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No. 68 grenade types - mystery one or not maybe

M

morsey

Member
I have obtained a grenade, No. 68 A.T. III VEC. Presumably made by Vickers Engineering Company but I stand corrected on that detail. The disc that is retained by the cap, which is usually brass, is, in this case, steel. There is not a sign of any paint ever having been applied to the outside surfaces. The main point of my post is that the Gas Check Plate, which is usually held in place with a set screw, on this one is held in place by the rear fin casting. It would appear that a round boss is cast in the middle of the fins, the GCP is placed over it and the Mazak material rivetted over as per the pic.
68x.jpg I have not seen this type of assembly before but having said that quite often the rear face of the GCP is not the detail shown! Was this a cheaper assembly method for later in the war for display training samples, or was it a cheaper method early in the war that they found to be less than successful and then went to a set screw fixing? I know a some stage they had integrally cast fins and GCP's.
Finally at thi spoint, does anyone know what the correct markings are on a No.68 grenade ammo box. I have the correct one but no markings?
 
No68boxP59 stencilling.jpgNo 68 Grenade Box B.jpgNo 68 Grenade Box A.jpg

There is nothing unusual about the rivet. It was one of the options for the No 68 Mk III. Photos show two sides of the box plus stencilling info.
 
Close, V.E.C. - Is in fact Villiers Engineeering Company, Birmingham. The same company responsible for all those two stroke engines that powered almost all the old British motorcycles.

TimG
 
thank you - villiers was not on my list of manufacturers but is now. is there a difinative list of these manufacturers or is that too much to ask?
 
Further to my earlier thread, what does the firing cartridge container look like that is carried in the ammo box along with 17 No. 68 grenades? - any help would be greatfully recieved.
 
morsey said:
Further to my earlier thread, what does the firing cartridge container look like that is carried in the ammo box along with 17 No. 68 grenades? - any help would be greatfully recieved.
Click to expand...

Hi Morsey,
The cart is the std .303 Balestite cartridge. Don't have a pic to hand but there are plenty on the net.

Cheers
Hangarman
 
Hi hangarman,
thank you for that, i managed to pick up some 1942 blanks that WEREN'T H Mk 1Z's. My question really was what was the container that they were stored in inside the ammo box cos they wouldn't just be rolling around. were they in the cardboard boxes? in a specific tin like the No. 36 fuzes?
regards morsey
 
17 Grenades and 20 Carts in a rectangular metal tin, in the same anmmo box. Tin had paper label with manf. details etc. Sorry, no pic of tin at the moment.
 
Some times the tins come up at cartridge collectors meetings, i have seen very few at Militaria shows over many years, that's the only insert for the tins i have ever seen and i dug that one up from a home guard range dump, its also used for the Hawkins igniter tins,,,,, Dave
 
sadly my local home guard training range now has 300 houses built on it. but at least i know what to look for for both items.
 
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