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Epay can drive you nuts 99% of the time and then this:
"No-4mk1-T-Lee-Enfield-Replica-Rear-Sight: Modified rear sight. No cross mark so I assume that it was done by "bubba". Also appears to have some post war markings with the queens crown. Again no malteese cross that an original modified part would have. "
Original Ad:
No 4MK1 Lee Enfield Replica Rear Sight | eBay
Unfortunately this is all the "bubba'd" parts he had. Only a 4 clicker Roger, still have not found a 6 clicker yet.....
Awesome find!
Lance, if I couldn't have it I couldn't wish it to a finer fellow! A great find!
R.
Well done. I must cast my net wider in future.
what am I missing here? can someone advise what is so special about this please?
Enfield manufactured rear sight from a No 4 Trials rifle. Modified for sniper use as evidenced by the ground-off battle aperture. Very rare and unbelievable price!
Oh dear! I can see it now a whole flood of ground off replicas from sellers proclaiming Winston Churchill looked through it in 1942 and then smacking on a few hundred dollars with a RARE as description that is the 99% frustration factor of fleabay. I have had some lucky finds but it is a mission to find gear let alone trying to fathom how some sellers use the descriptions of their item.
Well done Lance. I found a Red Devil down here not often seen then lo and behold a Brixa turned up then a frag insert for it just need the fuse now (Anyone have a Brixa fuse lying around they wish to sell!), also pictured is another few I have collected in the last 42 years.
Does anyone know the correct colour for a Practice Mills Bomb as I am sure due to its shape it is of WWI vintage (I painted it white as a guess) the Red Devil 2nd from Left then the Brixa.
TIA
The practice Mills Bomb I got into trouble with when I took it to school was light grey. The trouble was 'Nothing' compared to what it would be if done today!
White is the correct colour, although official drill grenades also had holes drilled in the casing. Your one is a No.36 which were used in both WWI and WWII.Quote:
Originally Posted by CINDERS
The prac looks squat compared to the 1941 36 next to the U S pineapple this is why I think it could be WWI it came with a bakerlite spigot type thingy which was broken . It looks like the base plug was sorta sealed in there and not with it when I got it cannot remember how I got them but there ya go it was that long ago........TIA
Cinders, it's only anecdotal from a relatively small number of No36's I've seen or owned over the years, but the filler plugs (for the main bursting charge, not the base plugs) are usually brass (or possibly on occasions steel) on WW1 examples, but are often made of what looks to be either Mazak or aluminium on WW2 production.
Sorry but back ot teh sight. What identified this as a trials sight? is it the graduations or scale numbering?
The bottom is different to the standard run of production as it has a slightly different method of pivoting. The Trials examples are also EFD marked. Range grads are the same as usual, but early sights have a 4 click adjusting screw & later are 6 click.
Hmmmm, I took in all sorts when at school, stuff I knew then was safe, but do remember a head teacher rambling on about stuff found on Moors and Hills etc (I was in Cumbria at the Last years of Secondary) in assembly and how we should report it and not bring it home or bring it to school.... It turned out one lad had found a 2" Mortar ( Smoke) not live but it it did cause a panic when some bird grassed him up.... I did tell him when we unearthed it with my metal detector don't take it to school......Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert303
I was taking all kinds in at the time, bayonets, inert grenades, replica 1911 ... the list is endless, today I wouldn't even get near the school gate...... probably wouldn't make it on the bus, maybe at the time thats why I never got any where with Christine T**** ....
Yes we were doing a drive you around the boonies and drop you off in a fully canvassed up truck then find your way home via compass and land marks. Anyway we were going well and came across the mortar range at Northam Barracks it was a bit spinny traipsing around over the ground heading towards camp. All of a sudden Brian D**********ng picked up a 2" dud Mortar round FAFFING HELL 6 (Damn sure it had a red band about 2 inches from the fuse) :yikes: of us legged it as fast as we could leaving Brian to bring up the rear. He hid that bloody thing in a cistern then brought it back to Perth hidden in his kit bag.
I friggin was nearly on the bus drivers lap and Brian was made by us to sit way at the back of the bus but that was hell that trip............:surrender:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5/08/MR2-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5/08/MR1-1.jpg
A while ago, about 50 years, I was with my Dad as we crossed Salisbury Plain, off on holiday. We stopped in a lay-by on the A303 for a break and I spotted the above lying in the grass. My Dad, ex RA (on mortars in WW2) reckoned it was safe enough - we could see that it was empty, but we took it to the Royal Marines at Lympstone who confirmed that it was a smoke round, and let us keep it. I bet they wouldn't do that now!
I don't know anything much about it, so if someone has the knowledge, I'd be interested to know more about it.
Charlie
It would be an 81m or 3" mortar...with a time fuze on it. How did your dad know it was safe in the first place? Was it in two parts then? The tail fins separate? Don't just tell me again it's because he was a mortarman, I'm also a mortarman...Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie303
Hi Jim,
Yes, it was in two halves, tail fins separate and he could see that it was empty.
Do the numbers mean anything to you? BN 390 Mk 5. The coloured band (green? Yellow?) does it signify anything?
Thanks,
Charlie
Here's a site that deals with specifics. We just set them and had a working knowledge of their operations... British Fuzes - Ammunition Pages
Yes, colors are use to identify ammo. You'll find markings there too.
Got the 81 mm mortar.
That's the exact same one I used. My baseplate was black though...
Our base plates were khaki for some reason. I always wondered why when the tube and bipods were black. They do say that until someone invents something totally different, the 81mm mortar is as good as mortaring can get. The ammo is as ballistically stable in flight as it's possible to get. As a result, the 2nd or 3rd round hit on target is the norm. Brilliant bit of kit.
Does anyone remember trials with a radar guided/directed bomb........?
added later. Just remembered. It was the MERLIN 81mm bomb concept. So said, you could hit the weak top part of a tank using the guidance system in the bomb. Not quite as well as hitting the side with a MILAN though! What's 4 feet long, 9" round and xxxks tanks? A MILAN!
So it's Hat's off to Mr Stokes, with his revolutionary invention in (IIRC) 1915, just 100 years ago.