Bob's description is correct. That's still how most grenades work. There are other types, but the basic concept hasn't changed much since the classic pineapple grenade.
When I did basic military training in 2003 with the Singapore Armed Forces, the proper procedure after pulling out the safety ring (the pin) was to place the thing on top of the bunker wall so the officer can see you've removed it properly and set it aside.
Then you continue to hold the grenade with both hands behind the bunker wall until given the signal to throw. Yeah, this comes within a couple of seconds, but there's a definite pause. The point is that you remove the safety ring a couple of seconds in advance of when you actually throw it, so you have a moment to aim. You're not supposed to just yank the pin and let fly - if you do it too fast, you'll mess up.
So yeah, holding on to a live grenade is perfectly safe so long as you're applying pressure to the grenade's handle. Without the pin, the whole mechanism would come loose and arm the grenade if that handle was released...but you're fine so long as you keep a grip on the thing. One of the guys in my company actually did throw the safety ring and take cover with a live grenade. He...didn't die.
In any case, even after the safety lever comes off, there's generally a few seconds fuse on the thing before it explodes. We used about 10 seconds. I'm not sure if that's a standard time, or a slightly longer one for training purposes, since we were all horribly incompetent recruits.
-- Acyl
When I did basic military training in 2003 with the Singapore Armed Forces, the proper procedure after pulling out the safety ring (the pin) was to place the thing on top of the bunker wall so the officer can see you've removed it properly and set it aside.
Then you continue to hold the grenade with both hands behind the bunker wall until given the signal to throw. Yeah, this comes within a couple of seconds, but there's a definite pause. The point is that you remove the safety ring a couple of seconds in advance of when you actually throw it, so you have a moment to aim. You're not supposed to just yank the pin and let fly - if you do it too fast, you'll mess up.
So yeah, holding on to a live grenade is perfectly safe so long as you're applying pressure to the grenade's handle. Without the pin, the whole mechanism would come loose and arm the grenade if that handle was released...but you're fine so long as you keep a grip on the thing. One of the guys in my company actually did throw the safety ring and take cover with a live grenade. He...didn't die.
In any case, even after the safety lever comes off, there's generally a few seconds fuse on the thing before it explodes. We used about 10 seconds. I'm not sure if that's a standard time, or a slightly longer one for training purposes, since we were all horribly incompetent recruits.
-- Acyl