Type 91 (Grenade)

History

The Type 91 was an infantry-grade grenade used by the Japanese Army in the 1930s and 1940s. It has since been widely used in other regional conflicts as well. The series was in service with the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Navy (IJN) from 1931 until the end of World War II in 1945.

In addition, she participated in the Soviet-Japanese border conflict (1932-1939), the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the First Indochina War (1946-1954) and the Korean War (1950-1953).

Designed in 1931, the Type 91 was developed as an improvement over the earlier 1921 Type 10 series (detailed elsewhere on this site). The main concerns are potential damage and safety - qualities that the Model 10 lacks, being able to document some field experience.

The design of the

91 includes a safety shield, a firing pin holder, and a firing pin at the top of its elongated cylindrical shape. The percussion cover is underneath, near the "neck" of the assembly. The segmented body of the grenade contains the explosive charge, fuze assembly and perforated steel disc. An optional accessory on the bottom of the grenade body is a cylindrical part that holds the propellant and another impact cap to allow the grenade to be "fired" from the gun. Internally, the grenade has a base charge of 65 grams of TNT.

The total weight reaches 530 grams.

The Type 91 has unique inherent abilities that can be dropped by infantry, fired with a rifle, or fired using the Type 89 "Grenade Launcher". As a hand-thrown weapon, the grenade has a delay of about seven to eight seconds before the pyrotechnic explosion occurs. The range is only as far as infantry can throw, and the blast radius can somewhat mask the poor accuracy.

When fired from a service rifle, the Type 100 "cup" assembly will be used to provide additional range and precision drive through direct line-of-sight engagement. When fired from the Type 89 grenade launcher (described elsewhere on this page), the weapon will be used more as a light infantry mortar, allowing indirect fire on the spot.

In addition to these three abilities, the Type 91 can also be used as a "booby-traps" weapon in key areas to catch unsuspecting enemies off guarda flexibility that is intentional.

After some time, the useful detonation delay of the Type 91 was found to be too long, and basic measures were taken to reduce it to about 4 seconds. This way, the grenade cannot be picked up by the enemy and thrown back at him.

With this in mind, the 1937 Type 97 grenade was used with the Type 91 series until the last days of the war.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes