RRPG Group dig - British Army Dump - July 2011

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 08-02-2011, 12:27 AM

Wow you Guys are so fast at IDing finds, To Paul B and m3Bobby Im thrilled you've identified the sight, it's a superb versatile peice of kit having several different roles. Seeing it mounted on those US halftracks is awesome, I've seen the restored US M16 halftrack quad mounted AA guns in reenactment battles in the UK and its a very impressive set up and to think I have a very small piece of one. I bet it could tell a story or two, if only it could talk.
Hi Andy a great find that picture of the water chest. They're quite early relics dating from late WW1 so its good to see them still in use in the picture which certainly looks WW2 dated. I always like to try to get a period picture of my relics in action, it brings them to life and if/when I display some of my collection in public a photo stood next to the item explains more to the public than many a written word. Happy Hunting...
LUCKYSTRIKE

**Paul B** · 08-02-2011, 01:08 AM

Back to the reflector gunsight...

ACMI = American Cytoscope Makers, Inc.

AMCI were one of the two listed American manufacturers of the RAF MkIII/USN Mk9 reflector gunsight, the other being the Wallenask Optical Company.
US-made MkIII sights carried the AM Stores Code 108B/21, UK-made ones are known to be coded 8B/1588 (MkIIIA)

I think this is part of the 3" Mortar cleaning kit, but I can't find my manual right now.

"Jungle Pattern" soap tin, are the stampings for the date and manufacturer visible?

Your AA spider sight looks very Polsten-y... Link to our old replica HERE.

All the best,
PB

**davejb** · 08-02-2011, 01:16 AM

LS from some of the subject matter ive been reading on the Quad AA , some of these ring sights were field made or adapted, it seems a reletively crude idea to have a wing nut fitting but i reckon theres a chance it could be one of these

**Paul B** · 08-02-2011, 01:35 AM

The ally M16 Signal case base is particularly interesting, as it's an item that was made Limited Standard and then withdrawn from use by the USAAF during WWII:

M16; Signal, Aircraft, Green Star, Blinker.
Diameter: 1.56"
Length: 7.7"

All the best,
PB

**m3bobby** · 08-02-2011, 09:42 AM

LS, the Bayonet scabbard is from the American M1917 rifle bayonet, they are pretty similar to the 1907 patn, except they have a wire ftting for the belt rather than a stud to hold the web frog. Your Bren mk1 combo tool is the Bren Mk2 combo tool, the mk1 had a hammer and various screwdriver blades inside, a bit like a swiss army knife. The ammo spacer looks like it could be to do with the 40mm Bofors gun but I dont know much about the larger guns.

**m3bobby** · 08-02-2011, 09:55 AM

Your browning cleaning rod is a Vickers gun cleaning rod and also used with the Bren. The Lee Enfield part is the from the forstock, its the band at the muzzle end which holds the wood in place. The oil bottles are from the Bren and Vickers gun but were often issued with other weapons like the 2" Mortar.

**Whitehunter** · 08-02-2011, 09:40 PM

Well done with the clean up LS. Did you find any markings on your Vickers cradle. I was told at W&P that there should be markings on the side

john

**m3bobby** · 08-02-2011, 10:22 PM

Markigs should be "CARRIER, BELT BOX, .303 IN, VICKERS MG. MKII" with Crown over GR proofmark

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 08-02-2011, 11:04 PM

Hi Paul,
Thanks mate I think you've got the spider sight ID'd, it certainly looks like the Polsen to me, the taper of the support strengthner on the back is identical to mine as is the mounting plate. Sadly I cannot find any AM type markings on the reflector sight but the info is very interesting. The half of the soap tin (tropical hey

) thats exposed sadly shows no markings, the other half of it is pushed inside and corroded tightly together. I can't separate them to check the inner half which is a shame. Thanks for your hunch that the spiral cleaning rod could be from a 3' mortar, I too thought of this rather rather than a larger calibre gun. I'll look into this to see if I can confirm.
Wow the M16 flare cartridge base is interesting I liked it for the multitude of markings on the base even before you said what it was. There cant be too many of these around if it was withdrawn from use during WW2. I've never seen one before.
Hello M3bobby, Thanks for all the info it's a great help, I'm a little embarrased about all my miss identifications on a couple of items but it was getting late and I was tired as I finished my post (Thats my excuse and Im sticking with it

)
Hi John, Thanks, sadly my cage had a lot of flaky type rust covering it, which came off easily during the clean up but I think any markings that may have exisited (I didn't notice any) would have long gone with this rust. But there's bound to be more in there so hopefully next time we'll find a better preserved one.
All the Best.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**Steve T** · 09-04-2011, 06:50 PM

Hi all

Well, I have been working hard trying to ID the last few bits of unidentified stuff from the dump.

I went to the Victory Show today, met up with Ade and Bryn, had a good poke around the stalls and came home with an MG34/42 50 round drum mag and a nicely stamped German 7.92 ammo tin.

I was taking pictures of lots of things with these bits always at the back of my mind....

RRPG Group dig - British Army Dump - July 2011

I found a huge stack of these things, all welded together with rust. I only took 5 or 6 of each with me as I didn't know what they were. The longer piece was welded to the smaller piece by the remains of the springs that were in the pile.

I was taking a picture of a PIAT when I suddenly swore so loudly that the poor re-enactor guy thought he'd done something to scare me or something.

I looked again and sure enough, there was the part right in front of me.

It's a damn PIAT trigger !!!

The other bits and the springs must be part of the trigger mechanism.

The brown PIAT shown here is a replica so I went on a hunt for an original, hence the picture of the green PIAT. A total MATCH !!!!

I am SOOOO pleased

Cheers

Steve T