keeping old smellies alive

Just a few pics from the other day where we had a light horse 303 shoot at boonah near Ipswich in Queensland Aus. The amount of old 303s that looked like they were pulled from the potato patch was frightening but good to see that people still adored and respected there old shootin irons. A bit of education was forthcoming to the interested parties who wanted to know the history of there weapon. The winner of the day was my old faithful BSA 1913 no1 mk111 with windage sights and is in good nick for her age.


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That is really great. Wonderful to see that history being preserved in such a unique way. Was watching 'Gallipoli' just the other day, and the old saying about these rifles came to mind, 'if they could only talk'. Thanks for the pics!

looks good to se them out and about !

Good stuff, more of it!

Sir,

Pls elaborate on distance shot on this match.

I hope a Lithgow held second place !

Impressive on keeping that history alive !!

Not only the rifles but fancy dress to boot. almost a reenactment. Great stuff!!

and tell us how in blazes you guys wrapped those puttees and kept them coming unraveled !

Just out of curiosity, how long has this shoot been going on? Any of us Americans ever shown up for it? I would love to participate in something like this!

Now the answer to most of your questions are as follows, Just about all the people you see in the photos are in a light horse troop from the Lockyer valley just west of Brisbane. The uniform we are wearing is a mixture of original and reproduction to keep it as authentic as possible, the answer to the puttee question is we dont have to worry as we wear leggings for mounted work as per the attached photos. We have atleast 35 financial members with the latest parade being yesterday at Ipswich. The range being shot was 100m, it would have been further but some bogan who lives at the back of the range had complained in the past so now they cant shoot any further than 100m with soft points. Either way the troop is keeping a vital part of Australias history alive and are keen to shoot the 303 at every oportunity they get. We would also probably be only to interested to maybe do a postal shoot for our fellow enthusiasts from accross the seas.Attachment 24389Attachment 24388

"bogan"?