British, WW1, Dated Feb 1916, Hales ‘No. 24 Mk 1’ Rifle Grenade, Inert

In 1908, Frederick Marten Hale patented the rod grenade—a simple rod attached to a specialized grenade, launched from a standard service rifle barrel using a blank cartridge. Despite initial British reluctance, the onset of trench warfare in World War I created a sudden need for rifle grenades. The British government temporarily addressed this by purchasing a rodded variant of the No 2 grenade. By 1915, Hale had developed the No 3, commonly known as the Hales rifle grenade.

The No. 20, a variant of the No. 3, lacks the vane present in the No 3. It comes in two versions, Mk I and II, with the Mk I featuring a solid steel cylinder body akin to the No 3, while the Mk II utilizes a weld-less steel tube with circumferential grooves for fragmentation. The No. 24, essentially a modified No. 20, incorporates a less sensitive percussion cap and refined ammonite to prevent corrosion. The No. 24 has two variants, the Mk I utilizing the No. 20 Mk II’s body, and the Mk II incorporating a cast iron body without external grooves. G.T.L., the renowned Gestener Copying Machine firm, manufactured the housing.