No. 69 grenade base plugs

[batonroundcollector]

Just saw and bought a base plug on QFA that includes a 'distance piece' giving a 3-sec delay (assume that this is arming delay rather than detonating delay given that the No. 69 is impact fuzed?)... I had no idea different base plugs existed and looked at the plugs on my No. 69s for comparison, which I found to be the standard ones. How many of these different base plugs were there then, and were a variety issued with the grenades in their crates? Maybe these were an experimental thing? Can't find any other reference to this beyond the QFA listing.

 

[Andysarmoury]

I would have thought the distance piece could be cut to give a good fit when fitting a det as some dets are different in length and as far as I know there was no det cord fitted as it was instantaneous fuze the cap ignited the det. unless someone knows different

 

[batonroundcollector]

Yes I thought no det cord as no delay... I have some repro dets that were made for me in return for an inert genuine one as a pattern, and they seem to fit pretty snugly with standard base plug... could it be that there was an issue with dets not contacting striker properly and these plugs with ‘distance piece’ were made to push det further up centre tube towards striker??

 

[Andysarmoury]

Yes I thought no det cord as no delay... I have some repro dets that were made for me in return for an inert genuine one as a pattern, and they seem to fit pretty snugly with standard base plug... could it be that there was an issue with dets not contacting striker properly and these plugs with ‘distance piece’ were made to push det further up centre tube towards striker??

Yes that sounds more like it, but it would be nice to find some more information on it.