British army dump - HUGE haul of WW2 relics - PIC HEAVY !

Hi All

Early last week my wife asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday...... 'DIGGING!' I replied......to which she shook her head, smiled, and said 'What a surprise!'. She's a good ol' girl.... :)

Anyway, I did indeed go for a dig at a favorite site of mine. This British army dump site has produced some amazing finds over the years, but the dig on my birthday was one of the best ever. Not only because of the kind of thing coming out, but also the sheer quantity of relics I recovered.

Apologies for the number of pictures, but it really was a superb day.

If you don't want to look through the pics and prefer video, here is a link to a video of the dig....

British army dump - HUGE haul of WW2 relics - YouTube



If you do want to see the pictures, here we go!

Everything before cleaning......

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...2wafpv04-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...n60ts8di-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...quthztkt-1.jpg

And now after cleaning.....

Lee-Enfield and Sten oil bottles along with Vickers cloth belt starter tabs....

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...giutib6b-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...7qamozys-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ky1qyybq-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...8zdestey-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...rp9xyipm-1.jpg

The Vickers starter tabs were fairly standard, and joined the 200 or so I already have. However, 2 were very unusual....

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...r6m5rar6-1.jpg

The reason they were unusual? They appear to be unit marked. Never seen them unit marked before.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...sqahdir2-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...9yyqsppv-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...fizkauew-1.jpg

Bren oil bottle

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...kecxrgth-1.jpg

Bakelite spike bayonet scabbards, including some nice No 4 'Victory' scabbards.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...qrcqectr-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...2bqyuirg-1.jpg

K98 butt plates, trigger and mag housing and a Luger magazine.....from a British army dump in the UK! Amazing....

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...gdjmwuof-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...bzljwgxf-1.jpg

Tripod mounting bracket for an MG

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...olcacpmh-1.jpg

Slide from a Browning M1910/22

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...pgjq4iif-1.jpg

Very small pieces of barrel from both a No 4 and No 1 Lee-Enfield

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ljb9x4rn-1.jpg

Rear sights from, of all things, a Vetterli Vitali rifle

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...m9byg7mn-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...f1czbglo-1.jpg

Another rear sight, (not tracked the weapon down yet....)

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...tbgy4lvu-1.jpg

Lee-Enfield No 1 Nose caps. Note the length of the bayonet lug on the top one. We believe this is for an Arisaka bayonet.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...bshlszz5-1.jpg

Lewis spade grips

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...o4px7mwi-1.jpg

Lee-Enfield and Long Lee butt plates

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ezidvw9m-1.jpg

And the best find of the day?

Has to be these two items.

Trigger & mag housing from a Lee-Enfield training rifle along with a practice bolt from the same thing!

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...rqlj2exg-1.jpg


A truly remarkable day and I am still cleaning the 30 kg of Vickers 50cal cloth belt starter tabs and brass strips I recovered, along with a bucket of other miscellaneous buckles and clips!

:)

RRPG

Marvelous finds! I only seem to find pop tabs and the occasional quarter. :clap:

Mauser 98 trigger guard/magazine housing is off a commercial sporting rifle, OR an Argentinian m1909 series rifle with the dropping floor plate.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...bzljwgxf-1.jpg

Heavington - Keep searching! You'll find stuff eventually :)

Lee Enfield - Many thanks for the ID :) Much appreciated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RRPG

Another rear sight, (not tracked the weapon down yet....)

---

Isn't that a LL or Metford? You also have an early oil bottle there...with the round ball top.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RRPG

for an Arisaka bayonet.

---

You are correct...

:) Thanks BAR. I did notice that I had one of the early oil bottles.......a first for me from the site.

I'm a bit curious about that short oil bottle. Also just noticed the second big pic down has two pieces of MP40 forestock.

Always assumed the short oil bottles were Sten. And yes, there are two pieces of Mp 38/40 bakelite stock in the picture, found at the site not far from the other German bits.

I wonder if they smashed up a few German bringbacks...? Or if it was at an airfield, these parts may have been in wrecks and found their way into the junk from there. All the crashed aircraft were examined and then salvaged for the material. The short oiler seems to be joined in the middle. There's also one with the plastic bottles, the bottom left in the pic, is it a steel bottle? If so, it's for an M1 Thompson.

Would you always expect there to have been a dump/land fill area on a site once occupied by a British army camp or military base during the 20th century? I would guess that nowadays there are rules and regulations that prevent "military rubbish" or any other rubbish being dumped in a hole in the ground at a military base; unfortunate for future generations of diggers and metal detectors.