Lee-Enfield Rifles captured in Afghanistan 2006

[Peter Laidler]

At the lecture room at HQ SASC I had a few Khyber Pass bits and pieces including a couple of weapons. I also had some weapon related items. A No1 rifle stock bolt, breech bolt, AK top covers ......., you know the sort of things. You're right Darren...... made from beaten out bits of oil can and coil springs from flattened steel, The stock bolt........ Well....., let's just say that it may have fitted something somewhere in the known universe........ I attached it to a piece of string tied to a REAL stock bolt for curiosity more than anything else. It certainly made the Lee Enfield visitors chuckle!

[Richard Hare]

My hat's still off to the blokes who can actually make a rifle that looks like the No 1 Mk 111. Terrific amount of work with hand tools and the only vise is your toes.

Yes, heat treatment and hardening likely a long way off, but I don't know any chaps here in the west that could do what these fellows do, with just files and a hacksaw. Seems they have endless supplies of Resolve! :-)

[Surpmil]

It was just a little word play reference to politics and the photo being previously reversed.

[Paul S.]

. . . Seems they have endless supplies of Resolve! :-)

That and no Internet or wifi service to distract them.

[Richard Hare]

You're dead right Paul!

I waste hours these days.
Used to get a lot more done before we had these contraptions.

[Sentryduty]

Should we abandon the internet and set off to make "Crowsnest Pass" copies of Martini's and Metfords then?

I think I know of a steady supply of truck springs, and surely construction rebar could be gun drilled.

Or they could be called Bow River Rifles, Pembina Pistols, and Saskatchewan River SMG's a whole regional cottage industry of scrap fashioned firearms marketing!



LOL.

[Peter Laidler]

It's simple to make 'rifles' that go bang and kill people. The real wizzards as simplicity must have been the Mau-Mau in Kenya

[Richard Hare]

That and the Congo were wicked, Peter, just wicked.

[chosenman]

Well there is that, and use of gesturing with the left hand is considered a serious social slight because it's used as the cleaning hand post washroom visits. Toilet paper, and handwashing basins in a lavatory not being a common item in much of the country.

Thumbs up is actually a bad thing, unless the person had a lot of western exposure, then it was "who know's".

And in some villages it was customary for the children to bless your vehicles with thrown rocks and masonry in both greeting and farewell, such a fascinating culture.

I believe this was part of the downfall with the fated Air Service's Bravo Two Zero patrol during the Gulf War. A Iraqi patrol acknowledged them from some distance in the desert and they returned the gesture with their left hands. The result was a fighting withdrawal that lasted days with their patrol being captured and killed with just one escapee, Chris Ryan, "The One That Got Away".

[Sentryduty]

That is interesting, it's been well over a decade since I read Andy McNab's account and seen the film coverage about Chris Ryan's experience. My memory could be fuzzy but I recalled that they were compromised by a civilian youth early in the mission, perhaps I was mistaken?

However the use of the left hand in gesturing is seen as disrespect, but is not generally as enough of a slight to warrant killing someone over it. I would think that the patrol was chased simply because they were patrolling in Iraqi held territory at that time.

In practice we would use the left hand to gesture and direct people quite often, simply because the strong hand (right) stayed on the weapon grip, and no cultural nuance would have us compromise our safety. No one was attacked directly after doing so in my experience anyway.