There is one very strange and not too well-known practice: tens and even thousands of F-1 grenades are taken to a remote landfill and burned there for something. Why is this done at all? Is there no other use for such a valuable ammunition? Perhaps there is some kind of corruption involved in all this? In fact, the answer to all these and other similar questions is as simple as possible.
When grenades are taken out into the field and burned in large quantities, this is not corruption at all and not even someone's incomprehensible "self-indulgence", but a compelled and quite natural measure. However, those who still remember the best years of the Soviet army will probably say that such operations today are a terrible waste of taxpayers' money. However, first things first. So, first of all, it is worth understanding that not only grenades are burned at landfills, but, in principle, any explosive ammunition. This is done, of course, in order to utilize the latter.
This is because explosives, like most other things in our world, have a very specific shelf life. For example, domestic F-1 grenades were adopted in 1927. Even during the First World War, grenades were equipped with a very capricious explosive called "trinitrophenol". However, already in the 1920s, the transition to a more stable and reliable "trinitrotoluene" began. Under normal conditions, TNT is stored in the middle climatic zone for up to 50 years. In hot climates, pomegranates are stored much less. If after this period the grenade has not been used, it should be disposed of.
The disposal of ammunition is of two types: natural and landfill. In the first case, ammunition (including explosive) is destroyed by using them in the educational process of soldiers and officers. This is done, of course, before the expiration date. In addition, ammunition can always be sold or donated to “needy” partners in dangerous international business. Although, of course, no one does this today, because the Cold War, as everyone knows, is over (sarcasm). The second way to destroy ammunition is to burn them at the range by teams of sappers.
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With the latter, everything is also not easy. The fact is that simply taking and destroying a mountain of grenades is not very rational. A grenade is a fairly complex device, consisting of a large number of elements, many of which could still be used. Therefore, in a number of countries, including the Soviet Union, the same F-1s were first sent to special warehouses, where trained people were engaged in their disassembly and disposal in order to rationalize.
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Rationalization means separating elements from the ammunition that can be reused or can be recycled. For example, in the already mentioned F-1 there is almost 0.5 kg of cast iron. The stock of 350 thousand grenades weighs about 175 tons. It will not be difficult to calculate how much valuable metal can be obtained from them for recycling in production if recycled. In Soviet times, there were even special research institutes that dealt with the problems of ammunition disposal. Only "universal fuses" were irretrievably burned at landfills, since their utilization for the purpose of rationalization was banally unprofitable from the economic point of view.
If you want to know even more interesting things, we recommend reading about 5 types of weaponsthat are prohibited from using.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/010520/54340/