Here's the rest of the V40 story.
We continued to issue both the M67s and the V40s. Then we had another incident that resulted in the deaths of two soldiers on a grenade range. Winesses said it looked as though the soldier holding the grenade had fumbled it as he was removing the safely clip and pin. The NCO instructor had approached him just before the explosion to see what he had done. Very soon after that it was decided the V40 was a fumble hazard because it was so small that one had to practically let go of it in order to removed the safety clip and pin. It was removed from service and all stocks were destroyed.
If you have one, it is very rare as the grenade was not in service long and hardly any dummies or training grenades were made. I happen to have a V40 training grenade. It is painted a powder blue colour. If yours is painted olive green, look for small holes drilled all the wasy through the body. That's what they did to show the display ones were inert. If you have olive green paint and no holes, look for traces of yellow lettering. The olive green colour means nothing, but yellow lettering means it is filled with high explosive. I think the V40s were filled with Composision B which is a mixture of RDX and TNT. Comp B is very stable but it is still dangerous. I recommend you take appropriate action.
We continued to issue both the M67s and the V40s. Then we had another incident that resulted in the deaths of two soldiers on a grenade range. Winesses said it looked as though the soldier holding the grenade had fumbled it as he was removing the safely clip and pin. The NCO instructor had approached him just before the explosion to see what he had done. Very soon after that it was decided the V40 was a fumble hazard because it was so small that one had to practically let go of it in order to removed the safety clip and pin. It was removed from service and all stocks were destroyed.
If you have one, it is very rare as the grenade was not in service long and hardly any dummies or training grenades were made. I happen to have a V40 training grenade. It is painted a powder blue colour. If yours is painted olive green, look for small holes drilled all the wasy through the body. That's what they did to show the display ones were inert. If you have olive green paint and no holes, look for traces of yellow lettering. The olive green colour means nothing, but yellow lettering means it is filled with high explosive. I think the V40s were filled with Composision B which is a mixture of RDX and TNT. Comp B is very stable but it is still dangerous. I recommend you take appropriate action.
