Mills Grenade No 5 Mk 1 Question

[wichitaslumlord]

Can anyone tell me which of the pull rings pictured below is correct. The smaller one is a split ring as would be used for keys. The larger one is a single piece of wire welded together. It also has a copper pin.

I have also included pictures of the base plugs and was wondering if one was more desirable than the other. Any help and/or information would be greatly appreciated. THANKS! Pat

 

[Snufkin]

Pat,

From early February 1916, no more Mills grenades were to be delivered to Filling Stations "unless fitted with larger size rings and brass pins". By larger is meant the nominal 1 1/8" diameter ring rather than the early 3/4" ring. Later on steel replaced brass, as brass pins were found to fail.

Rings of safety pins for No.5 and No.19 grenades to be made with steel wire with a welded joint as an alternative to split rings, was approved late April 1916.

So both the pull rings shown, assuming original items, are appropriate. As to a Vickery's Patents December 1916 base plug on a grenade with the early design of lever, it is quite plausible for a variety of reasons, but bear in mind in many instances Mills grenades have had their base plugs swapped around by previous custodians.



Tom.

 

[Millsman]

Nice Grenades. I agree with Tom about the lever. In my experience the first type lever started to disappear from general use in early 1916, but Tom has told me that some were still being produced in August 1916, probably in a limited way as the lever of course generated another production operation, that of drilling the shoulders and the lever together. A more time consuming process and probably doubled the usage of drills. So yes it is possibly correct but by December 1916 the ridged lever was in standard usage.