Smoke Discharger...Ferret Scout Car

[mkVsten]

Just wondering if someone can point me in the right direction as to which smoke grenade was used in smoke dischargers such as the Ferret Scout car?

As well, was there a change in the projectile between the early 1950's and late 70's, I ask this as the caps for the smoke discharger went from a flat style (early covers) to a more pointy type (later covers). The later would I suspect allow for longer smoke grenades?

The smoke grenades would be fired electrically, can someone explain how they would be loaded, and made ready to fire?

Photo below of one of my Ferrets

Cheers

 

[paul the grenade]

Hi Sten
There was a variety of different smoke grens that could be fired from your ferrets dischargers. heres a common one, the L8A1. they all looked very similar, a short metal body containing the electrical contacts and propeling charge and a soft rubber body that would have contained the smoke composition and a small bursting charge. the grens were simply pushed into the dischargers barrels and would have been fired electrically from inside the vehicle. all the ones ive seen are of a similar length so im not sure why there were different size covers.
Cheers, Paul.

 

[ammocat]

I am not familiar with the Ferret Scout Car, however the family of AVGP's used the same 66mm smoke grenades, the L5 Series and the L8 Series. With regard to the caps, I know that Canada had a least two variants. One was a short flat version and the other was longer and had a slight point to it. We used both versions on the vehicles and as far as I know there was no difference between them. The covers were placed over the smoke discharger barrels like a condom and there purpose was to keep moisture and other debris out of the barrels. If the electrical contacts corroded it could cause the grenades to misfire.

As Paul stated the grenades were just pushed into the barrels and a metal clip would connect to the electrical contact. In the AVGPs, there was a control box with a dial that could be set to fire the left bank, right bank, both banks or be put on safe. Once the dial was set, the push of a button would send an electrical current to the discharger. I have attached a photo showing the base of the L8A1, you can see the pin attached to the clip on the base of the grenade. In this case the pin is an improvised attachment for an ohmmeter for testing the continuity of the grenades prior to issue. The pin within the discharger would be similar.

 

[BLLHRTR]

Hi everyone, i just bought a ferret, and i'm interested in the ordnance they used. Also i would be interested in buying some demilled pieces. Thanks bill

 

[millsbomber]

I Have a Grenade tin that would have gone inside the cabin, i think it held 3 No80 grenades, send me a message if you need one..... Dave

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

Sorry Sten, I've only just picked up on your thread. In the early 1950s through to the 1970s, the smoke grenade that would have been used was the No 80 white phosphorous in conjunction with an electrical igniter (F53 or F103 model igniters if I remember rightly), to propel the grenade from the barrel of the smoke discharger. From the 1980s and possibly also the late 1970s (not sure when it was introduced) there was the L8 red phosphorous grenade as shown by Paul above. The last time I saw one of those we were up to the L8A4 version. The L8's igniter is part of the grenade and as Ammocat says, is liable to corrode if not kept properly packed or protected (and sometimes even if it is - saw lots in Germany in the mid 1980s where the clip contact had turned black / grey and crumbly).