DEACTIVATED INERT. WW1, French Made Italian Model Besozzi Cast Iron Hand Grenade. Sn - 15539 DEACTIVATED INERT. WW1, French Made Italian Model Besozzi Cast Iron Hand Grenade. Sn - 15539 Other Ammunition

DEACTIVATED INERT. This is an early WW! French manufacture of the Italian Brevettato cast iron hand grenade that was produced in the early stages of WW1. The license to manufacture the hand grenade was given to the French by the Italians in 1915 when Italy entered WW1. The grenade is one of the first to have a modern easily held shape but the fuse was still a primitive safety fuse with a phosphorated head which needed to bu rubbed on a friction surface to light the fuse. The grenade consists of two cast iron hemispheres screwed together with a top mounted fuse hole. The French manufactured version differs from the Italian made on in that the fuse has a side exit on the French grenade which this one has and the Italian version has a top fuse entry. A length of safety fuse and detonator was inserted into the top if the grenade with a phosphorated head which was struck on a rough surface or lit by a match. The inside of the top of the grenade still retains its metal detonator and a short piece of the original safety fuse is protruding from the top. The price for this hand grenade includes UK delivery and no licence is required to possess this inert hand grenade in the UK if retained as part of a collection or display. Sn 15539