Need Help! WW2 Gunnery range - 1/2 a ton of finds !

[Steve T]

Hey guys

Well....with only 3 weeks to go before my wife gives birth to my 3rd child (her first), I am cramming alot in to a short time scale.

I have returned to the WW2 gunnery range I know of and have come back with a SHED load of stuff.

It's a good site and, judging by the number of finds, not known by many people at ALL !

I have, as is my want nowadays, put together a video of me digging stuff up. It can be found here......

YouTube - Gunnery range aug 09 compressed

Now onto the finds.

Firstly, before any cleaning at all.



And now group shots after SOME of them have been cleaned.

I am afraid I found so many cartridges on this trip I simply have not had time to clean them 'fully'. Please excuse the condition of the finds......I'll sort them over the next week or so

Firstly what I need help with. I found 2 of these next to each other at the right depth to be the right era, but what the hell are they ? MG or mortar mounts ? Bits of crap ? If they are WW2 I bet Ade has got one in pristine condition

The 303's are in shot to give you an idea of scale.



Next we have some pieces of 36mm Mills bomb/British grenade....



And now here are some spent bullets, mainly .303 but a few 9mm as well......



A nice fuse tip from an artillery shell but has no markings I am afraid Anyone know what it could be from ? It is roughly the same size as the one i have intact on the tip of the base ejecting 25lber round I found.



Now the main thing I ALWAYS find at this range. 303 cartridges. 200 of them to be exact All dated 1944 or earlier



And I also found a lot of 9mm cartridges as well. Again, all dated 1944 or earlier



A couple of very nice Lee-Enfield clips.....not bad considering they've been in the ground for 65 years



And finally my nicest find of the day.....threee 2inch mortar caps In MARVELLOUS condition



Well that's the lot.

Hope you like the pics/vid and can help with the rusty 'mounts'

Laters

Steve T

[Blackpowder44]

the clamps in the first pic. are putlog clamps for scaffolding. john.

[Steve T]

Bugger it !

Who the hell was using scaffolding in the middle of a damn forest miles from anywhere !



Thanks anyway John

Steve T

[Johnny-D]

Yet again, superb finds mate! I think your gonna need a bigger display cabinet!!

Congratulations on the forth coming baby mate. My youngest is 6 months old now, and I just LOVE doin night feeds!!

Keep us posted mate, and if you need a stand in for your gunnery range, then I'll be more than happy to find you 3 or 4 bullet casings!! Haha!!

Lee

[Panzer 3]

Hi steve,
Firstly congrats on the baby and what a find you made, Just a thought about the scaffolding clamps. They may have been used on temperary butts or targets on the range, and disgarded when it was taken down. i think you are going to have to get a pickup truck soon for all the pieces you find.
dave.

[Nige H]

I would not be surprised if the scaffolding clamps are wartime or there about's, most modern ones are heavily galvanised and so would not be that rusted, plus these appear to have a very high iron content due to the blistering effect, which is common with cast, malleable, and wrought iron when its exposed to a highly level of moisture.


Nige.

[Cobra den Bien Phieu]

I would suppose that using scaffolding it a great and easy way to make a quick range tower.

[Blackpowder44]

Having been in the construction game most of my working life I would only use putlog clamps to cramp a putlog onto a ledger rail. The putlog is the short scaffold tube with a flattened end that goes into the mortar course when building a wall , it lays accross the inner haorisantal rail and the outer one, and is clamped to both by the clips you have. If you were building a freestanding tower you would use all scaffold clamps, not your clips. So maybe a building was somewhere in the area. John.

[gibba1008]

hi,
great finds,
keep em comin!!