I think iv found a war time gunnery range
Hi All
I had a half hour search on a beach near work yesterday,but with no luck,(nothing new for me there!).So on the way back to the car i thought id do what Steve T did at one of his sites and just kept it on in front of me.Had plenty of iron signals along the path through the dunes which i chose to ignore,then the signals changed!
Last edited by cornishboy; 09-30-2011 at 07:17 PM.
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
You might be right or it might be an TA.
You got your self some nice .30 call and a piece of a .45.
Cheers,
Steven
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
At last !!!
This does look very promising. The 30cals are WW2 dated which is good and, coupled with the 45, could indicate an American training area. Dunes and beaches were obviously used for D-Day practice, but they were also used as ranges as they were easier to patrol and keep people out.
Go back to where you were and cut off the path into the dunes. Start searching in the dunes themselves and, if there is a wooded area, in the woods as well.
Oh and BTW......the iron signals. DIG THEM ! They are likely to be bits of artillery shell or, much more interestingly, grenade bits or even mortars
Go easy though. They were buggers for leaving live stuff lying about.
Good job !
Steve T
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
It's very cool that you can do this! In the States, you have to "KEEP OFF THE DUNES!"
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
Well done mate, Keep on digging!!
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
Hi Gizmo8z,is that why you all came over here and played in ours?
Iv posted some finds,at last, i know thankyou!!
all found easily with minimal digging.the mortar tail i found in what i believe to be a mortar pit,quite a large depression where i dug another large find.at first i thought it was a helmet,as it was about 9inches in diameter with a rolled lip to it, but it was flat and attached at one end so iv left it there until next time
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
Excellent stuff. The mortar fin is a great find. Clean it carefully as one vane sometimes has paint on it and is usually marked with the manufacturer and date, amongst other things
Now is the time to teach yourself about 'discrimination' so you don't have to dig all the shrapnel. Only one side effect is you may miss pieces of grenade, but usually grenades were thrown in specific areas of the range, so once you find one bit you'll find lots. Anyway, set your discrimination to ignore the rusty iron. This will give you more searching time and will get you more recognisable finds. And don't worry, setting the discrim won't ignore the mortar fins
Steve T
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
Cool thanks Steve,im hopefull about the large shaped piece of metal in the sand too,i think that perhaps they may have used armour as target practice? would explain the large lumps im finding possibly could be a hatch? anyhow extension building today so id better crack on,thanks for your advice. RRPG camping trip? sun,surf sand and FINDS!!!
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
After taking a leaf out of Whitehunters book, i decided to give the range another hit today.A couple more mortar fins one i noticed had red paint on,so i'll give it a clean off.A lid of some kind,painted green and quite strong. Some cases etc one with a nice head stamp
Re: I think iv found a war time gunnery range
As I learned from Steve T, the .303 was fired by a Bren.
Nice finds you've got there, the fins look in great shape.
Watch out when cleaning the fin's to clear of the dirt, it might take of the red paint also.
Steven
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks