VICKERS MK6B's resto

[jdmcm]

Rumor has it that you fellas down under eat prawns not shrimp despite Paul Hogans famous tag line....

John

[colin jones]

John, that is not a rumour! I can confirm that we do in fact eat prawns. Shrimps down here in Aus' are vertically challenged people and by that I don't mean dwarfs I mean people that are too short for their height
I might just add to the record, I don't know many people that throw prawns on the BBQ either. Our usual Barby would generally consist of. Snags (Sausages)
some patties, marinated steak (thinly sliced) onions, potato slices and probably some chicken wings. Oh, of course the missus or myself would do a salad, have a loaf of fresh bread and a big bottle of tomato sauce.

[Mike Cecil]

AHHH! The Great Aussie Barbie .... salivating just thinking about it! Washed down with an ale of choice (no, not Fosters Water ... )

Yes, .303 - I'm an idiot! (That does not need an answer!)

Thanks

Mike

[tankbarrell]

Looks like a .303 blank to me, which is what the dischargers used originally.

[colin jones]

Adrian, you are spot on and thanks for the drawings. They were certainly easy to follow although I did make a few mods for the extractor area so it can in fact fire a blank to ignite a oxy/accet balloon or something similar.

[Bob Carriere]

...... here barbies are dolls and.....and a big bottle of tomato sauce.

What no wine! !!!!!!!

You are just as quick with the replies as you are at machining parts.....

Bob C.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

Looks like a .303 blank to me, which is what the dischargers used originally.

Not quite a blank. It was a ballistite round. Kind of like a blank. I'm actually surprised these square dischargers were used instead of cut down SMLE rifles.

[Lynn Eades]

Bruce , I think it is a blank. (in Colin's pictures) The Ballistite round is plain ended, with no crimp.
The Ballistite round is used to launch a grenade, so quite different with quite a big charge compared to the crimped blank.
To help stop breaking the stock the No1 rifles were wound with wire when used for grenade launching.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Lynn.

Not to deflect Colin’s Thread for too long, you are correct up until about 1944/45 .303 Grenade Launching Rounds.

Prior to that date, sorting out these rounds is a complete PITA, particularly if dealing with spent casings. Brass cases were standard Ball Cartridges with no special Head Stamps, or crimping. Some iterations had fully blackened, or partially blackened cases and were described in great detail in written documentation, but rarely, it seems, were the differences ever deemed important enough to make the rounds readily obvious to the end user in the field, or at sea. Most of the earlier cartridges were a slightly heavier load of standard powder with a small insert of guncotton fore and aft with a lacquered plug and no crimping. Ballistite and Cordite loads did not gain prominence until the 2nd War when Rifle Grenades, Anti-Tank Grenades and Smoke Grenade usage really evolved, along with Line Throwing equipment for the Navy. I think the Cordite loads were a tropical thing where they stood up better in high humidity to Ballistite.

By 1944/45, all Grenade Launching Rounds had been standardized in so far as head stamps and they all bore the letter H, with a following number (1-8 eventually), the rosette crimp was also standardized and the cases were either blackened any of the front third, the rear third, or two small black bands roughly amidships.

It’s amazing it took the bureaucrats 45 years to sort these rounds out properly. Makes one wonder how many poor sods grabbed a blank round by mistake at a critical moment and what the consequences of that mistake must have been.

David

[colin jones]

Well I can't answer exactly what type of round it was but I assume it was a blank as I can see it never had a projectile in it. Bruce, I am glad that we had the square discharge style as it would have been considerably more difficult for me to reproduce the cut down SMLE.
Anyway, they are done except for the cable installation which I will do after I get some more information. Even though they are only replicas they are still quite heavy.