DEACTIVATED INERT. WW2 1940 Dated, British, DRILL, No.69 I Bakelite Hand Grenade By DLR (Thomas De La Rue London) With All-Ways Weighted Fuse Tape. - O 2070 DEACTIVATED INERT. WW2 1940 Dated, British, DRILL, No.69 I Bakelite Hand Grenade By DLR (Thomas De La Rue London) With All-Ways Weighted Fuse Tape. - O 2070 Other Ammunition

DEACTIVATED INERT. The British No 69 was a hand grenade developed and used during World War II. It was adopted into service due to the need for a grenade with smaller destructive radius than the No 36M Mills grenade. This allowed the thrower to use a grenade even when there was little in the way of defensive cover. In contrast, the much greater destructive radius of the Mills bomb than its throwing range forced users to choose their throwing point carefully, in order to ensure that they would not be wounded by their own grenade. The shell of the No 69 grenade is composed entirely of the hard plastic, Bakelite, which shattered without producing fragments like a metal bodied grenade. Metal fragmenting sleeves were available to increase the grenade's lethality. Using the No 69 bomb was very simple: the screw-off cap was removed and discarded, and the grenade was then thrown. When the grenade was thrown, a linen tape with a curved lead weight on the end automatically unwrapped in flight, freeing a ball-bearing inside the fuse. In this manner the all-ways fuse was armed in flight and the grenade exploded on impact and like the Gammon grenade, which used the same fuse design, it was withdrawn from service soon after the Second World War ended. This is an excellent original WW2, 1940 dated No.69 I DRILL hand grenade. It has the correct Bakelite body with screw off cap and all-ways weighted fuse cord. The grenade retains most of its original white painted finish and is stenciled in black near the base DRILL. The base of the grenade is embossed No.69 I and D.L.R.-40 (No, 69 grenade mark 1, Thomas De La Rue London, 1940 date). the grenade is fitted with a dummy screw out primer holder and a white dummy fuze to practice fuzing the hand grenade. The top of its screw off cap is embossed 247 MK II (No 247 mark 2 allways fuse). The inside of the cap is embossed K36. Under the screw off top is the metal weighted fly of tape. See pages 155 - 157 in ‘GRENADE’ British & Commonwealth Hand & Rifle Grenades by Rick Landers. No licence is required to possess this grenade in the UK if retained as part of a collection or display. Price includes UK delivery. O 2070