RFI NoI Mk3 in grease.

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, you've missed the point Rob. If the grenade explodes in the cup - and it has happened on many occasions I can tell you - the gas pressure that will migrate into the barrel could lead to it bursting. The wire binding is simply to protect the firers hands and not protect the rifle.

I won't go into how the matallurgy of wire binding works, but it is simply another layer of tightly wrapped protection. Think this way. Written off rifle = cheap. Crunchies hands and face shredded = expense

Incidentally, the cup used on the rifle is fitted to THAT rifle in a special way. This is to ensure that the recoil during blast-off is taken down the BARREL ALONE and definately NOT onto the nose cap and then down the fore-end. Not a lot of people know that there's a special instruction about this matter

Added a bit later
I should have started this answer with '........That's a good question Rob and one that took a bit of thought too...........'

Incidentally, I put up somewhere a couple of instances where grenades have exploded in the cups. Not a pretty sight. There was an instruction for firers that should the grenade accidentally 'pop' or ignite while in the cup, through mistake or by a fault in the grenade, the rifle should be laid down, pointing in the direction of discharge, step back several feet and lay down too! I would have added an afterthought that '......make sure afterwards that the firer cleans his lower half thoroughly with toilet paper and warm soapy water.....'