Need an opinion on the last one..

[Simon]

Top ones built on a Ross action

[Peter Laidler]

ooooops, sorry. Been looking at too much Soviet stuff in the past few years!

[Maple_Leaf_Eh]

I think it might be real, but of Indian manufacture/conversion in 1960s.

If you look closely at the No.5 forestock, you may see a tiny shiney spot. Is this an Ishapore Screw?

However, more to the storyline, I would seriously question the "relic of Arnheim" provenance. Yes the Paras and Glider troops were uniquely equipped, but there are limits to their eccentricities. One former SF supporter I know will tell you that the special forces are more disciplined than casual observers might think. No room for cowboys or free-runners, despite whatever public persona they might try to cultivate. When something happens, it is for a clear and defensible reason.

[Peter Laidler]

Hey Maple Leaf. Don't be toooo harsh..... Maybe there's a tribal village called Arnhem near Ishapore!

But back to the 4" bomb thrower. On the Stokes conversions we had, they had a large diameter threaded section of barrel just behind the bomb cup thinggy with a lock-nut and star washer to lock the lock-nut. This would in effect lock the breech and cup to the bracket on the turret or hull of the tank. I can't see this on the top rifle so am bound to ask how the xxxx it was held against the turret. Definately not by hand as the recoil would be quite, er........., ferocious to put it mildly! I can imagine the flowery language the tank commander might be using to the gunner/bombardier should he accidently discharge that 4" bomb in or anywhere near to the tank while it's not fastened down securely.

Maybe we could have a competition to find the most fitting words.......

[gsimmons]

We're not supposed to use that kind of language, Peter.

[breakeyp]

Warren I have handled a few grenade launching variants out of India, much like the one you show. Based on an Indian Ordnance magazine published late '44 or early '45 (memory?) India was very serious about developing a spigot grenade launcher in late WWII. Britain had gone to the 2inch mortar and phased out the grenade cups and spigots. They returned to the spigot post war with launchers for No.5/No.4 and the SLR. India developed a sheet metal rear sight that fit the stock band and folded up to give a sighting grid like the mecar launchers. I have a No.1 MkV set up this way. I can't tell from the photo if the handguard band has a hole in it for the folding sight. Any way I would not say no but would like to examine it first hand. One thing I did note was Indian spigots seem to have different rib widths and spacing. The other two appear to be right as well. I have the top shown cup from Springfield Sporters. They came in from Indian tanks with a stamped steel martini action. BATF made them destroy the martinis as they were considered destructive devices. Best, p.

[gsimmons]

Like this one, Warren?
Attachment 46880Attachment 46881Attachment 46882

[Beerhunter]

Attachment 46883
This is what the barrel extension looked like when it was still in one piece. Note the sight.

Please excuse the spelling on the label.

[Peter Laidler]

We had to return all the No4 grenade launchers like the one shown above to Ordnance when the L1A1 rifle version came on stream. But the leather pouch part was retained for the L1A1 launcher. That's presumably the reason that the No4 launchers are quite common but the pouches are hard to find. There were zillions of the old redundant No4 type launchers in the Armourers shops and QM's for years as nobody ever seemed to return stuff! After all, if they were going to dispose of it, we might as well do it locally! I seem to remember that there were two types of launcher for the No4 and we could only get the spare folding sight part for one type.

In Malaya we had a No5 type......... What a complicated contraption it was. Double jointed clamp and....... and....... No tanks there and very little armour!

[Mk VII]

The top two I have no trouble with. Several early [1939] tanks had these on the outside for smoke discharge, as seen here on this Light Tank Mk.VIB in the desert.