British army dump - Rare Besa find
HI all
I paid a visit to my British army dump site permission last week and had some great finds again. The majority I already have examples of but I did find one or two 'new' pieces for my collection.
As I already had plenty of examples of a lot of the stuff, I decided to keep my eye in with full restoration and take some back to shiny brass. I don't do this with many relics as I like to keep the aged patina, but the odd one or two shiny items are fine. It also shows that, just because something has been in the ground for 70+ years and is covered in corrosion, it doesn't mean it can't be saved!!
I have also described how I clean the relics in the below video.
British army dump - Awesome Besa and Vickers MG finds - YouTube
Here are the finds. If you want to know what they looked like before being cleaned, you'll need to watch the vid!
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...tcmvvtci-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...4ose48cv-1.jpg
303 drill rounds. No percussion caps present in any of these and the headstamp show them to be 'dummy' rounds.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...oximebhg-1.jpg
Connectors to fit the condenser pipe to the steam jacket of a Browning M1917 water cooled MG.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ybyyjf9a-1.jpg
Same thing, but this is a Mk I Vickers MG connector.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...gpodjdse-1.jpg
And these are the more familiar Mk II Vickers elbow connectors
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...loithwft-1.jpg
Top pawl springs from a Vickers feed block
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...no5quqtn-1.jpg
Aerial sights from a Lewis MG
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...wwdguo9a-1.jpg
Cloth belt starter tabs and the spouts from oil bottles.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...lfuvohun-1.jpg
Vickers MG cloth belt starter tabs, all nicely marked, one even dated 1940 (40) :)
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...xt4i9va2-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ug62eoio-1.jpg
Markings on the Browning cloth belt starter tabs.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...to3x3ey8-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...mwh5fm32-1.jpg
Lots more buckles again on this trip.....
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...61jg18rb-1.jpg
Lee-Enfield and Springfield sling buckles along with three pull through rods
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...vnbrphcg-1.jpg
Kerr sling buckles, (most commonly used with the Thompson SMG). Three different types but all used on the same sling.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...fr14dcfn-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...aiqastou-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...xsuftisi-1.jpg
All nicely marked 'NOBUCKL'
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...equxqwa8-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...9r3nt8lv-1.jpg
Lastly, Lee-Enfield No. 1 nose caps. This takes my tally of these to above 30! :)
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5cuulcdc-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...agyi35cy-1.jpg
And now the Besa find. Rare beast this is........combination tool :) :)
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...smdyx85g-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...dvk2lcrg-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ivu5hwua-1.jpg
Hope you like the finds.
RRPG
