Israeli Mills Bomb?

[Spitace41]

Hi all. I'm wondering if you can help me with this Mills Bomb that recently came from a car boot sale of all places. Initially I thought it was a British practice grenade given the remnants of blue paint. It has been suggested, however that due to the filler plug it is likely to be an Israeli grenade, although I thought they were meant to have been painted white? Also the base plug is a mystery to me. It is flat and the only marking on it is N44. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

 

[corblimy]

Definately looks like an Israeli Mills, the filler hole/plug is right for type. A shame the shoulders have been knocked off, as they were slightly different in shape too.

 

[Spitace41]

Thanks for taking a look. During the bit of research I have done on these grenades, I have seen quite a few in rough condition. I can only assume this was due to being lobbed around as practice grenades. Cheers.

 

[smle2009]

Going out on a limb here as grenades are not my subject....but could the N44 be a U.K.wartime manufactures code? N = North M = Midlands S = South

 

[Millsman]

Yes it's Isreali. You can tell by the longer segments at the base. It's the wrong baseplug, most were marked 44 even though manufacture started late 1940s and went into the early 60's. I'd say this was made to sell the grenade. The filler looks ok. It also looks to be quite old and the paint has long gone. May be an original late 40's example. John

 

[Spitace41]

Ok, thanks for the info. What about the blue paint scheme? I thought that most Israeli Mills bombs were painted white? Cheers.

 

[Millsman]

Probably a later addition. I've seen Isreali grenades painted all colours. Black, Brown, Green, White, Tan and Yellow. Mostly they masquerade as WW2 36's with a green band and three red crosses. I've been offered about 4 of those from people who though they had bought WW2 Mills'. John