place where the grenade was detonated.

For recruits, throwing a grenade often presents a psychological problem: based on ideas received from militants, they consider a grenade to be a weapon of monstrous destructive power and experience panic fear, which leads to stupid and absurd actions that can actually pose a threat to their lives. So, for example, they can throw a pin instead of a grenade, but leave the grenade in the trench; drop an activated grenade at your feet and, paralyzed by fear, stand waiting for the explosion instead of running away and lying down. It is also important to observe safety precautions when throwing grenades at winter time: When thrown, a grenade can catch on protruding parts of clothing and fly in a direction dangerous for the fighter, or even roll into his sleeve.

Criminal role

In the 90s, lemon was used along with all types infantry weapons in showdowns of many organized crime groups. There is a known case when in Togliatti, during another gang war, one of the conflicting parties, with the help of four lemons, completely destroyed the other.

Project evaluation

In general, this example of an anti-personnel grenade should be considered successful. The F-1 has stood the test of time, has a simple, reliable design, is technologically advanced and easy to manufacture, and effectively copes with the tasks assigned to this type of weapon. It is natural that the shortcomings of the project flow from its advantages.

Advantages

Due to its simple and reliable design, the F-1 grenade has been in service for about 70 years without significant changes and will probably not be removed from service for a long time. The advantages that ensure such a long service life are as follows:

• A body of natural crushing, from which destructive elements are successfully formed even when the metal jacket is damaged.
• The remote igniter has a relatively simple design and is highly reliable.
• The all-metal monolithic body is easy to manufacture and can be manufactured at almost any industrial enterprise, even non-specialized ones. The body material - steel cast iron - is very cheap.
• The simplicity of the internal design allows, in war conditions, to use any available explosive instead of standard TNT.
• The power of the explosion of this grenade is such that, when thrown into a well, it literally “throws out” all the objects in it, including water.

This property is useful when storming various mines and tunnels of medium diameter: if the enemy, hiding behind a bend, corner or other obstacle at a distance closer than 30 meters from the explosion, is not hit by shrapnel, then he is almost guaranteed to be killed by a sharp pneumatic shock caused by the blast wave. The attacker is prohibited from being in the tunnel, as he himself may get hurt.

Flaws

The disadvantages of this grenade are mainly due to the obsolescence of its design, and not to design flaws. These include:

• The corrugation of the hull, which is generally random in nature, cannot ensure the formation of fragments of a satisfactory shape and their optimal distribution over the mass (the very idea of ​​​​the formation of fragments of a predictable size due to the corrugation of the hull turned out to be incorrect).
• The remote fuse does not lead to an explosion when it hits the target, but fires after some time (this property any remote fuse, and not just UZRG).
• The grenade is relatively heavy, which somewhat reduces the maximum throwing range.

Literature

• Shunkov V.N. Infantry weapons 1939-1945. - Minsk: Harvest, 1999. - 624 p. - ISBN 985-433-803-7

Notes

1. Kommersant Power magazine. No. 47(348) dated November 30, 1999
2. Anatomy of an army. Veremeev Yu. Origin of “limon”
3. Engineering ammunition (explosion of fragments) - razlet-osk.html
4. Very often, when describing this type of ammunition, a distance of 200 m is indicated. Theoretically, grenade fragments can fly to such a distance, but the probability of these fragments hitting the target tends to zero. Most likely, a distance of 200 m refers to the distance at which the observer must be in order to avoid being injured under any circumstances. In reality, we can talk about a more or less guaranteed defeat of a person standing tall at a distance of no more than 5-10 meters. At distances greater than 50 m, human damage is extremely unlikely.
5. Anatomy of an army. Veremeev Yu. Soviet defensive grenade F-1
6. Anti-personnel hand grenade F-1
7. Fragments weighing at least 2 g are considered dangerous. Fragments of a smaller mass, even with high speed, unable to cause any significant damage. Thus, theoretically, one grenade weighing 540 g (explosive charge weight 60 g) under ideal conditions can produce up to 270 fragments with a lethal effect. In reality, the number and mass of fragments fluctuate within very wide limits, and the number of lethal fragments does not exceed 150-200. If a grenade explodes on the ground, the number of lethal fragments is reduced by approximately half, since fragments going into the lower hemisphere do not pose a danger.
8. LCI. Hand grenades.
9. Anatomy of an army. Veremeev Yu. Pomegranate Arithmetic
10. Magazine "Brother". Grenade for military reconnaissance
11. WWII-60. RPG-40 - hand-held anti-tank grenade system. Puzyreva
12. F-1 grenade

Links

The F-1 grenade has French roots and a long history. Under this designation, but in Latin transcription - F-1 - the grenade was put into service French army in 1915

The French F-1 grenade had a percussion fuse. The simplicity and rationality of the design of the grenade body played a role - the grenade was soon adopted for service in Russia. At the same time, the insufficiently reliable and safe to use impact fuse was replaced by a simpler and more reliable remote domestic fervor Koveshnikov's designs.

In 1939, military engineer F.I. Khrameev plant of the People's Commissariat of Defense, based on the model of the French hand fragmentation grenade F-1, developed a sample of the domestic defensive grenade F-1, which was soon put into mass production.

For the F-1 grenade designed by Khrameev, the cast iron body of the grenade was somewhat simplified; it lost the lower window.

The F-1 grenade, like the French F-1 model, is designed to destroy enemy personnel in defensive operations. With her combat use the throwing fighter needed to take cover in a trench or other defensive structures.

Initially, the F-1 grenade used a fuse designed by F.V. Koveshnikov, which was much more reliable and easier to use than the French fuse. The deceleration time of Koveshnikov's fuse was 3.5-4.5 seconds.

In 1941, designers E.M. Viceni and A.A. Poednyakov developed and put into service to replace Koveshnikov's fuse a new, safer and simpler in design fuse for the F-1 hand grenade. In 1942, the new fuse became common for the F-1 and RG-42 hand grenades; it was called UZRG - “unified fuse for hand grenades.” The fuse of the UZRGM type grenade was intended to explode the explosive charge of the grenade. The principle of operation of the mechanism was remote. After World War II, modernized, more reliable UZRGM and UZRGM-2 fuses began to be used on F-1 grenades.

The F-1 grenade consists of a body, a bursting charge and a fuse. The body of the grenade is cast iron, with longitudinal and transverse grooves along which the grenade usually exploded into fragments. In the upper part of the body there was a threaded hole for screwing in the fuse. When storing, transporting and carrying the grenade, a plastic plug was screwed into this hole. The explosive charge filled the body and served to break the grenade into fragments. The body served to connect the parts of the grenade and to hit the enemy with fragments during the explosion. To increase the number of fragments, the surface of the body was made corrugated. When the hull ruptured, it produced 290 large heavy fragments with initial speed expansion is about 730 m/s. At the same time, 38% of the mass of the body was used to form lethal fragments, the rest was simply sprayed. The reduced area of ​​scattering of fragments is 75 - 82 m2.

The fuse consisted of a fuse and an igniting (percussion) mechanism, assembled together in the frame of the fuse. In the walls of the frame there were holes for a safety ball and a safety pin.

The UZRG fuse consisted of an igniter primer, a remote composition and a detonator primer. The ignition mechanism consisted of a firing pin, a mainspring, a safety ball, a safety cap with an outer lever, a cap spring and a safety pin with a ring. The drummer was placed inside the frame. At the bottom, the striker had a firing pin, and on the side there was a semicircular recess for a safety ball. The deceleration time of the UZRG fuse was 3.2-4.2 seconds.

F-1 grenades were stored and transported without fuses, with blank plugs screwed in instead. The ignition mechanism of the fuse was always cocked, the firing pin was cocked, and the mainspring was compressed. The striker was held in the cocked position by a safety pin, which passes through the holes of the frame and striker, and by a safety ball, which with one half entered into the hole of the frame, and the other into the recess of the striker. The ball was held in this position by a safety cap.

To load a grenade you need: unscrew the blank plug, take the fuse and carefully screw it into the grenade hole.

To throw a grenade you need: take a grenade right hand and with your fingers firmly press the outer lever of the safety cap to the grenade body; while holding the lever, pull out the safety pin with your left hand; in this case, the firing pin and the safety cap are released, but the firing pin remains cocked, held by the safety ball; swing and throw a grenade.

The grenade was thrown from behind cover. Grenades were delivered to the troops in wooden boxes. In the box, grenades, handles and fuses were placed separately in metal boxes. There was a knife to open the boxes. The walls and lid of the box were marked, indicating: the number of grenades in the box, their weight, the name of the grenades and fuses, the manufacturer's number, the batch number of the grenades, the year of manufacture and the danger sign. All supplies of grenades and fuses, except for portable ones, were stored in factory closures. Soldiers carried grenades in grenade bags. The fuses were placed in them separately from the grenades, and each fuse had to be wrapped in paper or a clean rag. In tanks (armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery units), grenades and fuses separately from them were placed in bags.

The F-1 grenade was widely used during the Soviet-Finnish military conflict of 1939 - 1940, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, in other wars and military conflicts. During the Great Patriotic War, soldiers affectionately called the F-1 grenade “fenusha” and “limon” because it appearance looks like a lemon. Usually, when conducting assault operations, one soldier had five to ten F-1 grenades. The F-1 grenade was readily used as a trophy and German soldiers, since such defensive grenades were not in service with the Wehrmacht.

The production of F-1 grenades during the war years was carried out at plant No. 254 (since 1942), 230 (Tizpribor"), 53, in the workshops of the Povenetsky shipyard, a mechanical plant and a railway junction in Kandalaksha, the central repair workshops of the NKVD Soroklag, an artel "Primus" (Leningrad), other domestic enterprises.

During the war, many non-core enterprises and organizations were involved in the production of F-1 grenades. By order of the City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on December 28, 1941, production (casting and machining) of F-1 hand grenade cases was organized in the experimental workshops of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. In total, the workshops cast 11,000 cases. 5,000 unprocessed cases were delivered to plant No. 103, 4,800 of them were machined and transferred to the Pyatiletka factory. The order for the production of grenade casings was suspended on the instructions of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).

During the war, Leningrad enterprises mastered the production of a version of the fuse for a grenade using one of the brands of hunting gunpowder instead of special tubular gunpowder. In 1942, tests of such a fuse under the designation “PP-42” for the F-1 grenade were carried out at ANIOP (“Rzhev Test Site”). Grenades with RR-42 fuses were put into mass production only at enterprises in Leningrad. These implementations were temporary. There were other examples of unusual grenade production during the war.

Many inventions and design proposals are associated with the F-1 grenade. In August 1942, a sergeant from Mortar Battalion 284 rifle regiment N.K. Deryabin developed the “flea grenade” project. It was intended to defeat enemy personnel. The composition of the “flea grenade” included: an expelling charge, a firing pin with a striker and a nut, and an F-1 grenade with the fuse removed. The grenade exploded in the air at a height of 10-15 meters. It was proposed to use a grenade with a parachute for mining. But Deryabin's system turned out to be too complicated. According to military experts, the project was not implemented due to lack of practical value.

For training personnel troops in the handling of remote-action hand fragmentation grenades, techniques and rules for throwing them, a training and simulation URG hand grenade weighing 530 g was created, externally similar to the F-1 combat grenade. The URG grenade is equipped with a UZRG fuse simulator.

The F-1 combat grenade is painted green (from khaki to dark green). The training and simulation grenade is painted black with two white (vertical and horizontal) stripes. In addition, it has a hole at the bottom. The fighting fuse has no color. In the training-imitation fuse, the pin ring and the lower part of the pressure lever are painted scarlet. Externally, the grenade has an oval ribbed body made of steel cast iron.

Another training split grenade F-1-A (57-G-7214U) was developed by the Training Instruments Plant No. 1 in January 1940. The grenade had a quarter cutout of the body; instead of an explosive, plaster was poured. It was intended to demonstrate the design of the F-1 combat grenade. The F-1-A grenade was used for a long time for training in the Red and Soviet armies. The F-1 grenade was widely used in military conflicts of the 1940s-1990s in different parts Sveta.

The disadvantages of the F-1 grenade are not so much related to this sample, how many are due to the general obsolescence of this generation. Corrugation of the body, as one of the methods of specified crushing, cannot fully ensure the formation of fragments of a satisfactory shape and the optimal distribution of fragments by mass. The crushing of the hull is largely random. The advantages of a remote fuse include failure-free operation, independent of the impact energy when a grenade falls, and whether it falls on the ground, in snow, in water or in swampy soil. But its drawback is that it cannot ensure an instant detonation of a grenade when it touches the target: the retarder has a specified burning time.

Performance characteristics of F-1 grenades

And the F-1 grenade, as one of the outstanding representatives of the classic type of hand grenades with a solid cast iron body of virtually natural crushing and a simple, reliable remote fuse, cannot compete with modern grenades for the same purpose - both in terms of optimal fragmentation action and versatility of action fuse. All these problems are solved differently at modern technical, scientific and production levels. So, in Russian Army a grenade (defensive hand grenade) was created, largely unified with the RGN grenade (offensive hand grenade). The unified fuse of these grenades has a more complex design: its design combines remote and impact mechanisms. Grenade bodies also have significantly greater fragmentation efficiency.

However, the F-1 grenade has not been removed from service and will probably remain in service for a long time. There is a simple explanation for this: simplicity, cheapness and reliability, as well as time-tested are the most valuable qualities for a weapon. And in a combat situation, it is not always possible to counter these qualities with technical perfection, which requires large production and economic costs.