Mystery British Oiler

[Flying10uk]

I've had this oiler for a number of years which I picked up from a trader who did Flea Markets/Car boot sales etc with much of his stock coming from house clearances owing to the owner passing away. All I know is that it's British, it's some sort of oiler and it's the only one of it's type that I've ever seen. I'm open to any suggestions as to what exactly it's intended application is other than it's an oiler. Clearly it doesn't fit in the Lee Enfield butt trap. Thanks for any help/info.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I think you'll find that comes from the grip of a Vickers gun...

[Flying10uk]

Thanks for the information, Jim. When it was part of the Vickers grip, were the cores also oilers/oil containers or has it since been made into a oiler from parts salvaged from a vickers gun? I have been scratching my head a long time over this item.

[Peter Laidler]

Photo 4, the lower bit held a paint brush thing to splosh the oil around. I can smell the OIL, OX52 from here.......

[browningautorifle]

has it since been made into a oiler

Look at the picture of the back plate and grips. The inside of the wood is that thing...holding it like a bolt.

[Flying10uk]

It's a pity that it can't talk because I bet that it could tell us all a few stories of what had happened to it during it's lifetime. It was fairly mucky when I got it and I think that I had sorted it out from a box of brick-a-brac. I bet that it came from a WW2 Veteran's home before the trader got it.

[Woodsy]

The oil bottle is from the buttstock of a Lewis gun. The stocks were bored through vertically and the oil bottle was inserted from the underside, then the retaining collar was screwed up tight to hold it in place. There was an LOC that introduced the oil bottles during WW1. The Vickers oilers were made integral with the grip during manufacture.

[browningautorifle]

The oil bottle is from the buttstock of a Lewis gun.

I believe you. I couldn't get a close enough look to be sure. They're very close in look though.

[Flying10uk]

Thanks to Jim and Woodsy for this information; I wouldn't have ever guessed it myself. I do have a Russian 1910 Maxim (U.K. deac) which is currently stowed in a packing chest with other items on top of the chest. I will at some point have a look at the grips on that to see if there's an oiler concealed in the grips. I've never checked but now rather think that there maybe.

[Peter Laidler]

Woodsy, thread 7, last sentence. In ours the oil bottle was inserted down into the top part of the grip plate, through the wooden grip and down, into the bottom part of the grip plate. That's how we were able to replace the wood grips that the gunners damaged with monotonous regularity when they dumped the gun breech end down.

In the last few months before I left the Small Arms School, we had a visit from a couple of the old and bold from Chippenham, Wiltshire Regiment MMG platoon, who had arrived in Europe a month after DDay to replace tired or worn out crews. They kept the same Vickers MMG for the whole time, reliable as the days is long until a few days before it was all over when it was run over by their section Bren Gun Carrier. He cut the upper and lower grip plate off and kept the oil bottle and wood grip as a souvenir. He asked me to keep it safe for the future. Brought a lump to my throat. It SHOULD be in the Wiltshire Regt museum really..........