British army gunnery range - September 17th 2011

[Steve T]

Hi all

Well, after the day digging at the British army dump, I wanted to get back to my first love, metal detecting for relics. Best place for this is my favorite site, an old army gunnery range on the coast.

The ground here is great to dig as it is basically sand covered in 2-4 inches of organic matter from the trees that now cover the range. The range itself was used from 1942 until 1945 and is jammed with relics. Most of these relics are cartridge cases but I don't mind at all !! I love digging them all the same.

On previous visits I've recovered a few 45cal cartridges but never a 30cal. Normally I find shed loads of 303s, a few 9mms, the odd 45 here and there and lots of grenade and mortar bits. On this visit I went to a different area of the range and was glad I did

Everything from a 3 hour visit to the range, shown before cleaning..



And now after cleaning..........



Odd bits first. A 1919 dated penny, a few bullets, bits of nade and a top filler nut from a mills.



Just a couple of 303s



Example of some of the headstamps. All are WW2 dated from various manufacturers.



One solitary 30cal. Dated 1942. Only the British army trained at this range along with some homeguard so this 30 is probably from them, using P17s or similar.



9mm carts, all WW2 dated



Considering I find one or two 45s on a normal visit, I was surprised at how many I got on this relatively short trip. I can only assume someone was letting loose with a Thompson or similar weapon, given that all these were found in a very small area.



Now the best finds of the day. One 20mm and 5 50cals. If you've seen my threads on this range before you'll remember that, not only did the army use the range, but the airforce also used it to practice ground strafing. These are a result of that strafing.



Headstamps on the 50s



And the 20mm.....



And that's it. Ok..............so it is 'only' cartridges but I had a good time detecting them and digging them and they'll make a fine addition to my display. You can never have too many WW2 dated carts !!!



Steve T

[Paul B]

A couple of classic examples of Bren firing pin and ejector impressions in that headstamp photo Steve.

[davejb]

Well you certainly are a head stamp case Steve, lol get it, head case , head stamp case, well i thought it was funny

[Whitehunter]

Good job with the clean up!!

[Steve T]

Thanks all

PB - Yep......which is why I included them in the shot

Steve T