A day on a UK WW2 gunnery range

[ww2digger]

Hi all

Please be gentle....this is my first post on this forum !!!

I discovered an old WW2 British gunnery range a few months back and, going by the sheer quantity of finds i get, i must presume not very many others know about it !!

Here is the result of 4 hours MDing..... (pictures shown after a whole day of cleaning !!!)

.303 rounds all dated 1944 and before. 9mm rounds with same dates. Spent bullets, bits of shrapnel and bits of grenade. Cooking pot lid found directly beneath 1944 dated 303 case. Lee-enfield clips. Armourers fuse spanner. And other stuff

Also found during the day were the following items that are worth looking at on their own and not on a tray !

2 inch British mortar round fin

British Mills Grenade firing arm

75mm Solid AP round (well....half of it)

And this.....now don't worry. I was on the verge of ringing the bomb squad when i saw sand falling from inside the casing. After some very VERY careful probing, i discovered the shell case was completely hollow !!! I believe it is a 75mm calibre round. Possibly a practice or smoke round ?

Not bad for a few hours work !!!

 

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[Crazy Greek]

Now those are some great finds! WTG and hope to see more post from you. Looks like you've found a really good site that outta keep you busy for quite awhile!

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[SC_hunter]

Nice finds and I think I would have had to clean my shorts when I hit that one shell..lol Looks like a lot of history there.

 

[ReidMan]

You guys scare me digging up live rounds, it's one thing here to dig up a Civil war shell that in most cases used powder to set it off but some of those bombs are inertia contacts.

 

[ww2digger]

Reidman - I can assure you there is no-one more careful than me when i am relic hunting. A lot of people of killed throughout the world every year by unexploded ordnance. Apart from the 75mm shell fuse (which has been oil soaked now) there is nothing of any danger in what i found. Even if i did find a live 303 cartridge, and even if its been in the ground for 65years or so, the only way it's going to go off is if i strike the centre of the blast cap nice and hard with a nail or something. This is not going to happen accidentally ! I do sometimes find live ordnance of a larger calibre but the area is marked, the GPS location documented (I take my Tom Tom with me !!!), and the authorities informed.

When relic hunting for WW2 items, you dig slowly and carefully. The chances of harm are as high as being run down on the roads you cross to get to the site !

Hooked on WW2 i am, stupid i am NOT.

ww2digger

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

I have dug tracer rifle rounds that ignite if they scratch a rock on the way to the surface. I was always able to let go of them before I got burned but several club members in Germany were not paying attention and got severe burns. This was in the augsburg area from 1974 to 1977. Perhaps they have now deteriorated enough to be safe. regards, siegfried schlagrule

 

[EDDE]

the brass alone cashed in at the "mongers" in a 6 months or less will get you a new detector

 

[fmrUSMC_0844]

That hollow round was probably an illumination round.

 

[ww2digger]

yeah fmrUSMC_0844 i have identified it now

Almost certainly a 25pdr illumination round and not 75mm.

Odd thing though, the Bye-laws for this gunnery range limit the calibre of weapons to be used to small arms and 2/3 inch mortars. They shouldn't have been firing them things there !!!!

Honestly.....anybody would think that there was a WAR on when they used the area !

ww2digger

 

[Papamoa99]

I Know this ite well.

I know this site well just from the items you have pictured. I have been here many times in the last 20 years and found many exciting and dangerous things.

I have many examples of your finds and have also found many live items.
the army periodically clear the site, as training in bomb disposal, so finds are getting harder to come by.

Of the many finds I have encountered there have also been dangerous items: An unexploded 3" H.E. Mortar shell, an ammo box of six unused Parachute Illumination 2-Inch Mortar Bomb, a firing cap for a mills grenade and live 303 rounds.

There have also been personal items such as a spoon and a farthing

The finds are getting fewer and fewer each year, but still a great day out with many interesting items.