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No.63 Grenade Question
- Thread starter Brennan
- Start date
paul the grenade
Well-Known Member
it was a very simple gren to use but i think it was for rifle launching only. you pull off the tin cap with the ring pull and lower the gren in to the discharger cup and launch it with the appropriate blank cartridge.
Cheers, Paul.
Cheers, Paul.
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As far as I am aware there was no way of igniting it by hand (short of peeling off two tinplate closing discs etc...). In the absence of the discharger the soldier could probably, as with some smoke generators, fire a blank into it.
In 1941 a design based on the 63 was produced which had a match head igniter for hand use but it did not become a Service tem.
Hm. Well here are the two tidbits that piqued my curiosity.
Looking at Small Arms Training - Volume I, Pamphlet No.13 (1937), in the section 'Employment of grenades' there is a paragraph that says 'Smoke grenades ... should seldom be thrown ...'
As well, in an untitled memo in collection of PRO documents on Smoke Grenades there is this paragraph;
Looking at Small Arms Training - Volume I, Pamphlet No.13 (1937), in the section 'Employment of grenades' there is a paragraph that says 'Smoke grenades ... should seldom be thrown ...'
As well, in an untitled memo in collection of PRO documents on Smoke Grenades there is this paragraph;
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Interesting reference Brennan. The specs will prove it one way or the other. My understanding is that the 1934/5 work, which did produce three hand versions, did not lead to in-Service grenades. The standard wartime design is designated Grenade Rifle No 63 Smoke Mark 1 (there was also a Carbine No 63M version but no designation that included 'hand'). The 1941 work to find a hand version of the 63 sort of suggests that initiating the Service store by hand was at least difficult. Copies of the 1935 and wartime designs are attached.
Porton's 1937 Pattern Lachrymatory Grenade was a lengthened No 63 with hand or rifle capability so the 1935 work wasn't ntirely wasted.
There was a lot work done on the 2.5-inch signal and smoke grenades as a result of the re-adoption of the 2.5-inch cup discharger in (about) 1933 - it is a poorly documented area in my opinion.
Porton's 1937 Pattern Lachrymatory Grenade was a lengthened No 63 with hand or rifle capability so the 1935 work wasn't ntirely wasted.
There was a lot work done on the 2.5-inch signal and smoke grenades as a result of the re-adoption of the 2.5-inch cup discharger in (about) 1933 - it is a poorly documented area in my opinion.
Sorry for the 'thread necromancy'.
Just stumbled across this in a May 1931 report on a trial of different smoke fillings for the older 2-inch grenades:
Just stumbled across this in a May 1931 report on a trial of different smoke fillings for the older 2-inch grenades:
Lighting and throwing by hand.
One of the tin plate discs covering the emission holes was pierced exposing the quick match underneath, this was ignited and the grenade was then thrown. The emission does not remain long from one hole since the heat generated soon melts the other solder retaining the other disc and it falls or is blown off.