M228 Fuze Igniter Pressure Measurement

The M67 hand grenade is a traditional pull-pin grenade, widely used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Pulling the pin in the grenade's fuze (the M213) releases the spoon and the hammer, which hits the primer at the top of the fuze body initiating the delay firing train (C70 det). This fuze train is simple and has functioned well and reliably in grenades for decades. Unfortunately, it also has major safety issues. Any unwanted stimulus that causes the primer to function, like fire, initiates the entire fuze train. The large quantities of primary explosive in the detonator can also be detonated by external stimulus with enough energy to function the entire grenade. This report describes the tests that were conducted to measure the pressure generated when the primer was ignited by removing the pin and allowing the striker to impact the primer. This was done with training round fuze, M228, which has same primer and delay element.