Stick grenades

[Chino]

I could be mistaken. The picture I remember in my head could simply be showing what the ball bearings look like with the outer casing stripped away.

But you are right, I was thinking about the RUAG pearl.

Sorry.

 

[Chino]

PLA stick grenade, Type 77 (not sure if info accurate)

And Type 82 (again not sure).

 

[KD Walker]

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Curious about stick grenades.

1. Do any countries still use stick grenades - as far as I know China and the Soviet Union were still stick grenade users up till the late 1980's.

2. Is it just a myth or are stick grenades, by virtue of having a handle, able to be thrown much further than other grenades?

The Chinese do. It's a shorter handled version similar the the German WWII versions

 

[Awwal12]

There were at least a couple of books published in the mid-1980's which mentioned that the Soviets were still using a pacticular kind of stick grenade, I forgot the designation. There were even photos. Some early photos taken in Afghanistan showed troops [I think VDV] with stick grenades. As for China, there was a photo in Newsweek that appeared in 1990 or 1991 showing troops throwing stick grenades during a practice session.

Hm... The only kind of stick grenades that might be in any use in 1980s were RKG anti-tank HEAT grenades (where a stick is actually a fuse plus built-in flight stabilizer and other mechanisms). They aren't in any combat use nowadays, but I bet there still is plenty of them in army depots (taking into account that even older weaponry can be find there sometimes).

Do any countries still use stick grenades - as far as I know China and the Soviet Union were still stick grenade users up till the late 1980's.

China is apparently still using it, and these are true stick grenades with a hollow wooden stick, Type 67 and Type 77. At least one can sometimes see Chinese soldiers with modern firearms and stick grenades on some photos. They're being replaced by more modern and effective conventional grenades, though. Also Chinese designers seem to have ceased the development of new stick grenades since 1980s.