British army dump - Another huge haul of relics

[RRPG]

Hi All

I paid a visit to my British army dump permission yesterday and had a great haul of finds. Most of the finds were relics I have dug before from the site, but some were new for me. I'll comment on each pic to explain what I recovered. I have also cleaned a few bits already, with three of the same item coming out very well indeed, especially when you consider what they looked like when they came out of the ground!

First up, everything I took home......



Lee-Enfield rear sight protectors



Lee-Enfield No 1 nose caps



Pull through rods, Springfield buckles, Bakelite LE oil bottle, Various buckles, LE stock band and sling ring.



Connectors for fitting the water/steam pipe to a Browning M1917 water cooled MG



Lee-Enfield sling buckles



Browning MG spouts from leather funnel, (for filling the water jacket), 303 inspection cartridges, sling overlap rings, the very end of a barrel off something along with a trigger guard off something else!



Browning and Vickers MG cloth belt starter tabs



I found three of these. They were in pretty bad shape.....





However, I've never let a bit of corrosion and 70 years of being buried in the ground stop me getting stuff clean. First I knocked off the loose corrosion, then whizzed a wire brush on my electric drill over them, soaked them in citric acid for a couple of hours, and then whizzed over them again with the wire brush attachment. I reckon they came up pretty good, especially considering what they looked like when first out of the ground!!



All three were WD stamped and 42 dated



Two cleaned cloth belt starter tabs



Three cleaned Browning MG M1917 connectors for the water pipe



Lastly, two inspection and one drill 303



Hope you like the finds!

RRPG

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

They were finding this type of stuff at the huge Didcot RAOC Base Ordnance Depot when it was being re-developed as a power station and other parts as an industrial site in the 70's. Not weapon stuff as such but mainly tentage, canopies and saddlery, cartage etc etc stuff. Presumably no one was interested then and most was presumably just turned in again after being unearthed! Strangely, hundreds of tons of sheepskins too for some reason!

[henry r]

Strangely, hundreds of tons of sheepskins too for some reason!

possibly intended for making something like these?



Australian ww1 sheepskin jerkins.

[CINDERS]

Top resto's RRPG on somethings that appears faffed in PL's words
Of the Pic of the jerkin a good book The Lost ANZACS I would recommend a copy to all but it is rather huge and there is no denying the 1000 yard stare or their body language of dismal doings and suffering.
A poignant part of time in Australia's short life......

[RRPG]

Cleaning cleaning cleaning!! A never ending job but it has its rewards.

I have cleaned the Browning M1917 condensing pipe connectors I recovered from the British army dump permission of mine. They have also come up rather well. Before and after shots below. I've included a couple of pics to show the pipe fitted to an M1917 as well as one of the pipe itself. The lugs to attach the connector to the outlet on the water jacket have all corroded away unfortunately, but you can clearly see the part I have recovered in the pictures.

Before..........



After...........

[muffett.2008]

They were still issueing those Jerkins in the late 70's. One Armoured Unit I was attached to had them on general issue, great in the winter.