Spotted this....No36 mills - Gibbons style?????

[butterfly]

Hi, I came across this on a listing - a Mills No 36 WW2 dated with a Gibbons type spring??

I thought that the Gibbons grenades were only of WW1 origin, can anyone shed any light on this one?
right or wrong?

http://www.bulldogmilitaria.com/viewphoto.php?shoph=51166&phqu=4

regards Kev

 

[butterfly]

any thoughts at all on this one???
Kev

 

[paul the grenade]

it may be a 23 mk3 with the wrong base plug.

 

[butterfly]

Thanks Paul, have you seen any other examples of the Gibbons with a 23 MkIII body, I think all the ones I have seen in the past have been with the earlier style body. Sorry for being vague but I'm not too clued up in this area.
regards Kev

 

[siegfreid]

It looks all wrong to me but Tom or Dave might have info . The plug is definitely not the right one .

 

[Snufkin]

It looks all wrong to me but Tom or Dave might have info . The plug is definitely not the right one .

No.23 MkIII and No.36 Gibbons spring grenades were produced (attached) although it would appear in far smaller numbers than the commonly encountered 23 MkII.

The grenade in the link has post-1937 holes drilled and possibly a 1941 centre piece (body described as 1941 dated). But, and it's difficult to make out, the body might indeed be a WWI JGW so could be a period Gibbons spring that has been modified with the five holes in early WWII. The centre piece, if it is fitted, could have been added at any time, perhaps by an enthusiast wanting a "complete" grenade.





Tom.

 

[butterfly]

No.23 MkIII and No.36 Gibbons spring grenades were produced (attached) although it would appear in far smaller numbers than the commonly encountered 23 MkII.

The grenade in the link has post-1937 holes drilled and possibly a 1941 centre piece (body described as 1941 dated). But, and it's difficult to make out, the body might indeed be a WWI JGW so could be a period Gibbons spring that has been modified with the five holes in early WWII. The centre piece, if it is fitted, could have been added at any time, perhaps by an enthusiast wanting a "complete" grenade.





Tom.

Thankyou Tom for the above information. I've never come across a Gibbons with the 'later style' body before, so its very interesting to see that they do exist. Appreciate your help

kind regards Kev

 

[Snufkin]

Thankyou Tom for the above information. I've never come across a Gibbons with the 'later style' body before, so its very interesting to see that they do exist. Appreciate your help

kind regards Kev

On close examination of the photo, the casing is not from James Gibbons, Wolverhampton. It's a John Harper, Willenhall (JH over W) and though the seller says it's a 1941 dated body, the 41 marking - just barely visible under the little shield where the lever rests - is actually a mould/pattern identifier. (It's almost inevitable that when a grenade has a number stamped on it that corresponds to a wartime year, the seller assumes it's the year of manufacture.) Nonetheless it is a WWII grenade, not WWI.

The "Gibbons" spring is not as well made as an original. Amongst other things the position of the screw is slightly asymmetric and the material of the spring metal appears thicker than originally used. Therefore a couple of possible explanations of this example are that some unit officer or NCO decided to knock up a Gibbons arrangement on the basis of what served well for training in one war would do so in another; or at some point since an over enthusiastic collector decided to create a Gibbons look-alike.




Tom.