Original German WWII Inert Wgr. 39 HE-Frag Bouncing Mortar Round for 8cm Granatwerfer 34 – GrW 34 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic totally genuine High Explosive “Bouncing” fragmentation mortar round, officially known as the Wurf-granate-39 (Throwing Grenade 39 – Wgr. 39), which replaced the similar Wgr.38 developed the year before. These were both fired by the German 8cm Gr.W.34, and were streamlined high explosive anti-personnel fragmentation round. Both types had a finned tail unit which carries the out-shooting cartridge.

Unloaded or dummy grenades, artillery shell casings, and similar devices, which are cut or drilled in an BATF-approved manner so that they cannot be used as ammunition components for destructive devices, are not considered NFA weapons. This example is in total compliance and is NOT AVAILABLE FOR EXPORT.

The Wgr.39 specifically had 400 g of explosives packed inside, and utilized a tiny rocket motor to “bounce” itself off of the ground of a target area by ejecting the nose cap, which is only friction fit. It would then explode in mid-air, spewing the dangerous fragmentation payload about the surrounding area. Unfortunately the “bouncing” or “jumping” types of these grenades proved too expensive to produce, and they were discontinued. This makes this an excellent opportunity to pick up a very rare German WWII mortar round!

8cm Gr.W.34 rounds were all fitted with a quick-acting and very sensitive nose fuse with booster made of alloy. Fuse arms itself by inertia forces once mortar shell left muzzle of the barrel. Until then it is safe. Mortar shell’s body was made of mild steel with bursting charge of T.N.T. inside, thick walls, screw-threaded fuse hole in the head. Mortar’s fin tail unit was designed to receive the out-shooting cartridge charge.

The mortar round is offered in good condition and totally inert. The body retains much of the original paint with visible markings still present. There is scattered areas of oxidation and the nose cap was cleaned, repainted and placed back on top of the body/ The nose cap is no longer secure and will fall off.

The 8 cm Granatwerfer 34 (8 cm GrW 34) was the standard German heavy mortar throughout World War II. It gained a reputation for extreme accuracy and rapid rate of fire, although it was not as effective when being operated by poorly trained crews.

The weapon was of conventional design and broke down into three loads (smooth bore barrel, bipod, baseplate) for transport. Attached to the bipod were a traversing handwheel and a cross-leveling handwheel below the elevating mechanism. A panoramic sight was mounted on the traversing mechanism yoke for fine adjustments. A line on the tube could be used for rough laying.

The 8 cm GrW 34/1 was an adaptation for use in self-propelled mountings. A lightened version with a shorter barrel was put into production as the kurzer 8 cm Granatwerfer 42.

The mortar employed conventional 8 cm 3.5 kg shells (high explosive or smoke) with percussion fuzes. The range could be extended by fitting up to three additional powder charges between the shell tailfins.