WW2 gunnery range - First visit for a year.....and what a result !

[Steve T]

Hi all

Well, today I returned to the gunnery range I 'found' last year. I was damn lucky as the farmer informed me he had just harvested and ploughed the fields so I had free reign over the whole area.

Initially I concentrated on the aiming point for the 2 inch mortars, which I had pinpointed last year. I didn't do any detecting, just walked the field. After an hour I had to go back to the car as I couldn't carry any more stuff !!! Once back, I decided to head back to the area, (also pinpointed last year), where they were firing the 2 inch mortars from. I was getting a little disheartened as, after an hour of detecting, I had just a handful of smashed up 303s. Then I found a 2inch safety cap........and another.......and another. I slowed my walk and 'grid patterned' the little area to make sure I covered every spot. Quite a nice result in the end and confirmation of it being the firing point.

Having cleared out that area, I went to search a field I had never detected before. First thing I found was a 2 inch para illum case in damn good nick, with even some paintwork still in place. A short distance away I got a No 36m base plug.......and another......and another........and soon realised I may have stumbled on the grenade practice area as well

Not a bad 4 hours digging at all, and a relief to get back out there digging to be honest

Take a look at the video of the dig.......

Gunnery range - 2 inch mortar harvest - YouTube



Here are the finds before any cleaning. I'll post more pictures once cleaned. I did give the base plugs a quick scrub to reveal the dates, (all 1943), along with 2 of the safety caps and the para illum round.



No 36m base plugs, one filler plug and pieces of the striker column.



303 cartridges, PIAT launcher cartridges, 303 bullets.



Closer shot of the 2 inch mortar fins.



No 161 fuzes, used with the 2 inch mortar round.



Safety caps for No 161 fuze, all of which are marked 'Removed Before Firing' and some also appear to be maker marked.



No 36M base plugs and filler plug cleaned.



Two of the No 161 fuze safety caps cleaned. The one on the right appears to have a makers mark



The para illum 2 inch mortar after a quick clean. No other marks visible unfortunately.

[Richard_J]

You're going to need a bigger war room.

[Steve T]

Nah.......plenty of room left yet. Could also expand into the garage and/or one of the other bedrooms

[zwerge]

Nah.......plenty of room left yet. Could also expand into the garage and/or one of the other bedrooms

Maybe you should build a BIG dog house....just in case....

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Excellent result Steve, your stash looks bigger than I'd imagined well done, I Love that original paint still clinging to the para illum. Roll on seeing the cleaned up shots.

LUCKYSTRIKE

[Steve T]

Thanks guys. I already have a dog house zwerge.......it's called the shed

[Steve T]

Link to video of the dig now added

Gunnery range - 2 inch mortar harvest - YouTube

[Richard_J]

Excellent vid!

[Steve T]

Thanks Reg

Been cleaning some stuff.

No 161 fuze safety caps.......



After cleaning I discovered I have three different variants. First off, impressed text, wide milling, (to aid grip when unscrewing), almost to base of cap.....



Raised text, some with wide milling as above, some with milling that only goes half way down the side of the cap. Interestingly, the ones with only half milling all appear to have both a makers mark and (possibly) a batch number as well.....



Makers mark.......batch numbers all different....



Lastly I have this little thing. Well, I say little, it is almost 2 inches in diameter. When first recovered I thought it was an old plug or possibly something off a bit of farm machinery. However, following the rule, 'Take everything home!!! Leave no 'crap' behind until you have positively ID'd it as crap when cleaned!!!!', I obviously took it home and cleaned it. Once I'd cleaned all the mud out of the domed portion, a small brass tube appeared which looks distinctly like a small booster or blast cap. When I cleaned the bottom, markings began to appear and, after some frantic scrubbing, a possible date....... 42.

It looks like a blast/percussion cap from a large calibre shell. I have had a look through my various reference sources and can't match it up. Anyone recognise it ?





If it is an cap/booster from a larger calibre shell, this will be the first evidence of such ordnance being used at this site. So far, all evidence points to it being small arms, 2 inch mortar, grenades and PIATs, with no evidence of anything else being used......until now??

Cheers

Steve T

[hangarman]

its the bit at the bottom of a 2" mortar illuminating round, as it sits in the picture the fins would be on top. If you look carefully you will see the 4 equally spaced holes around the chamfered part.
Cheers
Gary