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South African Mills 36

Millsman

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Picked this up in Normandy the other day.

Mills 36 that looks to me all South African Body dated 1945 but maker mark unclear (ROF?), correct shape for SA. Base plug looks like NPEW 1945. Lever may have an O mark near the top. Centre piece marked Z 45.

As the main parts look to have been kept together I wondered if the flat metal ring is original. Not seen that style before.

Any views appreciated.

John

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John,

The base plug certainly looks like a heavily filed South African NPEW. Are there any markings on the centre piece in addition to the Z45 - a Union of South Africa acceptance stamp? And what is the thread of the filler plug?

Tom.
 
John,

The base plug certainly looks like a heavily filed South African NPEW. Are there any markings on the centre piece in addition to the Z45 - a Union of South Africa acceptance stamp? And what is the thread of the filler plug?

Tom.

I wire brushed the plug it was unreadable with clag (sorry). Turned out to be softer than I thought it would be.

The filler plug is marked F44 on one half and 0/0 on the other, which seems to fit with the lever.

Can't see any other marking on the base of the centre piece.
 
John,

What is the thread of the filler plug? Or at least can you try a standard British filler plug to see if it fits?




Tom.
 
Thanks, John. I've only handled half a dozen SA No.36 (all from different makers) and the filler plug in all cases used a coarser thread, 9/16 BSF from memory. Seems there is always an exception.
 
One thing that is noticeable is that the brass plug is far softer brass than that used in WW1 grenades. Much lower quality. What do you think the body marking is?
 
The marking on the body is too ill defined for me to make out and I don't recollect seeing similar. If there had been no South African base plug (the EW of NPEW tends to confirm that component being South African) I'd have said the grenade might be of Indian manufacture. I still think that might be the case.



Tom.
 
They certainly share the same body shape. Millsbomber has a Somali sourced 36 on his website. Is that South African?
 
I don't know for certain the source of those 36 copies that are said to come from Somalia, but South Africa is a strong contender. Both the filler plug and base plug are different threads to the usual (both are 1mm pitch metric) so quite possibly 1970s-80s South African.



Tom.
 
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That's all I can find but I'm thinking I once see a Indian ww2 mills with a date there but I cannot conferme that
 
Thanks Andy. This is a bit of a mystery grenade, markings and threads not tying up. John
 
I found this in my collection, i know i had seen the body markings before, the base plug is Indian center tube marked with small Z.


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Dave,

The fragmented body is/was a Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) example, and the base plug looks POF as well.

The grenade shown in the original post is dated 1945 so cannot be POF. I do think it is an Indian body but I can't read the factory monogram.




Tom.
 
Dave,

The fragmented body is/was a Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) example, and the base plug looks POF as well.

The grenade shown in the original post is dated 1945 so cannot be POF. I do think it is an Indian body but I can't read the factory monogram.




Tom.

Thanks Tom

In the first post I said the baseplug looked South African. Can you have another look and see if it might be Indian?

John
 
John,

The base plug is South African - the letters EW give it away. Indian base plugs seem to have been made at the Cossipore Gun and Shell factory from the earliest days of Indian no.36 production, although that's not to say that they were not made elsewhere.




Tom.
 

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