Description: The body is cylindrical with serrations to give uniform fragmentation. This grenade is identical to the typ 91 grenade except that the base of this grenade is solid and therefore cannot take a propelling charge. It can only be used as a hand grenade.

Operation: The firing pin must first be threaded down into the inertia weight. The safety pin must then be withdrawn. As the grenade is to be thrown by hand, it is necessary to strike the inertia weight on some hard object thus driving the firing pin into the primer to ignite the delay train.

Remarks: A type 97 grenade with aluminum body has been recovered.

A gray or black grenade, which strongly resembles and appears to be a forerunner of the type 97 grenade, has also been found. This grenade employs a fuze of black powder rol-led in paper heading directly to the black powder bursting charge. No detonator is used in the firing train. The fuze pocket is threaded to take a mechanical fuze of the same as the fuze used in the standard type 97 grenade.

Figure 170 – Type 97 Hand Grenade.