Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I was wondering, how did they select the Wire wrapped No1 MKIII for grenade launching?
If you have one of these are they OK to shoot?

Thanks

strangms

The British Army selected their grenade launching rifles from weapons that were worn, but safe to shoot. The Indian army often used brand new rifles and wire wrapped them for grenade launching.

Generally yes they are. The ones that I have moved through here actually had nice looking bores on them. Not sure of the selection process........maybe something like "Hey Gupta, Hand me a couple of those No.III's off the rack will ya?"

Thanks Guys for your help. I'm looking for a nice shooter No1MKIII, so I had thoughts
about one of these, but think I will hold out for one that's not wrapped.

strangms

I like them for the history.. I have a Brit. a Aussie and one from India..all nice rifles..

welcome to the forum yardbird.post some pics of those rifles when you can.these guys love pics .

pete

yes , welcome yardbird

huh , makes me recall my first yardbirds album - it was a 1964-5 import with questionable credentials , but i did play hell out of that vinyl

the british invasion - at least they spoke our language mostly .....

edit - these are generally a decent rifle to have in the comprehensive collection ,

Did you find some surplus grenades to launch with it!

Beer cans

Coors light cans are the perfect size!

guy had a wire wrap for $200 I saw today

seems launching grenades was a favorite approach in that area of the world

I could think of a few places myself where that seems like a good idea

Some friends and I bought a few of those 10+ years ago. All of indian manufacture, but being clueless (at that time) we only found that out later. Removed the wires because it looked "tacky".
Mine was a lemon. Bolt handle used to flip halfway up with each shot. Cleaned it up and got rid of it. A friend got a nicer one, 1960's manufacture. Very nice bore and it shoots great. He still has it.
So it's pick & choose I'm afraid ...
Brgds, A

Hey Pete got around to taking few pictures..I notice they used finer wire on my 1914 Enfield..That old girl has a few wood chips, but all numbers match and of course still has the mag cut off...

nice looking rifles

The magazine cut off would be especially handy for grenade launching. One could keep ball rounds in reserve in case jumped and load the blanks singley.

The rifles used with the Cup discharger were probably not harmed much by firing grenades, but the old rod grenade could ruin a bore pretty quickly and a bent rod could split the barrel.

The Indian .303 SMLE GL rifles built around the time the 2A rifle was in use were seldom used. They had not developed a GL blank suitable for the 7.62 2A and NATO type grenades didn't fit the discharder, but they had millions of rounds of the old .303 blanks and the old British grenades, so using the .303 rifles for the purpose was most cost effective. As it was most ended up in storage and were never used. Also they didn't have to use EY rifles so they are usually good shooters.