[Mike Cecil]

I've been away for a week or so, enjoying Southern hospitality in Georgia, specifically at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, and with friends in Alpharetta. A lot warmer in Georgia at the moment compared to Spokane!

Anyway, back to the business at hand ....

Barry Temple's excellent trilogy on the .303 British Service Cartridge, Volume 2, lists 14 different rifle grenade cartridges, 8 use Cordite as the propellant, the others Ballistite (indicated by a z in the nomenclature). The earliest listed dates from March 1915, and the latest, the H Mk.7z, from the 1950s. All except the H Mk.7z have open necks closed with a variety of stoppers such as tallow, fibreboard, shellac and so on. The H Mk.7z had a crimped (closed) neck in similar fashion to the .303 Blank.

I tried to sort out which cartridge went with which grenade(s), but Landers, Bonney and Oakley's otherwise authoritative grenade book frustratingly just states 'suitable [I]blank[I] cartridge' as the propelling agent! (my italics - as Tony has pointed out, the .303 blank does not have the power to project the grenade far enough - a proper rifle grenade cartridge must be used. I'll have to rib Garry Oakley about that next time I see him!).

In March 1935, the H Mk.1z C was introduced, which is the right vintage for use in the projectors on the side of the Vickers. It was superseded in November 1939 by an improved version, the H Mk.1z L.

Edit: I've just had a look at the Matilda handbook, the Matilda having a 'Discharger, Smoke Generator, 4 inch No.2 Mk.1 on the turret side, which I'm assuming is the same type as that on the Vickers - they certainly look the same. The projector fired a Generator, Smoke, No.8 Mk.2/L or 3/L which was propelled by a Cartridge, Rifle Grenade, .303 in, H Mk.1z. A box of cartridges was stowed in the Matilda turret, and eight spare smoke generators were stowed on the turret turntable. Colin: in the absence of a stowage list/diagram, have you detected any stowage mountings in the Vickers that look like they might house spare 4 inch smoke generators?

Great job on the details, Colin, as always!

Mike