7.62x51 Blank (possibly Brit)

[falcon5nz]

Hey all.
I have a round of blank 7.62x51. I suspect it to be British as it is blackened approx halfway up the case. The case has been lengthened,It has a short rosette crimp sealed with wax to form a mock bullet. Stamped "FN", "63", "(+)".
I know it's not a lot to go on but the scanner's on the fritz. So, any thought's?

Nick

 

[TonyE]

FN Blank

It is made by Fabrique Nationale in Liege, Belgium, and is not British.

Although the .303 H Mark 7 was a British grenade blank made by FN, the only 7.62mm round FN made on British contract was the training blank L10A1 as shown in my pictures.

Although the half blackening of the case is a British identification mark for grenade blanks, it is also used by FN.

Regards
TonyE

 

[falcon5nz]

Sorry Tony, I should have been clearer. I meant Brit contract/pattern. I realised it was Belgian manufacture.

 

[TonyE]

Blanks

No problem. The only British 7.62 x 51mm grenade blanks were the L1A1 and the L1A2, both of which look identical and have a half black body. See the picture I posted on the previous thread about 7.62mm experimental training blanks.

As I mentioned in that post, there was a British experimental full length grenade blank but it never saw service. I do not know why they wanted one, as the L1 blanks seemd to have worked fine. It may have been because they wanted one that fed from the magazine.

The Australians even went so far as to produce a drill grenade blank for troops to practice manually loading the blanks.

I have seen a number of FN made grenade blanks with the half black body that do not correspond to British patterns and I can only suppose these were made for the Belgian army or for export.

Regards
TonyE