Homemade Grenade
| Factions | Weapon | Icon | Classes | Ammo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 VC |
 Homemade Grenade |
 |
Gun Game Zombies |
1 |
| Damage Base | Headshot × | Chest × | Stomach × | Leg × | Arm × | Bayonet | Rifle Grenades | Reload Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Empty | ||||||||
| N/A | ×N/A = N/A | ×N/A = N/A | ×N/A = N/A | ×N/A = N/A | ×N/A = N/A | N/A | N/A | Seconds | Seconds |
| Designation | Weapon Type | Fire Modes | Fire Rate | Bullet Spread ° | Range Modifier | Muzzle Velocity | Projectile weight | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[]] | Grenade | N/A | N/A RPM | N/A° & N/A° ADS | N/A | N/A m/s | N/A g (N/A gr) | 0 kg (N/A lbs) |
| Full name | Caliber | Place of Origin | Date | Manufacturer | Barrel Length | Total Length | Weapon Script Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FN | grenade | vietnam | D8 | ARM | in ( mm) | in ( mm) | weapon_vcgrenade |
Hand Crafted Weapons (also called improvised or craft-built weapons) are firearms and munitions produced outside formal armories and industrial production lines, typically made as one-offs or in small batches by local workshops. They range from extremely crude “pipe gun” style weapons to skilled copies of captured firearms, built using limited tooling and available materials. In Vietnam-era irregular warfare, these weapons could fill urgent gaps when factory-produced arms were scarce or when a locally made weapon was easier to hide, replace, or supply.
DEFINITION & CHARACTERISTICS
Hand crafted weapons are defined less by a single mechanism and more by their origin: they are built by non-standard, small-scale manufacture rather than by official military or commercial production. In guerrilla contexts, they may be intended as temporary weapons until better arms can be captured or supplied, or as role-specific tools for close-range defense, sabotage, and covert use.
- Common traits
- Role: Stopgap armament, covert carry, tunnel/close-range defense, assassination/security, and locally supported “last-ditch” firepower.
- Typical forms: Crude single-shot pistols, handmade copies of captured pistols, improvised shotguns, simple SMG-like builds, and improvised launchers/bomb-throwers (varies by workshop capability).
- Typical cartridges: Often whatever ammunition is locally obtainable (captured stocks, common pistol rounds, or locally available calibers).
- Typical construction: Improvised receivers and barrels (often from pipe/stock), simplified lockwork, and recycled parts; higher-end examples may copy major dimensions of a captured firearm while omitting complex machining.
- Reliability & safety: Frequently limited service life, inconsistent function, and greater risk of malfunctions or unsafe pressures, especially with crude barrels/chambers.
- Identification notes: Tool marks, non-standard markings, crude finishing, mismatched parts, and “close but not exact” geometry compared with factory originals.
- Notable tradeoffs: Local availability and deniability versus lower durability, poorer accuracy/ergonomics, and limited interchangeability of parts.
HISTORY
Improvised and craft-built firearms have appeared wherever irregular forces lack consistent access to factory arms. A U.S. Foreign Science and Technology Center study on “typical foreign unconventional warfare weapons” describes a spectrum ranging from weapons made largely from pipe and scrap, to adapted or partly factory-made arms fitted with homemade stocks and components—often intended to serve only until a better weapon can be obtained. Because these weapons may be built with minimal tooling, designs often prioritize simplicity (single-shot, crude blowback, or simplified lockwork) over longevity.
In the Vietnam War era, locally made weapons existed alongside a much broader mix of imported and captured arms. Vietnam-theater collection notes document crude single-shot pistols associated with tunnel defense, and Australian War Memorial reporting highlights captured munitions that included homemade and improvised grenades—evidence of small-scale local production even when standard weapons were also present. Craft-built examples ranged from very rough “emergency” pistols to more ambitious copies of captured firearms (such as crude 1911-pattern pistols made with limited tooling).
Sources
- https://www.forgottenweapons.com/viet-cong-1911-copy/ Viet Cong 1911 Copy | Forgotten Weapons
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/FSTC_381-5012_Typical_Foreign_Unconventional_Warfare_Weapons_%28U%29.pdf FSTC 381-5012: Typical Foreign Unconventional Warfare Weapons (U) | U.S. Army Materiel Command / FSTC (via Wikimedia Commons)
- https://www.bulletpicker.com/pdf/FSTC-381-4012.pdf FSTC 381-5012 (alternate scan) | Bulletpicker
- https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/photo/homemade-viet-cong-pistol Homemade Viet Cong pistol (tunnel-defense note) | VietnamWar.govt.nz (New Zealand Government)
- https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F03777 A Viet Cong cottage industry (home-made / improvised munitions captured) | Australian War Memorial