I am looking to buy a stick grenade but have little knowledge on the identification of originals, i can spot the Worldwide Arms repros but that is about it, could someone give me a few pointers? There is one on ebay at the moment item# 2238255623 sorry i couldn't cut and paste a link but my computer refused to do it! My thoughts on this one it looks too new to be real, the screw for the base cap looks too clean, but like i said i don't have much idea. Thanks Tim.
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Hi Tim,
I think you might have the wrong item number, here is this item number:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=2238255623
If you would like to find the right item number I will do my best to point out what's wrong with it.
Regards,
Craig. -
Hi Craig, sorry about that, the # is 2258255623. Cheers Tim.Comment
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Hi Tim,
The bad news: Firstly the collar is wrong, the middle part of the collar where you would expect the igniter to be has no reverse thread in it, in fact no thread at all, you wont be able to get an igniter to stay in there. The pull cord is wrong, see photo below for the correct cord. The flange in the can, which is visible when the can is upside down looks brand new, reference the pictures below, but this can has never held any explosive filler. On ordnance you will always find the manufacturer's stamp and year and is always on the top of the can and on the handle. All I see on the handle is a walking fox. The other end of the handle is very shinny, on my M24 it is a very dull grey and looks like it has been blued, like a firearm. The end cap is possibly original, but we only have selective photos to work from, however the end (bottom) of the cap looks too rounded for my liking, the end (corners) is normally perpendicular to the sides of the cap.
The good news: The pull pearl looks original.
When looking for an original, another valued point to look out for is the difference in the collar on the handle, they used to screw the collar to the handle as in this example, however around 1940-1941 they changed this to a crimping method as it eased production. It depends on the manufacturer/stoc levels to determine exactly when this happened. So a screwed in collar on a 42 handle is simply wrong.The ordnance codes should also be valid and reflect the part of the grenade that a like firm is likely to make. For example, evv is a manufacturing code for a furniture maker, which is a code you will find on many M24's (post 1941 as they used to use numbers rather than letters). The code on the can will be from a munitions firm like dol.
There is more to tell, but I think that at least puts this particular one to bed.
Hope this helps.
Craig.Last edited by milsurp; 07-23-2004, 07:46 PM.Comment
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Another.
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Last one.
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Hi Craig, thanks very much for the info, really interesting stuff. Do you know where i could pick up an original from? Where there any good examples at Beltring? Cheers Tim.Comment
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Tim,
no problem. No this year is poor for stick grenades, unless they all disapeared before Wednesday. which is possible with trader-trader deals. I have sent you a PM of where I bought my M43 stick grenade. It is difficult to find a nice example and perhaps expect to pay around £300.00 for a really nice example.
Cheers,
Craig.Comment
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Tim,
This one looks to be genuine, I have bought items from this seller before and although they made a mistake, they were honest enough to rectify it, so I would have no problem dealing with them again. The stick grenade, is only average condition and looks like it has seen some heavy cleaning (wirewool) on the end of the grenade where the pull pearl is.
Cheers,
Craig.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...258629701&rd=1Comment
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