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Question WW1 French F1 grenade

dano1917

dano1917

RIP
I have noticed that at least most if not all French WW1 F1 grenades have the threaded plug in the bottom. Question is were any of the WW1 F1's made with the solid bottom?? If so I guess it would have been later in the war. Was curious because I just received an F1 with the solid bottom and "VO" stamped on body. It came with part of the 1916 Bilant automatic fuze. Now I realize the fuze could have been screwed in at any time but just a question I hope someone can answer for me....Dano
 
Hi dan. thats a good question. ive just been looking at all mine and have found these differences (see pic) left to right,
screw in base, solid rounded base, unthreaded hole(practice), lead plug with no slot, solid flat base with dimple.
I asume that like the mills the F1's varied from maker to maker.
Cheers, Paul.
 

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Dano,

I do not have an F-1 in the collection, but some of my documents showa Model 1915 F-1 with a flat base and a plug, while other documents show a Model 1916 with a rounded base and no plug. Can't vouch for the accuracy of any of the documents, but I am sure there is someone out there who can. Bob

F1 Mle 1915.jpgF1 Mle 1916.jpg
 
The ATS grenade with AEM fuze is the one you can find from WWII, I strongly believe all WWI French F1 were with the plug at the base and with a "thinner" body, then sometime between wars the plug was removed, (like with the other grenades with plug from USA and Russia but on these two the change was done later), in the beginning of WWII French soldiers used what they had in stocks, so it is not difficult to find Billiant fuzes in no plug grenades.
 
Hi,

Each end of the F1 is pierced with an opening will demand resulting from manufacturing. The bottom hole is plugged by a screw or a plug lead (French Book)

Cordially
 
Hi Miguel,
Body of my F1 is not restored yet(not to good condition)but I will make tommorow picture of the bottom.
All the best
Simon
 
The reason for my asking in the first place is that every F1 that i've had, and positively knew to be of WW1 manufacture had the threaded base with a screw plug installed. i have had flat based solid bottom ones but did not know positively if they were WW1 or not. In my picture the 2 left hand grenades were found at Verdun hence WW1 and they have the base plugs. The one on right I don't know where it came from. I did come with partial Billant 1916 fuze but that could have been put in at any time. As previously stated every French F! that I positively know to be WW1 has the screw in base plug..... Curiousity I guess...Dano
P.S. Question to Paul: Are all the F1's you pictured WW1 manufacture????????????? DK
 

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Front view F1's

Sure Miguel, No problem. Again the two left hand ones in photo are no foubt WW1 French F1's, the one on right I am not for sure. It does have a partial 1916 Billant automatic fuze but that may have been screwed in at a later date. The ones on left were found at Verdun..............Dano
 

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Right, for this I asked that pic, you can see what I explain in post #4 about "thinner" body, you can see "thinner" or "straight" bodys on left and more rounded WWII or between wars right one.
 
I see what you mean Miguel and I thank you for that clarification. I had suspected this was the case for some time but just did not until now know. Thanks again..Dano
 
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