this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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Forgotten Weapons

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“Since a regulation size football weighs 14 ounces, it was considered feasible to make a shaped charge grenade within this weight limitation. In addition, most US troops are familiar with throwing footballs,” according to the Army’s test report for the weapon.

So Army researchers simply hollowed out a Nerf football — yes, the foam balls you threw as a child — and placed explosives inside.

Footballs fly through the air because there is an even distribution of weight surrounding the hollow inside of the ball. But 14 ounces of explosives tended to make the trajectory of the Nerf grenade “unpredictable,” according to the test report.

https://www.historynet.com/nerf-football-grenade/

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I don't see the vortex technology on it. Can't get 100yd pass without it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I got tagged in the eye with one of those. Somebody threw it to a pack of us from a ways off, I was in back, and it went right through everybody's hands into my eye. I felt it smoosh into my orbital before bouncing off.

Had a pretty bad black eye for a week.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

It’s Nerf or Nothin’!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Actually... Yeah, that's a really good point.

I had a nerf football as a kid that had fins on the back end - no matter how badly you threw it, the fins would help straighten it out and make it fly a bit better. Something like that would have probably fixed a lot of the "unpredictability" issues with this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Plus the sound is amazing.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Have they tried again? I feel like we could do better with our modern understanding of aerodynamics

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

What's the point though? People are familiar with throwing baseballs too, and those take a lot less room to carry around. Hand grenades are already baseball(ish).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Punt it for maximum distance.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

"See that tank? NERF!" throws ball; blows up tank "Now it's nothin'!"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Shoulda kept at it. Way more potential than a soccer (Futbol) ball.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just put a small nuke inside, then the trajectory doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's exactly what I was thinking of.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Relevant Liberty Prime

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

This looks like a ball from Blood Bowl!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

One thing you really want with a throw explosive is an unpredictable trajectory. It keeps things interesting.