At long last..... Strangely Brown reports

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Niner
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At long last..... Strangely Brown reports

Post by Niner » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:27 pm

(Strangely Brown's report, with an assist with posting his pictures,)

A week ago last Saturday LERA held a birthday for the smellie at Longmoor Ranges, I arrived very early and shortly afterwards so did this chap dressed in Service dress, in fact I had to look twice to believe what I was seeing!



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Chris Barker as I found out his name, is a LERA member and also a WW I re-enactor, Chris had decided to take the day seriously and salute the other members as they turned up on the range, I have to say there some bemused looks as members drove through the gates wondering whether or not they had entered a time warp!



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The discipline on the day was as follows:



All at 200yds (due to flooding and other range restrictions)



Zero: (Standing unsupported; Fig 11) 5-rnd group



Practice 1: (Standing unsupported; Fig11) 2 sighters + 10 rounds individually marked. First five rounds measured for group size.



Practice 2: (Kneeling unsupported; Fig12) 2 sighters + 10 rounds snap. 10 exposures of 3 seconds.



Practice 3: (Standing alert, followed by prone unsupported; Fig 11) Mad Minute. Standing alert position with ten rounds loaded and made ready. At exposure of the targets, drop to prone position and rapid fire for one minute.



I vaguely know the bloke on the left, nice geezer all the same!



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Naturally enough we only allowed SMLE’s on the day and I think I only saw one No 4 being put hastily away in a gun slip.





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As can be seen the range was a touch on the damp side; I was a little disconcerted when I heard a cry of, “come in number ten your time is up” from the far bank!



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Chris Barker with a home made SMLE (more of that later) and boating lake in the background.



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Chris wondering it he shot on the right target!

In fact Longmoor is a very difficult range to shoot on with the sun in your eyes early in the day making Fig 12 snap targets almost impossible to see except when they have turned away!







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Chris spotting using my WW I binoculars, in fact I also used a Pat 1903 Bandoleer to be in the spirit of the original which was always the way of the NRA historic matches in the past.



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Here’s that bloke again, I wish I could put a name to him…………





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LERA’s secretary got 22 off in the mad minute, note that the bolt is closed on a fresh round and the ejected round has not gone far, coupled with the blur on the hands given that I am using electronic flash he is going some!



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Early SMLE dated 1909.





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Four SMLE’s showing bayonet boss details.





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Committee member on the left about to have a “one on one” with a probationer member of LERA.



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Me on the left with my mates Neill and Lyn. Yes, I know about the cardigan, I got dressed in the dark that morning!





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The Cake!

This was baked by Chris’s wife Marianne who certainly has an eye for detail.



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She even used the detail of Chris’s deactivated rifle that he takes over to France for battlefield tours to help make the cake even more authentic looking than it was.

Anybody spot the Indian marking on the butt?



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Hmmm, what is he examining now?



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A lot of people had gone by the time we did the photo call; note my wire bound Ishy second rifle in, I had to use this as my pride and joy Sht Le (1905) MkI*** was not eligible on the day.



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All in all a bloody good day out.



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Last edited by Niner on Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Great picture story Mick

Post by Niner » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:18 pm

This is the kind of report that gives this site interesting content that keeps people looking in from all over the world. Thanks for taking the time to do it.
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Post by Aughnanure » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:55 pm

Second that 'from over the world' :bigsmile:
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Post by DuncaninFrance » Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:43 am

12/10, well done.
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Strangely_Brown
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Gas sealed stock

Post by Strangely_Brown » Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:13 pm

Robert,

Thank you for sorting out that mess up with the pictures for me; just to confirm I can do it by myself (sometimes!) here is a better one of an SMLE that has had a special finish put on it to seal it from absorbing gas, the details I believe are fully documented by the owner.

http://www.fototime.com/%7BEEAE6C8B-A2A ... icture.JPG[/pic]
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Post by joseyclosey » Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:29 pm

Awesome post Mick, i really enjoyed the pics. It looks like you were blessed with excellent weather and a really good turn out. Nice to see so many smellies on the point at one time.

You guys did justice to a very important birthday, well done!

Thanks for taking the time to do the post. :D

Joe

PS. I think your cardie looks really nice too, i had one just like it when i was six years old. ;) :lol:
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Post by Woftam » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:05 pm

Brilliant post and pictures.

Do you have any more details on the gas resistant finish ? Sounds interesting.

Were the four rifles in the bayonet boss photo used in the event ? If so how did the second from left go at 200 yards ?

I think Chris's wife probably used one too many words in her description.
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Post by Strangely_Brown » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:44 pm

Woftam I don't have more details about the gas sealed rifle but I hope somebody else will post a bit more about it, regarding the four SMLE's they are all club rifles and I didn't see them all shoot, I didn't even realise we had a .22 conversion on the range until I looked at the picture again.

This picture was missing in the first post as I had inavertantly double posted the same image.

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Post by Niner » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:12 pm

Fixed now Mick. No problem at all to put it in.
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SMLE Birthday

Post by brewstop » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:58 am

The owner of the gas-sealed SMLE has letters and documents from the previous owner - a Lt Col? - who I believe was involved in some way with the testing.

The rifle itself was a 1917(?) BSA that had had a refurb in 1922 ("'22" stamp on left butt socket). It then had another official refurb in 1923 ("'23" stamp on left butt socket). This would be consistent with a rifle that had been selected for trials, was refurbed (1922), used heavily, and then re-barreled (1923) as a result.

At first glance, the rifle looks like a typical "prettied up" civilian target rifle, with a glossy french polish finish on a red-stained beech stock. When you look closely at it however, you can see that the woodwork is Enfield-marked pale walnut (all parts marked, probably made up in that 1922 refurb), and that it is impregnated with a smooth, glossy, red-tinged finish. looks very much like a modern polyurethane finish. The rifle has a faint but distinctive smell - a sort of phenolic chemical smell, quite unlike your average smellie (sic!).

Interesting rifle. The owner doesn't want to part with it (I tried....), but it deserves to be eventually documented and preserved somewhere (maybe the Warminster or Pattern Room collection?) as an interesting trials SMLE.

Whilst not the "second from left" .22 SMLE enquired about, the "second from left" in the cake photo is also interesting from a historical point of view. Its a 1917 LSA that was built with a MkVI sight ramp - ie built long after production was supposed to have switched to MkVII calibrated rifles, and also after volley sights were supposed to have been suspended. Clearly, MkVI ammo and rifles were still very much in service (Australia was still making MkVI ball in 1917/18). The sight ramp is very much more "domed" than a standard SMLE MkVII ramp. The rifle is fairly mint under its patina and knocks & bumps, and it shoots a nice 2" @ 100yds. Difficult to sight in, of course, as its trial and error to get the correct elevation using MkVII ammo (zeroed at 100; "on" at 300 using a 190 sight setting , due to that steep ramp.)

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