No, it has to spin a certain number of times and a certain speed. It’s a safety feature to prevent injury if you hit something close to you when you shoot it. Basically the grenade has to rotate fast and travel far (~100 meters) in order to arm and then hit something to detonate.
Sure, but the centrifugal fuze accomplishes the same safety feature. It can only be armed when it is launched. Setback fuzes use the force of the launch to arm the fuze instead of the spin imparted from the rifling but effectively they’re the same. I’d imagine they found it’s safe enough as is and doesn’t need the added cost of a second fuze.
I don’t know how it is in practice, but conceptually clearing a jam in a 40mm grenade thrower sounds nerve-wracking.
Nah, not nerve wracking at all. Grenade rounds don’t explode without rotating a bunch of times first (this happens when you fire the round).
So if one were to get loose and roll your way you get the fuck out?
Nah, you just have to make sure it doesn’t roll more than three times. But if you roll it back the other way, it undoes it.
No, it has to spin a certain number of times and a certain speed. It’s a safety feature to prevent injury if you hit something close to you when you shoot it. Basically the grenade has to rotate fast and travel far (~100 meters) in order to arm and then hit something to detonate.
Thanks!
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Possibly but why would they? The centrifugal fuze is sufficient.
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Sure, but the centrifugal fuze accomplishes the same safety feature. It can only be armed when it is launched. Setback fuzes use the force of the launch to arm the fuze instead of the spin imparted from the rifling but effectively they’re the same. I’d imagine they found it’s safe enough as is and doesn’t need the added cost of a second fuze.
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Well you learn something new everyday. To be fair I might have learned it ~20 years ago and just forgotten it but interesting nonetheless.