Original German Pre-WWII 1927 dated M24 Training Stick Grenade by Richard Rinker – Übungshandgranate Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an extremely rare excellent example of a practice training M1924, M24, or Stielhandgranate 24 (“stalk hand grenade”)  German Stick Grenade, often called a “potato masher”. They are officially termed Übungshandgranate, which literally means Exercise Hand Grenade.

This very nice example was recently acquired from a large ordnance collection in the U.S.. The bottom cap unscrews to reveal the original spring loaded interior. The original porcelain bead and pull string are unfortunately missing. It still has traces of the original red paint on the warhead of the grenade, however it was painted with black enamel long ago, so very little is still visible. It does however have maker markings on the handle, which also bears some red paint.

The side of the handle bears manufacturer code RRM, which corresponds to manufacture by Richard Rinker GmbH, Menden, Kreis Iserlohn. The other side of the handle is marked Üb, short for Übungshandgranate. Richard Rinker GmbH was founded in 1910, and was situated in Menden in Iserlohn. It specialized in the production of castings, especially of building hardware made of brass. It was one of the few companies allowed to produce explosives after WWI, and was the original designer of the M24 stick grenade. In the mid-1930s the production was switched to light metals. They were still in production in 1991, manufacturing heaters under the name BAUFA-Werke Richard Rinker GMBH.

During the pre-war period from 1925 to 1935 all years of manufacture were to be coded as well, using a capital letter. This was important to avoid the restrictions placed on Germany after WWI. “M” is the designation used for the year 1927, very early in production. This particular grenade most likely saw years of service before being retired.

Training grenades are nearly impossible to find as by early 1943 production of practice grenades had stopped.