Original Austro-Hungarian WWI “Lakos” Pipe Fragmentation Hand Grenade – Inert Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a totally inert BATF complaint deactivated Austro-Hungarian “Lakos” Pipe Hand Grenade, as used during WWI.

Many of the early hand grenades in use during the first few months of the war, across all the combatant nations, were improvised explosive devices, tins full of bits of metal or anything likely to cause damage, often attached to handles for easier throwing.  The Austro-Hungarian Army was no different, and this is one such example: the “Lakos” pipe grenade.

These are named after the man who developed them, Captain Róbert Lakos, pioneer officer of the Royal Hungarian 4th Honvéd Infantry Regiment. The design was relatively simple and easy to manufacture, even with items on hand in the trenches. One would take a pipe or other cylinder, and cut it into a nice size for throwing. Usually 6 – 8 grooves to aid in fragmentation would then be added, and the pipe was then filled with explosives and sometimes shrapnel. The ends were then plugged, sometimes with metal caps, and sometimes just with wood.

As these were mostly improved, the end results varied widely in shape and size. This example has 6 grooves, and measures 6 1/8 inches with a width of 1 5/8 inches. Both ends are plugged with wood, one with a nail attached to it, which can be removed. We have not been able to to determine the ignition method for this grenade, but it most likely was installed on the wood plugged end.

Condition is very good, with some small areas of pitting and a nice finish. Many of these were used in the mountains of the alps, so they often were found long after WWI.

A very nice example of a rare early grenade from the Great war, ready to display!