Australian No4 barrel source

[Bearclaw]

Can any of the aussies direct me to a shop/source where I can possibly pick up a shot out no4 barrel, bugger if i can locate one up here in SE qld.

Myles

Information

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[Bruce_in_Oz]

I would have thought the country was awash with ratty No4 barrels. They should certainly be more plentiful than shootable barrels.

Maybe they rapidly end up as tomato stakes or are used for their steel to make bushes etc. I have actually seen SMLE barrels used at pry bars and for other sundry tasks.

Try Shoesmith Firearms in Toowoomba. They have a bunch of old barrels out the back and their itinerant gun plumber may also have one or two.

[tbonesmith]

Maybe they rapidly end up as tomato stakes or are used for their steel to make bushes etc. I have actually seen SMLE barrels used at pry bars and for other sundry tasks.

Hey, just on that, I recently saw small retaining wall, reinforced by a picket line of clapped Omark barrels driven into the ground at my local range. There must be 50 or more of them driven in just about all the way to the threads.... Mabe there's a No 4 barrel amongst them! Ha!

[Bearclaw]

Tom, I would say there would be a lot of stuff buried in the grounds of the ranges around Sydney, I recall boxes of ammo and assorted firearms being uncovered at Hornsby range when they were doing the upgrade to the range in the late 70's early 80's. I sure there has to be some creates of unused .303 hidden with the spitfires and P51D's burried in the old coal mines around Oakey, Now all I have to do is find them, rip a barrel out I shall be right. At this rate I am sure I will find these mythical planes and maybe guns, than finding a shot out barrel.

Myles

[Peter Laidler]

When the atomic bomb ranges at Maralingra(?) were being cleared in the late 60's, all this stuff WAS there including Mustangs, old trucks, Dakotas and tanks etc etc used to see the effects of the blast. It was said that a RAAF Mustang was flown out. Unfortunately, some of the local abo's couldn't read and did venture into the area before and afterwards. They are probably still there

[RJW NZ]

As of a couple of years ago that P 51 is still flying, I lost track of its name but its been a high profile flyer in the US for some time, and yes , parts of it do make a geiger start clicking...your very own glow in the dark P 51.

[Bearclaw]

Yeah RJW is right one of the P51 is still flying, I think it is a composite of the few that were involved in the tests. I also think the engines of a Canberra bomber are being used somewhere too. It would have alot of stuff bulldozed under, just waiting for someone to climb over the 3 strand barbed wire fence and do some digging. Any takers.

[Jollygreenslugg]

There were a six Mustangs used in atom-bomb testing near Maralinga, including A68-1, the first Australian-built example. This machine is the one which was flown out in 1967, and was exported to the US. Unfortunately, it was badly damaged when being unloaded in the US and again in a wheels-up landing in the early 80s, there is little of the original airframe in the machine now. It still flies, owned by Wiley Sanders and named "Jeannie Too". They went to the US as they couldn't be registered here at that time. The rest of them ended up as parts in the US, if I recall correctly.

Cheers,
Matt

[Peter Laidler]

That's amazing as I was there at the time and didn't know whether it was true or just one of those myths. My friend Alan Greening, REME and RAEME was in the Engineers there doing a lot of the range clearance and was involved in the maintenance of the huge Scammell recovery vehicles and big Scammel Constructor low loaders, taking the heavy kit to the dumps. All of the kit was dozed into the ground including the big scammel tractors. These big recovery scammells (05 BD 90 was one of them) and two Austin Gantry recovery vehicles were all REME ones, brought in from Singapore to make a one way trip. What happened to the tanks? Were they dozed in too. The scrap was valueless because no one would take it. My old ex Army Omega wristwatch, that's been swamped in sea water still makes the old dosimeters go ballistic

[Bearclaw]

Pete, I think the tanks were transported to Woomera rocket range for missile testing, don't quote me. But there is still a lot of stuff that the Brits haven't released about the tests, like Aussie and Brit troops and the Aboriginal's that weren't privy of the tests being done on them. There is still aircraft and transport come and going from the area. So I presume the test are still going on.