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Gibbons grenade parts

BMG50

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Years ago i was given a mint condition Gibbons with 1917 dated No:23 base plug. The spring wasn't marked like some. Unfortuantly back then i didn't know much about Gibbons grenades and sold it on later thinking it was some made up grenade tinkered with, but what i had was a very clean example with its light blue galvanised finish. Now i am in the process of getting another but just the body with the finish. Reading through some of the posts i saw it mentioned that springs were available as a copy. Anyone know where you could get a spring, lever and base plug from, and the thread size of the round headed brass screw that hold the spring.
 
You can find them on ebay as SMLE backsight springs, will need to be cut to size but its what they actually used.

Hope this helps/


Andy.
 
I will keep an eye out for one didnt know they used leaf springs from the SLME. I thought they made their own as some springs were marked Gibbons.
 
Been looking at the body of a Gibbons i acquired and the original finish which is correct is this light blue. Its been said that its zinc or galvanised but this finish even when aged is a dull grey certainly not light blue, its not a paint finish is it?. Not sure what metal finish would give off this blue finish, very curious.
 
DSCN6948.jpg

They were given a light coating of zinc which over the years looks a light grey/pale blue colour. Always hard to see in a photo but very different from a bare cast iron body.
 
Exactly what finish i have but i cant see this on other pre or WW1 zinc or galvanised finishes, they just dull up grey. This finish is like a french light blue, its quite distinctive, must be another process. Shame there was no factory spec documents for finish. As a factory what else did Gibbons make just wondering if this finish is on their other products.
 
Many years ago I went to the IWM to have a look at their grenade collection from WW1 and was taken behind the scenes to have a good look. Dont have any pictures sadly as this was before the advent of cheap digital cameras on mobile phones. There I was shown several Gibbons Spring grenades, one of which was painted white with a No5 brass base plug, cant remember the date and at the time I queried this being a No 5 when they were usually No23 11s.I was then shown a letter or some documentation that stated that this particular grenade had been given to the IWM in 1920. I have about 12 NO 23/11 Gibbons Spring grens in my collection some of which do have traces of white paint on them so they may have all had this colour being Drill training grens. Gibbons did have a contract to produce many 1000s of them for training purposes and the one shown had in fact been turned into a money box so I filled in the slot and painted it white for display purposes. I have always kept all my No 23 grens on gas checks as they fall over too easily. Some in my collection are zinc coated and some dont seem to have it, maybe with use it has either worn or flaked off. I have a No 23 in my collection thats not specifically a Gibbons Spring gren but has been zinc coated and most certainly looks 'blue'. If I can find it easily I will show a picture of it. Some of my Gibbons do actually have the patent no stamped on the spring but most dont, its either worn off with use or never had it in the first place which I suspect was the case.


AndyDSCN8876.jpgDSCN8877.jpg
 
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I saw the tray of gibbons in the archive at the IWM, quite surprised they had that many. Interesting that the training colour of white gies as far back to WW1. Not sure if gibbons were used as training aids during WW2 at the beginning of the war, after all WW1 wasn't that far ago from WW2 21 years, bit like us today using equipment from the year 2000. I am sure they used a certain metal finish for these training grenades. Do you have any spare springs in your spares box, got a gibbons body but missing the bits. My first gibbons years ago sat on a gas check the 23 base is quite unstable.
 
Here are a couple of pics of one of my gren bodies either a No 5 or 23. Got this from Mike Saffrey on ebay, long time ago, Looks like its been zinc coated and it would be very easy to convert it into a Gibbons Spring gren as I believe it was made by Gibbons as it has an H on the back as have many of my Spring grens. You can see it looks a bit 'blue' in places. I used to use it as mt testing gren to make sure all the Mills parts I used to sell fitted properly and Ime sorry I dont have any 'Springs' left, Best way to display 23's is to use a gas check as the Hearn base plugs as you say, do make them Unstable to say the least.DSCN8882.jpgDSCN8883.jpg


Andy.
 
DSCN6949.jpg

Here's a pretty mint Gibbons No. 23 Mk III which has I'm sure, the original finish. It is still grey but has a slight greenish tint. Looks to be a different process to the Gibbons No 23 Mk II Practice grenade, with a thicker coating.

I'm sure Gibbons learnt a lot from coating his grenades as post WW1 he started making metal windows, which were I think zinc coated.
 
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