Grenade launcher and wooden bullets

I was perusing YouTube and came across this informative vid from Legacy Collectibles. They have a 1940 Mauser Oberndorf 42 with all of the goodies like a grenade launcher, grenade sight, 3 types of grenades, action cover, wooden bullet cartridges, etc. What I find cool is how the German soldier would fire the wooden bullets to actually hit the grenade primer to launch the grenade. I always wondered how they did that!

https://youtu.be/WiO1qpHfhqs

Grenade launching blanks... there were several varieties of rose petal crimped cases , to taper crimp nosed ( Like 7,62 nato blanks ) , and a few wooden nosed variety cartridges for such. And no - the wooden projo was not what smacked and launched the grenade. Simply put it was the expanding gasses - the wood was just there to feed from mag and hold powder in place.
The pic you show looks to be typical platzpatronen - for training. The grenade blanks came with the grenade and not in 5 rd chargers.

gew98 said:

Grenade launching blanks... there were several varieties of rose petal crimped cases , to taper crimp nosed ( Like 7,62 nato blanks ) , and a few wooden nosed variety cartridges for such. And no - the wooden projo was not what smacked and launched the grenade. Simply put it was the expanding gasses - the wood was just there to feed from mag and hold powder in place.
The pic you show looks to be typical platzpatronen - for training. The grenade blanks came with the grenade and not in 5 rd chargers.

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Nice! Thanks for the corrections

I guess there is a lot of misinformation out there. This website shows the launcher equipment "canvas carry bag" with each bag holding 15 HE grenades, and "internal pockets for three stripper clips holding the special wooden tip launching cartridges". Interesting....

Ross_badger said:

I guess there is a lot of misinformation out there. This website shows the launcher equipment "canvas carry bag" with each bag holding 15 HE grenades, and "internal pockets for three stripper clips holding the special wooden tip launching cartridges". Interesting....

Click to expand...

The only grenades I have seen anywhere came in a two piece cardboard sleeve with a blank cartridge attached to it. The wooden nosed blanks for grenade launching have a truncated cone to a very blunt small ogive shape. The round nosed and pointed wooden bulleted rounds were platzpatronen for training - which is pictured in those chargers.

I thought about interjecting some of the above info, but backed off when I realized that a full explanation would take like 2,000 words. If you want the full story, grab this book. It’s worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Deutsche-Gewehrgranaten-Gewehrgranatgerate-Michael-Heidler/dp/3866190514

Hi, the German launching cartridges were normally packed one to each grenade. But before a battle, the soldier could put the cartridges on stripper clips and store them in the internal pockets of the bags. That would allow a faster reload of the rifle used for grenade launching during battle.

But there were also exceptions: The "Gewehr-Blendgranate" (blinding grenade with liquid filling) was packed 30 pieces in one wooden crate and the 30 cartridges were included packed together in one cardboard box. same with the propaganda grenade: 40 grenades in one crate plus one cardboard box holding 41 cartridges (one spare).

With best wishes
Michael

nirvana said:

If you want the full story, grab this book. It’s worth it.

Click to expand...

WOW, Amazon is expensive!

I only take $69.00 inclusive worldwide shipping

This is a sticker from a cardboard box holding 15 launching cartridges for the Large Anti-Tank Rifle Grenade. The maker is not known (Lieferung unbekannt) but the cartridges are fully useable (vollwertig). This was often done with loose rounds found in empty crates or rounds that were left over after a battle. The package is from later in the war (March 1944).