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Grenade No 94 (Energa) Drill

AE501

HONOURED MEMBER RIP
Here is a No 94 Grenade Drill. The only thing different from the real thing is that there is no plug in the tail unit, with a cartridge.

The live .303 cartridge for No 94 is painted black round the base and again round the mouth to distinguish it from the rodded .303 grenade cartridge, which is all black and the '303 cup discharger grenade cartridge which is just painted black round the base. This is British service.

The breakdown shows the Detonator which has FRONT written on it to show the right way to insert it. This is not really necessary because the detonator has a lip which prevents this, but there may just be a determined individual out there.

There is a view down the warhead detonator cavity and one of the tail unit cushioning arrangements for the detonator.

The fuze has the label telling you to withdraw the circlip before firing.

Finally, the grenade has to be inserted headfirst because the tube is shaped inside to stop it going in the other way round.
 

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Not just .303. There were 7.62mm Ballistite cartridges for the SLR Energa launcher as well. That's what the little pouch on the side of '58 Pattern ammunition pouch is for. (Not for one's KFS.) The SLR was much more comfortable to fire than the No.4.

I came across two types of Practice (as opposed to Drill) grenades. The earlier type had a solid nose but the later version a plastic nose-cone filled with chalk that "expoded" on contact. One drew the grenades and boxes of nose-cones separately.
 
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I know that this was used with 7.62mm Gren Dischgr carts. I was based in Hampshire wearing 58 Pattern myself in 1960.
The black case markings used to be quite simple in the pre 1944 British marking system as given for rodded and cup discharger grenades.
The Energa cartridge markings were at least 2 marking systems on from that.
Since then there have been various other cups making it more complicated. I think Lynn's Grenade Recognition book covers the changes.
 
Thanks AE501, Yours is a great round. I have one missing the drill Fuse and Det if anyone has a spare out there.
Cheers
Gary
 
Just a few snippets of information that you might find of interest:

Practice Grenades:

There were three types in British Service (see images). The first had a wooden body and was acquired in about 1948. The Practice Mark 2 (1950s onwards) is an all metal grenade (Black and sometimes marked "Energa Training"). The 'marker' grenade was acquired after the introduction of the 'L notation' and originally six colours were to be made available each being supplied with a grenade having its own L series nomenclature (Grenade, Rifle, Practice Marker, White, L1A1 through to Grenade, Rifle, Practice Marker, Dark Blue, L6A1); procurement sense prevailed and only the L1A1 White Marker grenades were purchased along with separate replaceable coloured marker cones.

Drill Grenade

Early procurements of the Drill Grenade did include an inert .303-inch Grenade Cartridge. I am not sure if the cartridges were issued to the service. The ones I have seen are marked FN 52 with the H7 blackening, in other words they look like the real thing and the possibility of the real thing being mixed up in the classroom needs no further comment.

The notation of the fuze for the Drill Grenade was Fuze, Percussion, DA, Drill, L18A1 (nowadays the nomenclature would start "Drill Fuze" etc).


No94EnergaA.jpgNo94Pracand1948.jpg
 
Not just .303. There were 7.62mm Ballistite cartridges for the SLR Energa launcher as well. That's what the little pouch on the side of '58 Pattern ammunition pouch is for. (Not for one's KFS.) The SLR was much more comfortable to fire than the No.4.

I came across two types of Practice (as opposed to Drill) grenades. The earlier type had a solid nose but the later version a plastic nose-cone filled with chalk that "expoded" on contact. One drew the grenades and boxes of nose-cones separately.
In training 1979 , I was told that the little pouch was for the Energa sighting attachment ....never got to fire one as they had been phased out , with the LAW and MAW taking its place .
 
The nose cones came in different colours so that you could tell who had hit the target and where.
I recall pink, blue and light green as well as the white cone on the extreme right of Bonnex's display.
 
. . . I was told that the little pouch was for the Energa sighting attachment . . .

that's what I heard too, but that this was more often than not (unofficially) used for your KFS, as mentioned above (am sure I also heard it was used to carry SLR Blank Firing Attachment??)... never seen the sighting attachment though.
 
So the grenade launching adaptor is like this, and you can launch both the No.94 and the fin adapted L2 from it.

Based on the date on the stores box it came in (31 July 1991) it looks like they were still on the shelf at the time of the first Gulf War.

Closer inspection of the launcher shows that it was originally manufactured at Enfield in 1953, then appears to have been reworked in 1962, dated on the flip up ladder sight and on the side.

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Your L1A2 Grenade Launcher was made in 1962 (D62).

The Launchers weren't produced until 1959, prior to the L1A2 it was the 'L1A1' Grenade Launcher, it was updated at the same time the L1A3/L1A4 Bayonets were introduced with the recessed Bayonet Catch.

The Grenade Launchers were removed from Army service in the late 60's being replaced by the 66mm LAW, 84 mm MAW, and 40mm Grenade Launchers. A quantity of L1A2 Grenade Launchers were retained in service for use with the Royal Navy for Line Throwing rifles, Although last inspected in 1991, the launcher was awaiting use with the Navy.

That's a lovely arctic setup on the rifle
 
this time WWA has good original ones, they all came from me. I found them in Luxembourg in a depo, all packed in the original crates. still have plenty.

Regards
Ben
 
that's good to hear, thanks :) so which country did these originate from/were these intended for? do you have pictures of the individual containers (they look like simply cardboard tubes with no end caps on WWA site...)?
 
World Wide Arms have these in:

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https://www.worldwidearms.com/product/m642-energa-anti-tank-rifle-practice-grenade-ffe--1358

are these British issue? only stencilling on them seems to be 'PRAC'... I've learned to take the info that WWA gives on it's items with a pinch of salt as it is often (likely deliberately) ambiguous (failing to label replicas as such etc)...

Dan is slightly cheaper on Quickfire Auctions. https://www.quickfireauctions.co.uk...o-94-l1a1-slr-rifle-grenade&auction_id=361456
 
I managed to take some close ups shots of the earlier date on the launcher, thank you for the clarifying on dates in service use.
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Cardboard carry tubes should have end caps, and there was a webbing carrier for two rounds at a time issued.
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D-over-53 is the Enfield Inspectors Marking, applied when the component passes inspection, not a date of manufacture.

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I've got the corrugated steel carrying tube around here somewhere, in which it bolts to other tubes
 
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