INFO ONLY. NOT FOR SALE. P76-2
The Gammon bomb, officially known as the No. 82 grenade was a British hand grenade used during World War II.
Designed by Capt. R.S. Gammon MC of the 1st Parachute Regiment, the Gammon bomb was developed as a replacement for the temperamental and highly dangerous "sticky bomb" grenade. It consisted of an elasticized stockingette bag made of dark coloured material, a metal cap, and an 'Allways fuze' (the same fuze as found in the No. 69 grenade).
Unlike conventional grenades, the Gammon bomb was flexible in the amount and type of munition that could be delivered to a target. For anti-personnel use, a small amount of plastic explosive (about half a stick), along with shrapnel-like projectiles if available, would be placed in the bag. Against armoured fighting vehicles or other armoured targets, the bag could be filled completely with explosive. In this manner it was possible to make an unusually powerful grenade that could be thrown safely from behind cover.
Using the Gammon bomb was very simple. After filling the stockingette bag with explosive, the screw-off cap was removed and discarded. Removing the screw-off cap revealed a stout linen tape wound around the circumference of the fuze. The linen tape had a curved lead weight on the end. While holding the lead weight in place with one finger (to prevent the linen tape from unwinding prematurely) the grenade was then thrown at the target. When the Gammon grenade was thrown, the weighted linen tape automatically unwrapped in flight, pulling out a retaining pin from the fuze mechanism. Removal of the retaining pin freed a heavy ball-bearing and striker inside the fuze, which were then held back from the percussion cap only by a weak creep spring. In this manner the Allways fuze became armed in flight. Impact with the target gave the heavy ball-bearing a sharp jolt - overcoming the weak resistance of the creep spring - that slammed the striker against the percussion cap. The percussion cap fired directly into the adjacent detonator, which in turn sent a violent shockwave into the main explosive filling contained inside the stockingette bag. Detonation of a Gammon grenade was instantaneous on impact with the target, i.e. there was no time-delay.
Gammon bombs were primarily issued to special forces such as paratroopers who were issued plastic explosive routinely. These units found the Gammon bomb to be particularly useful due to its small size and weight when unfilled, as well as its adaptability.
Gammon bombs were declared obsolete in the early 1950s, at which point all existing stocks were destroyed. Typically, any examples encountered today will be in the form of unexploded ordnance or inert examples held in museum collections.
The "Allways" fuze is an impact-only fuze. The term "Allways" refers to the fact that all of the possible ways in which the grenade could hit a target were guaranteed to trigger detonation. Normally, impact-detonated munitions must hit the target with a particular point of impact (i.e. perpendicular to the fuze mechanism) in order to detonate. In contrast, no matter which way the Gammon grenade hit the target (e.g. landing on its fabric base, or sideways or upside down) it would still explode
