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Old Government Explosive Categorisation System

Buster

Well-Known Member
Ordnance approved
Premium Member
I am trying to find out what the old Government Explosive Category (GEC) was for incendiary small arms ammunition in any of the following calibres, 303, 7.92, . 50 Browning and .50 Vickers. Or for belts containing incendiary in mixed link. I think it should be GEC 6 Safety Class. Does anyone have any documentation or an original picture of a box with the relevant label.

Thanks in advance.
 
They were all Government Explosive Group (GEG) 6.
Carts SA .303", 7.62mm Ball, Ball/Tracer links/ cloth belts , had a letter 'X' (Safety Distance Category - SDC) stencilled just above the GEG 6 stencil/label.
Carts .50" Ball, Mixed Link or cloth belts and all calibre up to 30mm had a GEG 6 stencil/label, but no SDC. This included mixed Ball, AP, Incendiary and HE belts.
Plates are in ISA and APM Handbook in downloads among others.
 
Thanks for a very helpful reply, can you give me more detail on how I can find the references please?
 
GEG 6 small - 1.jpgGEG 6 Safety Class - 1.jpgGEG 6 - 1.jpg

I must read more carefully. You referred to 'safety class'. What I gave you was a system revised in the 1960s and was in use until the introduction of the orange bursting bomb UN label system was introduced in 1963. The 'safety class' was used in the 40s and 50s system.
The labels/stencils had 'safety class' added to the 6 for the same items as used the 'X'.
You will not find these obsolete label/stencil systems anywhere but in old service publications which are hard to come by but sometimes pop up at military fairs.
Here are examples of labels with dimensions which you could make on a computer.
Stencils were marked on the packages in white.
Go into the ammunition package section of the forum and work your way through the highlighted 'H' packages in the consolidated lists of containers.
 
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