Factory No1 MkIII cutaway

[Infanteer]

Went to a small antique show after work today and was very pleased to find this factory made cutaway of a No1 MkIII by Western Electric Co Ltd. The fuze assembly is dated 1915 and the only flaw is that it appears to be missing it's fragmentation ring. I figured that it's rare enough that it's still a decent find. What are the chances of me finding a section of the fragmentation ring to add for display?


My collection 001.jpgMy collection 002.jpgMy collection 005.jpg

[SG500]

Went to a small antique show after work today and was very pleased to find this factory made cutaway of a No1 MkIII by Western Electric Co Ltd. The fuze assembly is dated 1915 and the only flaw is that it appears to be missing it's fragmentation ring. I figured that it's rare enough that it's still a decent find. What are the chances of me finding a section of the fragmentation ring to add for display?


My collection 001.jpgMy collection 002.jpgMy collection 005.jpg

Lovely grenade and good find.
Up until a year ago, before I swapped it, I used to have a much poorer example of one. It too was missing its frag ring and someone had replaced it with a relic one from a no 1 grenade so you may get one like that from somewhere.
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/71948-Grenade-hand-No-1-Mark-III-(instruction)?highlight=Western+Electric
I may be wrong but I THINK the frag ring on these instructional ones isn't segmented? I seriously thought about getting someone to make me a replica, frag ring until a real one came along. Bonnex is your man to advise and I'm sure could supply photos of the frag ring, see also page 15 in "Grenade British and commonwealth hand and rifle grenades" by Landers/Bonney (Bonnex on BOCN) and Oakley, there's a good photo/info of one there plus on the above link.
Dave.

[paul the grenade]

a fantastic find. well done. it shouldn't be hard to make a replacement frag ring.
cheers, paul.

[Bonnex]

Wonderful find. Strikes me in looking at your photos that the frag ring wasn't long separated from the body; I'd recommend trying to track it down if you recorded who you got it from. The WE instructional grenades used a two piece fragmentation collar on all of the examples I have seen (which amounts to about only six!). I will dig out a photo.

[Bonnex]

I notice on the thread mentioned by Dave that my photo of the WE Instructional is still there. Here are a couple of snaps of another No 1 Instructional (bit of TLC required). It is essentially a Mark III (bayonet fitting body) with the one-piece fragmentation collar and a cap which predates the economy engineered version usually found on Service Mk IIIs.


Gren No1 MkIII Ins (hybrid) comp.JPGGren No1 MkIII Ins (hybrid) comp a.JPG

[Gspragge]

Here is the listing for these with cost from the 1915 priced vocabulary of stores.

[Infanteer]

I can certainly manufacture a fragmentation collar on the metal lathe at work in my spare time to make this grenade look more complete. Can someone provide some dimensions so that I get it correct the first try? I would just need outside diameter and width of the collar. Oh, and details on the safety pin would be great too. That shouldn't be too difficult to replicate.

[Bonnex]

No 1 Mk II For Instruction Fragmentation Collar.jpg

Attachment 59265

Hope you can extract some details from these. The collar (and alternative) is for the No 1 Mk II Instructional Grenade and is almost exactly the same as used on the Mk III - the difference is miniscule.

No 1 Mk II For Instruction Fragmentation Collar2.jpg

[Infanteer]

Fantastic! Thanks Bonnex! When I get a chance I'll give it a go and then share the results here.