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Israeli Practice No4 Grenade

spotter

spotter

UBIQUE
Staff member
Premium Member
Israeli practice No4 grenade..(mills no36 style grenade)
Body stamped with star of david
Centre tube marked A
Base plug stamped 44 and marked A on the side
This one is odd in having a blunt striker (well made replacement or for drll grenades ??)

This had been repainted to represent A no36m.The paint scrubbed off easily showing traces of the original white paint and a thin Yellow band .Quick clean up ,and repainted to original white colour with yellow band,From seeing others of these there should be some Hebrew ? script along the bottom ,but the pictures do not show it clearly so have not attempted to do this..The paint is a bit too mint looking but once its fully dried over next couple of days i will lightly distress it with some wire wool and dirt

Before

DSC00101.jpg
 
Re:Israeli Practice Mills Grenade

During cleaning .note white paint and originl yellow band



DSC00103.jpg
 
Re:Israeli Practice Mills Grenade

Painted,,but too new looking for my liking so will distress this a bit once the paint has had couple days to fully harden

DSC00111.jpg
 
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I've just done exactly the same repaint on an Israeli No.4 I got at Beltring.

A question; does anyone know if these were issued / used with a drill detonator?

Thanks,

Mark
 
I think the levers and the strikers are all repro on these grens, hence the flat end, and the No 44 on the base plugs isnt 1944 but 1987 in the Jewish calendar. no way would Israel use a Western dating system. There were so many Mills grens available in 1944 that they wouldnt have needed to have made them anyway and ime sure that the difficulty of making the dets would have caused problems with local Jewish militia at that time. Ime also sure ther letter A is the initial for the word Zinc in Hebrew.

Andy
 
36 base length

I think this may be a seemingly simple question. I notice that base of the Israeli NO4 is a bit longer with somewhat of a stretch in the body at the base (left photo). Right photo is of NO36 MK1 in my collection where the grenade body at the base is not as pronounced. Does this "stretch" in the base signify that it is an Israeli grenade, or are there NO36 Mills with the same stretch. I hope I am accurately describing what i'm after here. I have noticed the stretch base on many Mills and simply wonder if this means that it is Israeli or is it just a mold variation common to the British and Israeli versions. I better stop there because when I read what I just wrote almost sounds like horses__t. I hope it makes some sense............................Dano
 

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Hi Dano,

i think you are right, all the Israeli grens i have seen plus those posted on this forum have that 'stretch' you mention, all being a bit longer and thinner at the base. This is probably a good way of identifying an Israeli No 36 but a lot of Mills from WW1 were of different shapes, i have a quite 'thin' one from that era.

A good question.

Andy
 
gothica7 said:
Hi Dano,

i think you are right, all the Israeli grens i have seen plus those posted on this forum have that 'stretch' you mention, all being a bit longer and thinner at the base. This is probably a good way of identifying an Israeli No 36 but a lot of Mills from WW1 were of different shapes, i have a quite 'thin' one from that era.

A good question.

Andy
Click to expand...
Thanks Andy, I really appreciate the input. It is something that I have wondered about for some time but always seems to elude my mind. When I saw this fine thread it brought it back front and center so I just had to ask. Thanks again........Dano
 
I don't really know grenades well, but I do know Hebrew and IDF stuff decently.
1. Israel uses, and has always used, the western dating system for pretty-much everything non-religious, so there would never be any kind of "'44 = '87" calculation.
2. I seriously doubt that the "A" signifies any Israeli maker or the use of zinc in the construction of the base plug, it doesn't make any sense. I would agree that western parts were added to the body at a later date.
3. I would like to see the Israeli/Hebrew mark on the body, or any other Israeli markings on the grenade.
I had a similar grenade sitting on the shelf in an Israeli armory I ran, never thought to check for any markings!
 
Thanks for everyone's input.

It was purchased for 10 from a European dealer at Beltring who has a large enclosed tent and is in the same spot every year at the end of a row. He had a box of them all painted in British WWII No.36 style, but my one was the only one that had a '44' marked Zinc (?) base plug. The others had a hexagonal one that looked like it was made from machined Aluminum.

10 seems a rather low profit margin to both add repro parts and repaint them?

I can also confirm that the body on my one doesn't seem to have any markings.

Cheers,

Mark
 
I found this thread interesting as I would like to find out more about the one I have, which looks like its the same type.

Mine has WW2 Brit-type markings (red Xs, green band) on a coat of brownish laquer that seems as though it was applied to the bare metal, rather than this being a 're-paint'. Same 44 on baseplug and 'A' also. Lever/pin/filler cap (with Hex key hole) etc have dull grey metal finish. Finish generally shows a rougher quality than British Mills. Can't remember there being a Star of David marking though - Spotter where did you find this mark? I will have to check mine for Star of David but sure its the same.

I bought mine on ebay a few years back, mint, cost me 80-odd though!
 
I dont have this grenade anymore ,but have found a poor quality photo where you can just make out the the upper half of star of david on the front ,note it is partially overpainted
 

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spotter said:
During cleaning .note white paint and originl yellow band



DSC00103.jpg
Click to expand...

just debating whether to 'restore' my example currently in the WW2 Brit style repaint... is there a way of removing just the new (inauthentic) layer of paint to leave the original paint underneath intact, or pretty much so?
 
could do... think I want to restore it to what it is was originally though - prob drill - before some dealer messed with it!
 
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