British army dump relics - Amazing finds

[RRPG]

Hi all

It has been quite a long time since I last posted on here, but thought you guys may be interested in my recent finds. I paid a visit to the British Army dump permission I have here in the UK. It was one HELL of a day!! Found some items that I've never seen before.

The amount of Thompson sling (Kerr sling) parts and pull through rods was just ridiculous, with huge quantities coming out the ground. I filled an entire LARGE bucket. But had a lot of other awesome stuff as well, including bakelite pig sticker scabbards (some round, some with a flat back (Victory scabbards)), Vickers bore mirror, drill rounds, sten mag loading tools, sten mags, American oil bottles, and some starter tabs from a Mk III Vickers belt. But the best find of the day was an adapter to attach an SMLE grenade discharger cup to a P14 rifle !!!! So rare I could find no info on it at all, but did luckily find a picture of a P14 with a cup attached, clearly showing the adapter.

Pics attached along with a video of the dig with some great shots of stuff being uncovered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haAorLm_nQY

On to the pics.......



1 – Sten magazines
2 – Bakelite spike bayonet scabbards, round and flat backed
3 – Oil bottle – American circa WW2
4 – Vickers/Bren oil bottle brush
5 – Vickers bore mirror and cap
6 – Sten magazine loading tools, Mk 2 and Mk 4
7 – Lee-Enfield butt plate
8 – SMLE grenade discharger cup adaptor mount for P14 rifle
9 – 303 cloth belt starter tabs, from Mk 3 Vickers cloth belt
10 – A full bucket. Thompson sling buckles and pull through brass rods. Weighs about 25Kg !!!
11 – Unknown. Very similar to Sten spring caps but half the size.
12 – Unknown
13 – 30cal and 303 drill rounds
14 – Unknown
15 – Vickers water jacket corks
16 – Slotted pull through rods



The contents of the bucket weighed in at just under 25KG ! That's a LOT of brass. And before you ask, no....not one single gram is going down the scrap dealer. It's all being cleaned and preserved.

More finds......

Vickers MG water jacket corks.



Mark 2 and Mark 4 Sten magazine loading tools along with a Lee-Enfield butt plate.



This is a little beauty. Vickers MG bore mirror, with the cap in place!



American oil bottle, used for weapons like the BAR and Garand.



more.........

[RRPG]

A few Sten magazines



Some rather rare Bakelite spike bayonet scabbards.



I cleaned some of them earlier and they've come out pretty good I think. What do you reckon?



An oil bottle from a Garand rifle and a Vickers feed block pawl spring (bottom).



Unusual style machine gun 250 round cloth belt starter tabs. From the Mk III Vickers MG cloth belt.



more...........

[RRPG]

The bore mirror nice and clean



Some of the sling buckles and other bits cleaned....



Three cloth belt stretching tools, a Lee-Enfield butt plate, bracket from Bren gun Stock for the rear handle (Mk 2), bolt for securing a Bren pistol grip.



Various slotted pull through/clean rods and a 'jag', along with three Vickers K or Lewis aerial sights.



This find is totally amazing and rarer than rocking horse poo. It is an adapter for attaching an SMLE grenade discharger cup to a P14 rifle.




Not bad for 4 hours of digging.

25kg of Thompson sling buckles, pull throughs and other webbing buckles, some relatively rare Bakelite scabbards and an item so rare it virtually doesn't exist on the net!



Laters

RRPG

[RRPG]

I know that some of you may think this is just rusty crap, but here is what that rusty crap looks like with the right cleaning methods.....

Sten mags



American oil bottle



Thompson (Kerr) sling buckles



Vickers MG cloth belt stretching tool

[2damnold4this]

What methods do you use to clean the items you find?

[RRPG]

Cleaning method is......

1. Remove all mud and loose rust with a scrub in hot soapy water.

2. If the item isn't badly corroded, or brass, going over the relic with a wire brush attachment on an electric drill is usually enough.

3. If badly corroded steel or iron, soak in a 20% solution of citric acid for a day or two, (depending on rustyness)

4. Remove from citric acid, remove as much loose rust as possible, then return for another day or two.

5. Remove from citric acid, wash in plenty of hot soapy water using a tough scourer and/or a small wire brush

6. If necessary, run a wire brush attachment on an electric drill over the relic.

7. Make sure it's completely dry, add to display!

[tahunua001]

pretty cool... I see a group of pictures like this every couple years ago and get annoyed at the cool stuff that they just buried... jerks

[tobnpr]

Well, yeah...rusty crap it is...

Unless, of course, any of that isn't available through Sarco for a few bucks.

Any of that unavailable as surplus? If so, then I'd agree it would be worth the effort.

Either way, it would still beat golf for spending the day doing something

[RRPG]

tahunua001 - Different times had different solutions. Back then it was 'chuck it in a pit and bury it. Out of sight, out of mind'

tobnpr - You would be hard pressed to find a lot of the items as surplus. I admit some of it you could get for a reasonable price, but why buy it when I can dig it for the cost of petrol to the site!

[Mosin-Marauder]

This beats the pennies and various other junk I found metal detecting the last few days.

[RRPG]

lol

[Grizz12]

Great job on the clean up, very impressive!!

[RRPG]

Thanks Grizz Years of trial, error and practice!

[tahunua001]

it is kindof interesting how well the buckles faired compared to the magazines and other stuff.

[BoogieMan]

I used to go pickup 50 cal brass and dig bullets out from around the scoring bunkers at Millville,NJ Airfield. My Mom grew up less then 1/2 a mile from the scoring bunkers so the Mustangs, Warhawks, etc... were likely starting their runs right over her house. My Grandfather would send my mom, aunt and uncle down to gather the brass that they would then go turn in for scrap. My uncle picked up training bombs even a rifle at one time. Im 39 now so it was all long since abandoned and grown in by time I got to it. Now its under Thunderbolt Raceway.

[wogpotter]

Its not "rusty rubbish".


Its artifacts with generous patina.

[RRPG]

tahunua001 - All depends on soil conditions. Where these were recovered from the soil was like peat. Very well draining and full of organic matter. In the areas of the dump where the clay is, most stuff has corroded very badly, even the brass.

BoogieMan - Very interesting. Bet they made one hell of a noise when they were strafing!

Wogpotter - In some cases, VERY generous

[vtxmauser]

Have you ever tried electrolysis to remove the rust?

[swan_derek]

Wow very cool

[Gunplummer]

When I was in Germany, a couple of us used to go "Beeping" with a metal detector. One day we hit a field where the detector never stopped. The whole field was covered with spent brass from both sides. It was a little dangerous with all the ordnance still laying around.

[RRPG]

vtxmauser - Yes, and it works very well, but I find citric acid works better

swan_derek - Thanks

Gunplummer - There are an awful lot of dangerous places still out there!

[dahermit]

Have you ever tried electrolysis to remove the rust?

I have used electrolysis to remove rust. But the problem with small bits and heavy rust, what is left after electrolysis is pitted metal...sometimes to the point were there is not much left; would have been better off just leaving the rust.