Grenades No23/no5

[navyman]

I'm sure this question must have arrived many times before this, but can anyone help me to distinguish the difference between the No 23's, and No 5's. There seem to be so many variations in size, shape, fly-off levers, bases and fill plugs, cast marks, etc., I'm, as usually confused.
Any advice very welcome,
Cheers,
navyman.

 

[gothica7]

Hi bud,

base plug is as good as anything as its dated and marked. Also, the 23 had the slotted striker but so did late no 5s.

Andy

 

[Millsman]

Navyman. I've never heard of variations between filler plugs for the 5 and 23. Someone is getting confused with the 36 which does have a larger filler screw.
Main differences are the lever, which was normally the type with a ridge down the middle but I have seen 23's with flat levers too. Base plugs of course and the slotted striker as Andy points out. Skennerton talks of variations to the body casts but over time most people now put those down to different casts made by different makers, trying to follow the original drawings but introducing slight variations, mainly at the shoulders. Cast marks are no indication of grenade type. If so I have Mills No 5 bodies with 6, 8, 9 and various letters cast in them. They are just mould marks.

Hope this helps - John

 

[navyman]

Navyman. I've never heard of variations between filler plugs for the 5 and 23. Someone is getting confused with the 36 which does have a larger filler screw.
Main differences are the lever, which was normally the type with a ridge down the middle but I have seen 23's with flat levers too. Base plugs of course and the slotted striker as Andy points out. Skennerton talks of variations to the body casts but over time most people now put those down to different casts made by different makers, trying to follow the original drawings but introducing slight variations, mainly at the shoulders. Cast marks are no indication of grenade type. If so I have Mills No 5 bodies with 6, 8, 9 and various letters cast in them. They are just mould marks.

Hope this helps - John

Thanks all,
I'm attaching some pics, hoping that they may shed some light on my I/D problems. The sectioned No 23(?) is fused together with corrosion and seems to have a flat lever with just the two edges raised, (top arrow), and flat at the lower end, (bottom arrow).
The next pics show from L-R; No 36 with flat lever. Sectioned No (23/5)?, and a 23 with repro lever,spring,striker, pin, base plug. (it was an error on my part to include filler plug sizes in my last post, sorry about that).
Best regards,
Guy.

 

[gothica7]

Guy,

the cutaway i am sure is a No 5 as it has an early channeled No 5 lever. A flat lever is flat all the way and the pin goes over the top holding the lever down, A channeled lever has holes on the sides through wich the pin goes to hold the lever in position.
Other than that they all look good.

Andy

 

[pointblank0]

Guy,

the cutaway i am sure is a No 5 as it has an early channeled No 5 lever. A flat lever is flat all the way and the pin goes over the top holding the lever down, A channeled lever has holes on the sides through wich the pin goes to hold the lever in position.
Other than that they all look good.

Andy

I agree with Andy. I reckon it's a number 5. The chanelled levers with the pin holes cut into it were soon changed as the levers were not usually interchangeable, so these types would have probably been changed by the time 23s were issued, though it's not unknown for some early 23s to have this type of lever. The 23 repro lever looks really good! How much was that?

 

[navyman]

Andy,
15:00 from 'Dugup', they do very good repro's as well as genuine collectables.
Cheers,
Guy.