mills grenade colour

[earni74]

can anyone tell me the significance of the colour of this mills grenade,thanks

 

[brummbar]

Hi,I don't think the color has a special meaning.Could be just a thing done by the factory.There are color markings that do have a meaning though : (taken from wiki)

Identification marks​

• A green band around the middle originally indicated an Amatol filling (1915–1920s), while it later indicated a Baratol or Trotyl filling (1920s–1970s).
• A pink band around the middle indicates an Ammonal or Alumatol filling. (Alumatol is defined by the Dictionary of Explosives, pub 1920[10] as "a mixture of ammonium nitrate, TNT and 'a small quantity' of aluminium powder".) A red band around the base plug on the bottom indicated the detonator was already installed and that the grenade was live.
• Three red Xs along each side indicates that it is the waterproofed No.36M model.
• + (taken from 'greatwarforum'): red crosses show it is a live gren suitable for tropical environment and the green band shows it is filled with amatol. A pink band would show it was filled with ammonal or alumatol.If filled with cilferite, no colored band. These are WW1 fillings and later grens were filled with baratol or trotyl which was also marked with a green band.

 

[BMG50]

This green grey colour is sometimes seen on Gibbons grenades. I had a mint one years ago in the same colour..

 

[Millsman]

This green grey colour is sometimes seen on Gibbons grenades. I had a mint one years ago in the same colour..

The Gibbons grenades had a zinc coating which looks blue/grey, but it's not paint.