INERT DEACTIVATED. Rare WW2, Home Guard, Quarter Sectioned Instructional, 1941 Dated, British No.68 AT (Anti Tank) HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) Fin Stabilised Hollow Charged Rifle Grenade. Sn - 21304 INERT DEACTIVATED. Rare WW2, Home Guard, Quarter Sectioned Instructional, 1941 Dated, British No.68 AT (Anti Tank) HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) Fin Stabilised Hollow Charged Rifle Grenade. Sn - 21304 Other Ammunition

INERT DEACTIVATED. The grenade, Rifle No. 68 /AT was a British anti-tank rifle grenade used during WW2.The No. 68 was an early form of shaped charge grenade, and has some claim to have been the first High Explosive, Anti-Tank (HEAT) device in use. The design of the warhead was simple and was capable of penetrating 52mm (2 inches) of armour in 1940. The fuse of the grenade was armed by removing a pin in the tail which prevented the firing pin from flying forward. The grenade was launched from a rifle cup. The four fins gave it some stability in the air and, provided the grenade hit the target at the proper angle (90 degrees), the charge would be effective. Detonation occurred on impact, when a striker in the tail of the grenade overcame the resistance of a creep spring and was thrown forward into a stab detonator. The grenade is fired from the rifle via a No. 1 Mk.1 rifle bomb discharger cup that fits at the muzzle end of the rifle. This is a rare original British home Guard instructional WW2 HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) hollow charged No. 68 MK III AT rifle grenade with a quarter section taken out to reveal the grenades inner workings. The grenade is made of die cast alloy with a steel screw on nose cap with a brass washer. The steel gas check is stamped REVO 1941 (1941 date) with a crowfoot in a diamond and is secured to the rear by a brass screw. One of the fins of the tail unit has been removed to reveal the firing pin and creep spring assembly. Two of the other fins have cast into them 68 AT III 1941 (1941 date) and a makers monogram BDC. The grenades firing pin assembly is complete and the explosive contents are simulated with a painted inert filling. This filling has an inert.410 brass cartridge case in it above the firing pin. The 68 anti-tank rifle grenade was displaced later in WW2 by improved weapons including the PIAT and other weapons. There is a contemporary photograph shows a member of the Home Guard with a rifle equipped to fire a No68 anti-tank grenade at Dorking, 3 August 1942. See ‘GRENADE’ British & Commonwealth Hand & Rifle Grenades, pages 151 – 154 by Rick Landers. The price includes UK delivery and no licence is required to possess this inert grenade in the UK if retained as part of a collection or display. Sn 21304