M16A1 Grenade Boxes

[WayOffTrack]

So it appears they must have welded studs to the inside of the rear armor to mount the grenade boxes? This would be an M3A1 made into an M16A1. Also same question for the Thompson box and first aid boxes. Mounted on studs or armor screws with countersunk holes on the outside?

[mfrance]

M16 "fold down armor" had counter sunk holes in plates to hold all wall grenade boxs
Thompson box L brackets. etc..
M16a1  were all welded on all thread studs on inside in same locations holding all same accessories . some have spacers

[WayOffTrack]

Thanks for confirming that Mike. I have some M16 armor I think I might be able to use it for a template and lay in on the A1 armor to mark the hole locations.

[WayOffTrack]

I took this photo of an M16A2 a few years ago at Camp Blanding. Did the boxes on the M16 also bolt to the perimeter rail? I drug out my M16 armor. It's repro and I can see it has a few mistakes. For example one side has the holes for the gas tank cover on the rear panel, it appears.

[mfrance]

Yes to the question regarding the m16 and m16a2 boxs bolt attached to rail

M16a1 no as the wall is higher (m3 armor)and boxs are mounted at same height as m16 /m16a2

[WayOffTrack]

Really appreciate the help.

[WayOffTrack]

Just to confirm, the upper mounting holes for the grenade boxes that use the spacer like you can see in this picture were only used on the M16A1 since the M16 had the horizontal lip of the upper flange (with those 3 unfilled holes) mounted to the perimeter rail? I can transfer the lower hole locations from my M16 armor then use the box to locate the upper holes on the M16A1 and drill them and I'm good to go. 

[mfrance]

That picture is from a m16a1
  the upper 3 holes across top of box were never used on m16a1 as perimeter rail is higher up than a m16 /m16a2.
Welded all thread  are on inside wall to hold box (2 top) 1 each corner
(2 bottom ) 1 each corner tab

[WayOffTrack]

Lots of holes, gets confusing lol. I was trying to find the upper grenade box holes on my repro M16 armor but there are none because the upper part of the box mounts to the perimeter rail. If they didn't mount it that way the upper box holes would fall right on the edge of the folding armor.

[WayOffTrack]

This is the M16A1 repro armor I'm in the process of fitting. I'm glad I checked the mounting points for these accessories before I got any further along in the process. I'm going to lay the set of M16 armor on top of the 16A1 armor and trace the storage box and other accessory item mounting holes. I think that will transfer the holes to the correct location, then I'm going to drill them rather than weld on studs.

My back wall is original ww2 and I can't mount the ration boxes I finally acquired, no holes. It's always something. I'm only installing the two upper guns and one spacer ring. Hey its an M13A1.

[mfrance]

excellent work .   friendly reminder left and right grenade box's are 2 different  sizes    1 box is for smoke grenades /  1 box is for frag grenades

[WayOffTrack]

Thanks for that reminder I don't want to make any mistakes. This is the drivers side rear panel. All the holes for the angle from the flat track armor to the side armor are the same so I can locate all these bracket holes and they will be the same distance off the floor (as the M16) in exactly the right spots. Thanks for all the help.

[brit plumber]

excellent work .   friendly reminder left and right grenade box's are 2 different  sizes    1 box is for smoke grenades /  1 box is for frag grenades

I know someone who made that mistake…..