.30-06 British Home Guard dummy

**shadowwolf** · 06-23-2010, 05:42 PM

Hi All,
This one turned up today, from my 'travelling salesman', with a .50 cal and a 105mm Abbott round. It took a bit of research to find out what about this .30-06. It is a 'FA' Frankford Arsenal, U.S. supplied the case, made into a Dummy by the British Home Guard.
Any thoughts on this case would be very helpfull.
Regards to all, Simon.

**jimpy** · 06-23-2010, 05:48 PM

Training round Simon.

Early in the war, the US supplied some weapons under Lend-Lease, that were 30.06, ie US calibre weapons, these weapons were usually marked with a coloured band on them indicating "non-standard" ammunition only to be used.
I would suggest that this is one such round.

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

**shadowwolf** · 06-23-2010, 05:55 PM

Ian,
According to ".30-06", A hard-bound 384-page volume covering the development and production of the .30-06 in 48 countries from its inception to the early 1990s, by Chris Punnett this case is a WW2 US case converted to a dummy round by the British Government and Home Guard units.
Regards, Simon.

**ian** · 06-23-2010, 05:59 PM

my old fella god bless him was in the home guard ,and he had a p14 in .303 but he did tell me that they had some p17 in .30 or yank bullets as he said ,that they used for training with drill rounds but he said they never had live ammo for them ,mabe that goes some way to explaning the drill round being discused here ?? cheers ian

**Steve T** · 06-23-2010, 09:00 PM

A very interesting cartridge SW. I had heard that the Home Guard did this, but this is the first evidence I have seen.

Many thanks for sharing.

Steve T

**shadowwolf** · 06-23-2010, 09:08 PM

Steve, I have been collecting ammo/ordnance since I was a kid and I have never seen a .30-06 like this before.
As a note, the photos do not show very well the red paint on the wooden head, or that the wooden head descends into the case for its complete length. I have never seen this on a wooden headed round either.
I gather that these are quite sought after by collectors of this calibre

Regards to all, Simon.

**ian** · 06-23-2010, 09:17 PM

hi steve t my old fella was the prvt pike of his unit in the home guard he was 17 years old un fit for service ,he was the unit medic in the bedfordshire regiment , he spent most of his time on USAF bases trying to keep there casualties alive ,but that is beside the point
he was an excepionaly good shot , and when i got my FAC he was so well known my acplicatoin went through no probs
he understood the diference of what we would know as a DP weapon
these .30 were live and usable weaponse
IE p17 BUT there was no availabilty of .30 ammo
so they used the p17 as training rifles
and he said they had a whight5 painted ring just behind the metal work on the at the muzle end
that would be known years later as DP ,,,,,,,,,,drill purpose cheers ian

**ian** · 06-23-2010, 09:20 PM

sorry that was a bit garbeld but you know what i meen

**Steve T** · 06-23-2010, 09:40 PM

Thanks guys

Interestingly, I have found some spent .30 cals in an area used by the Home Guard as a training area in 44. Obviously this late in the war the 30cal ammo was available and the P17's came into use.

The cartridge is superb....a real rare piece. Grats on getting it SW

Steve T

**ian** · 06-23-2010, 09:52 PM

the p17 acordind to my old fella was given to the home guard as a training rifle long before they got the p14
so i would say to you if you have found .30 cases then something els is ghe answer to explane them being there becouse i rea;y dont believe the home guard had any nead or a reason to have ,30 they had brens and p14 and other weapons from 9mm to .303
as far as i know the only weapon used by the brits that had the .30 round was the 1919a4 browning
and that contiued in use into the late 70s but even then had an amunition availability problem
as a result they tryed to convert to 7.62 nato and made an uter bollocks of it
thank god the l37 l2 l4 gpmg came along