Maybe many of us have been fooled by the detail of using our teeth to bite and pull out the safety pin of a grenade in action movies. But in reality, is that possible?
Grenades are one of the most important weapons in every war. So far, grenades are still in use and are constantly being improved to increase their damage.
The structure of a grenade consists of a metal shell, a hollow inside and a gunpowder inside. According to Wikipedia, when the safety pin is pulled from the flaming needle to the top of the speculum, the flaming spring springs open, pushing the flaming needle into the fire particle. The flame particle ignites the slow-burning powder, then ignites the grenade’s detonator.
Besides being a mere lethal weapon, grenades are also a symbol of the quick wits and smart handling skills of soldiers in combat.
Pulling out a grenade will require quite a bit of arm force to pull out the pin.
But when put on film, some details, especially how to use grenades, were exaggerated by directors and filmmakers. In many movies, you must have seen glimpses of scenes where the grenade pin was pulled with his teeth and thrown at the enemy. But as it turns out, that’s not entirely true.
First of all, it should be understood that the grenade’s damage range is quite small and you need to use a lot of force to throw it away. There is not too much explosive in a grenade. That means, this weapon can only destroy enemies at close range. Also, you can’t throw the grenade too close or too high. Because the target will have a chance to throw it back where you are.
Then it should be understood that the safety pin of the grenade is often stretched and stretched. This prevents the safety pin from being pulled out accidentally or falling out. During combat, pulling out a grenade will require quite a bit of arm strength to pull out the pin.
Of course, the grenade is designed to ensure that every soldier from the average person to the muscular can pull out the pin easily without too much difficulty. It is estimated that an American M67 grenade will require at least 3-5kg of force to remove the latch. A level of force that is not too difficult, but also not easy to use , unless the person has a very strong jaw and is a qigong practitioner.
In particular, Russian grenades are even more difficult to pull out with teeth. Later, there were grenades with more complex latching mechanisms such as Singapore’s SFG87 that had to be twisted before the pin was withdrawn. Therefore, withdrawing the latch is not as simple as in the movie. Above all, if the hands are still healthy, manually pulling the grenade safety pin is still the most effective in combat.