You should have photographed the event. That would have doubled its value I suspect. But very nice looking gun.

BP is dead right about bringing ammo back. By the time the range day is finished and all cleared up, you inevitably have to bring in the grumpy old fat ammo storeman in from his room or if he's married to some poor unfortunate gal, back from his place to take it all in again. They usually try to fob you off with some excuse and tell you to leave it in the guard room overnight. And then there's a load of verbals when you refuse and when he gets back to the ammo store. If it's full, unopened boxes, he just usually winges for the time he's there BUT if it's open unsealed boxes with loose rounds, that REALLY brings on the pains because he's got to count it all and 'green card' it while you're there, watching! He did have the cheek to say that it looked like we had linked up some ammo to give the GPMG's a bit of a slogging (or de-linked some to give the Brens a good going - whatever). It took absolutely xxxxxxg ages to hand the stuff in and keep re-counting it............... I feel sure that Dick Baker one of the good training Sergeants kept adding a few live to the box or sneaking a few away each time. Naughty Richard!

I used to tell him to just get on with it and he could be as quick as HE wanted it or as SLOW as I wanted it - the choice was his. But to be honest, if it was a good range day, there wasn't usually any left as the RCO/me had carefully worked every last round out, to a man. This was done not by good timing and mathematics but by using the machine guns. In a controlled and under the strictest of supervision of course.........