WW2 Gunnery range - Birthday visit ! July 27th 2012

[Steve T]

Yes......it was my birthday on the 27th. Obviously the postman is waiting to deliver all my cards from you guys at once so I will probably get them Monday.



To celebrate I visited the recently discovered gunnery range where I have been finding all the mortar fins. Main aim of this visit was to try and pinpoint where the heck they were firing the mortars from. Given the huge volume of nose fuzes and tails I am finding, there MUST be OODLES of the safety caps somewhere on the site. But where ?????

My usual montage of pictures......


Firstly before any cleaning......

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I was driven completely NUTS on this visit by these damned brass rings. I would ignore the detection they give but unfortunately it is exactly the same as detection as a PIAT fuze holder so I 'have' to dig them. These things have got to be off some sort of ordnance but I can't for the life of me work out what ! Any help would be greatly appreciated

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Then we have some cartridges. 303s and 9mm, along with a flare cart and a very strange shell that looks like a shotgun shell but has no rim at all. I don't think it is from a mortar so what's it off ?

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Chunks of nose fuze plus one complete fuze, with the booster still in place, (although obviously not full.....it has gone off, just retained the bottom part of the fuze for once). Also got the first evidence of something bigger being fired at the range......the big hunk of iron with the thread inside.

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Close up of the complete 2 inch nose fuze.

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....and the other end showing the safety tab in the 'fired' position.

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Lots more fins again, some in remarkably good condition.

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Many were marked up.....

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A PIAT fuze holder. Same half as the one I found last trip so still need the other section !

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Quite a few chunks of No36M grenade this visit.

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Close up of the base plugs, all with nice clear WW2 dates

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And lastly, something that I would normally get excited by, but when I found it you'd have thought I'd just found a complete unrusted PIAT !!!! I thought I had, at last, found where they were firing the mortars from but, despite an extensive search of the area where I found this, there were no more. BUGGER !! Oh well....one is great

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Hope you like the finds. Please PM me for my address so you can send me my birthday presents.



Steve T

[Eric Zentner]

Nice finds and happy Birthday Steve

Eric

[jayh]

Nice finds again Steve

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Great Finds again Mate, love the humour. Good find that nose cap Ive been after one for ages at my site and not even had a sniff yet, but like me keep looking we'll hit the jackpot and be swimming in them one day.

Bestist Birthday to you, a great way to spend the day.
TaTa.
LS

[cornishboy]

Happy Birthday Steve Good to see your finds,and they are in great condition .Iv also found those brass ringy thingys too
http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/battle...-range-102585/
Another good start to another good thread
PS has my super huge expensive present not arrived yet? i knew i should have gone recorded delivery

[davejb]

I sent him a nice present but he returned it saying the pink didnt match any of his other clothes, i thought pink crutchless knickers was a good present, but obviously he's changed his colouring fashion

[Jerry B]

A good haul and some of those mortar fins are in excellent condition.

Happy birthday Steve.

[cornishboy]

More importantly, has the kissogram/stripogram arrived yet? hope you like her Steve it took them a while to get a 1940's model,i know you like your relics

[davejb]

More importantly, has the kissogram/stripogram arrived yet? hope you like her Steve it took them a while to get a 1940's model,i know you like your relics

Ah you obviously used "Wrinklies R us" escort agency, specialising in denture removal stripteasing and gumming ear lobes, right up Steves street, plus he can use his MD to locate the replacement hip joints,HEHEHE

[Steve T]

They were crotchless knickers ? I thought they were ear muffs.