WW2 Gunnery range - Quick 1.5 hour trip - Nov 2010

[Steve T]

HI all

Had an opportunity to visit one of the gunnery ranges I know of at the weekend, whilst staying at my mothers 'place by the sea'. It was a spur of the moment trip, having been woken up at 6.30am by my lovely daughter, and with nothing planned until 10am, scooted off to the site. I had taken my MD just in case of such an opportunity presenting itself !

The range I was at I had told my older brother about a few years back and taken him there once. He was using a cheap MD from Maplins but it worked just fine and he found as much as I did. He has since visited the site on numerous occasions and, on the last two occasions found NOTHING at ALL and blamed me for 'clearing the place out'. This would be difficult given the range is a good 4 or 5 square miles.

So I went with a certain amount of unease, worried that the site was indeed 'cleared out'.

It soon became obvious it wasn't and I just think my brother is either;

a) Crap at metal detecting

b) Has no patience and just wanders off randomly

c) Hasn't put batteries in his MD

I was there for an hour and a half. Not very long at all for this site as I would normally spend 5 or 6 hours there.

As you can see, the place is FAR from empty !!



More than 50 cartridges in 1.5hrs and some other bits.



I found this funny item and decided to keep it just in case as it reminded me of something I'd seen. Maybe from an MG mount or Mortar mount ? Not sure but could be something. Threaded at one end with an eyelet at the other.



Main find was usual for this site. A bucket full of 303's.



All dated prior to 1943. Here are some examples of the HS for you.

DAC - Dominion Arsenal Quebec.
GB - Greenwood and Batley, Leeds
WRA - Winchester Repeating Arms Co, Conneticut, USA
K2 - Kynoch (ICI), Standish, Wigan
RL - Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal

VII is the mark of cartridge. Numbers are the date. Interesting to have a 1932 cartridge. It had been in storage for quite some time !

Also of note is the nomenclature of the date, being both two and four digit. There is a theory that they denoted separate supplies to the RAF and Army but this site keeps disproving this theory as I find both 2 and 4 digit codes in the same hole, let alone at the same range !



A couple of .45 and 9mm carts.



And lastly some bits of the internal column from a No. 36 grenade, along with a nice base nut.



Close up of the base nut. 1941 dated.



And that was it.

So much for the place being 'cleared'. I am at a loss to explain my brother's lack of finds on his previous two visits, but have taken the opportunity to send him a link to this page so I can gloat on the phone later.

Cheers

Steve T

[m3bobby]

Very nice Steve, I've not had chance to get to any ranges for a while but I have found a 1917 dated .303 and 2 1970s RG 7.62mm Blanks randomly in a field miles away from the nearest range.

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Hi Steve,

Nice finds for 90mins work, Im amazed at how good the condition of the .303's are this site certainly has potential. I think your brother should try again.
Cheers

LUCKYSTRIKE

[Steve T]

LS - Yeah. The range is in a coastal area and situated very close to the sea, hence the ground is actually sand. This means the carts don't sit in water for 60 years and so they come up very well after a bit of soap and water. I have been going to this site for about 5 years now and always find huge quantities of cartridges, grenade bits and mortar fins. My brother is just hopeless

M3 - Strange where things turn up isn't it

Steve T

[Whitehunter]

Hello,

All the .303's look good. Nice plug aswel

Haha! i rember my friend telling me he took a mate of his on a metal detecting rally and he walked around the field for 3 hours and hadn't even turned the machine on LOL!

[klokhoane]

Nice finds!

cheers,