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Australian mills grenade

rayozzy

New Member
hello every one
I would like some advice on an Australian made mills bomb No.36 MII Base plug stamped R.B.D 8-40as can be seen in the attached photos it is painted in 3 colours, white around the base then mostly light pale green then a dark green around and over the filler plug. is this how the grenade would have be made or has some one just painted it like this. are the colours specific to anything?
thank you for your help
 

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Hello. I'm not 100% but I thought Australian drill grenades were painted all over as white like the Brit ones. I read somewhere that some Australian drill grenades are bronze painted also.

Looking at you pic, I can make out plenty of white coming through under the greens, and also at the top hole where the striker would be. I'm guessing that the greens are a later paint job. Yours was made as a drill grenade, hence why it has 5 holes drilled in it, and I believe all Mk11s were drill grenades anyway, so would imagine that the base plug is correct. Also, it looks like you have RBD stamped on the grenade body front, but I can't be sure from the pic.
Great grenade though mate
 
Hmm, I just recently got a MII that's not a drill - It's painted green, with no holes & has three red 'X's on..

Cheers,

Gunni

Yeah, I'm sure this has come up on here before. I'm sure one of the Mills experts can help. I was under the impression that a 36Mk2 was a reinforced version of the Mk1, having a much stronger base plug, wider hole and heavy lugs to avoid damaging it when it landed (not much point if you are expecting it to blow up), so specifically for rifle launching training purposes, but I may be wrong.

Could be that someone had screwed a MK2 plug on a Mk1?

Saying that, I'm pretty sure I once had a white drill 36Mk2 with no holes drilled.....

Someone here will know I'm sure.

Cheers,

Rob
 
thank you to all who replyed. yes it has RBD stamped on the grenade. i will attach a photo of the base plug and a top view so you can have a look at that too. it has the striking pin and spring. i have placed an order for a replica leaver spoon from a web sight in the uk but all the rest is origanal. would have prefered an origanal leaver spoon but the replica will have to do untill i can find an origanal.
thanks
raySL270630.jpgSL270636.jpg
 
See that one looks more like bronze and white paint, a colour used as Australian drill variants at some point. I wonder if the green one has just become discoloured?
 
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