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Testing session - out for adventures

Published on 18. Oct. 2019
Visited 1534x

Last summer we started with rubber prototyping of Stielhandgranate 24! You might ask, why the hell would someone make rubber replicas, when the market is overcrowded by nice wood-metal authentic repros. Well, the answer was hidden in the question. Market is full of nice replicas, nice unusable replicas. 

As you will see on the pictures, there are no performance requirements for current grenades nowadays. They just need to look good. Material is usually thin and light, which is reflected in easy destruction and bad experience with throwing. (You know, there is some physics for long-range throwing based on weight). Even E. M. Remarque wrote in his famous novel, that skilled man could throw grenade for 40-50 meters. But you need a proper tool and proper technique for that. With our training grenades, you can do it. 

 

... it didn't take long and we needed to check our results in the field. We spent two 90minutes sessions in the military training fields.

 

For testing purposes we used:

  1. our steel training grenades (red)
  2. authentic wood-metal replica grenade (zib and other vendors)
  3. our new rubber black grenades

  

 

 

 

 This product arose from a need for good training tools. The best characteristic is the very durable rubber material (tested in forest environment with great results). Durable throwing equipment was missing for a long time in reenactment squads.

 



Common realistic replicas are more-less useful only for display purposes. Existing products does not have proper weight or can be damaged very easily. On the photo below, tested type 2 and 3. Heavier type has better flight characteristics :)

 



Now we can offer rubber replicas in proper size and weight. Even with proper wooden structure on handle. Our grenades have proper dimensions, so they can be easily stocked in grenade racks and boxes.

 
 
 
 
 
Overall results were pretty fine. Our throwing range increased during training, both standing and prone. Each grenade was tested multiple times, together one group made few hundreds throwing tests. 
 
Material results:
  1. For steel grenades it was pretty easy job, however wooden handles had hard times surviving
  2. Nice replicas were easily bonded and deformed in the neck
  3. Rubber grenades survived without any scratches
 
 
 
Thanks for reading our short study. Hopefully you can enjoy our casted grenades with your squad soon.
 
 
 
 
5 piece set: https://www.german-ww2.com/product/training-grenade-sthg24-set-of-5
10 piece set: https://www.german-ww2.com/product/training-grenade-sthg24-set-of-10
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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