“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.
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.
It’s Nerf or Nothin’!