ferretfixer

Well, To date. I have had a large number of Emails from potential visitors to the proposed display. This is heartwarming, because as well as Attempting to CORRECTLY Educate People. I am pleasantly suprised at the amount of Friendly approaches towards this field of Interest. Advice costs nothing, & if I am able to help someone & prevent possible inadvertant breeches of any Rules & Regulations. Then that is a bonus! We are ALL ambassidors of our respective chosen Collecting spheres of interest. And if we are able to present ourselves in a Positive, Safe & responsible light to onlookers & the public in General. Then we do so on whatever hobby path we tread, a good deed! If this is done correctly, then our Hobbies will be the richer for it! Not forgetting most important of all, To have FUN! I have a HUGE sense of Humour (Almost beyond belife sometimes!) Diplomacy is one thing, But, I dont Tolerate Fools Gladly! See you there! Mike. :thumbsup:

Bodge Mate, I was only looking for a 'BARREL' of laughs!...(After I had put down a 'MAGAZINE') 'BUTT', I didnt realise you had me in your 'SIGHTS'! Im not the 'TRIGGER' Man on this topic, so please dont 'SQUEEZE ONE OFF' at me. I was not aware we had a 'SIGHT GUARD' around in the clubhouse! Your turn for another 'ROUND' I think......................

Ok then, I had better 'Shoot Off'.....Before things go with a bang!

Robin, Enfield Rifles are no problem! Bring yourself & your Belly over Sir! Mike

Robin, If you can get over, then come & say Hi. (As long as YOU dont go pop on the plane!) :-D Mike

Oh Christ Mark! Has anyone told him Armourers are responsible for Portable Burners as well! :wow: (As well as: Bicycles, Swords,Lances,Bayonets,Vehicle gun mountings, Smoke dischargers, Fitting Radios in CO's Wives cars, Making mechanisems for dolls to jump out of cakes for Brigadiers Birthday parties, Etc, Etc, & ANYTHING the CO of a Regiment thinks the Battalion Armourer SGT Can do with his mystical powers of wonderment!! :nut: AND, If he hasnt' had a shave, he will be tapping the boards on CO's orders on Monday! Mike

David, You will be most wellcome. Pistols are a speciality of mine. :-) I will be pleased to meet you & shake your hand (Along with anyone else who wishes to avail themselves of my company!) Mike.

For those of you who MAY, be interested? For those who do not know me, I am an Ex Service Armourer Sergeant. With MANY Years expierience of my trade. I have been through a Military training Program to the highest standards attainable. I was at one time Stationed at the Prodigous School of Infantry, & worked on, & looked after the British Armys Small Arms Collection held there. I have been involved in the original Trials at ITDU there with the Original SA8o. When I Left the Service after quite a few years. I also served in the Metropolitain Police after leaving the Army. I then worked for a Small Arms Manufacturing Company for 12 years, Producing .50" Calibre Browning MG's, 81mm L16 Mortars, & also L7 GPMG's, Mountings, Tripods Etc. I have been closely involved in Testing & Design & Development Work also. Have also been involved in Filmwork as an aside. I will be attending W&P with a Living History, REAL Armourers Display. This will consist of my RL & MOBAT A/T Gun, an Armourers Field Worshop chest & combined workbench. All Tools, Gauges & associated Items with my Trade. This will be a working display with actual Small Arms repairs & Adjustments being effected on site. I am offering a Repair Service for those who may be interested. And also any problems on site with blank firers, Live (Legal!) Deactivated Etc. Associated Mountings & Appurtences also catered for! Come & see me if you want to talk Guns, Bayonets, Have a Problem, Need a repair or Diagnostic Inspection. I will have a limted supply of spares (Legal Only!) on site with me. Or if you just want to talk Green Things Etc, My Charge is: Bring a Lager with you! (Only joking, But it WOULD be nice! ) Plot NO:97. I look forward to seeing as many of you Forum Members, as would wish to come & visit me! :thumbsup: Best Regards: Mike.

The next project might be a Lego Taxi that he can step out of and 'Take out' Lego people!...OOps!.:blush: Seriously though, I looked at this with my Technicians head on. And as an Armourer Myself, I have to say that a lot of thought went into the design & construction of the the mechanisem. It's simple with the rubber bands, but to have thought about it & constructed it is what is actually , quite clever. (IMOHO) It's a bit of fun at the end of the day, But I have no doubt the rabid Anti-Gun lobyists will scream from the highest perches. About how it will warp the mind of a child Etc! :cool2: Mike, Email him & see if he can make you a working model of an Antar! Hope your all enjoying the weather? Im sitting here in a Turkey tray basting myself with a ladle in my own juices!.........:nut: Mike.

And to think we got PAID when we did that in the Army!.....:-) Now it's done voulentaraly for FUN?.....:nut: LOL!

I used to look after that lot when I ws based at the School of Infantry at Warminster! it's a superb collection & all live too! I used to have great fun after doing repairs on some of the stuff. Of course, it HAD to be Range tested, didnt it?..... I do miss it these days. All I can work on is Deacts & Blank firers most of the time! Mike

Well.....you are looking a bit pale Mate!................:shocked: I perscribe a weekend off, around about 14/15th August! (if you think you can make it through that long!)..... Mike

Put another hundered quid towards it. and you SHOULD be able to pick up an M53 for that! :-)

You SHOULD be able to get a Thiry Cal for around that sort of money if you look round. A LOT were internally converted to 7.62mm & have a small stamp on the sideplate & on the top face of the bolt. = 7.62. This puts a lot of potential owners off. I dont know why, your never going to fire it again! It's only a prop in a mount after all! I would imagine the purists who do living history might turn thier nose's up, but it wouldnt bother me! :-)

Do what you can to 'Shuffle' your work commitments Tony. It's a superb show in a lovely quiet Country venue, with pleasant surroundings! :-) Mike

Very nice pics of the Cents! Wasn't it a magnificent looking MBT? I notice the Armoured side skirts have been removed also, no doubt to reduce the width even more? I would assume that these would have been stowed on the flat cars UNDER the Tank during rail transit. I have been stationed at Bordon just up the road from Longmoor many times during my Service Time. (Every REME bod who served had!) But for some reason, I never got up to the Museum to see all the Military Railway Articles they had display there. Now it's too late! :embarrassed: Mike.

Booked in & straining at the leash! It was a very good show last year. And as it's right on my doorstep, it would be Rude not to attend! Come & see me for any Small Arms work, queeries, Advice Or just to chat Weapons! (Price of advice = Bring a can of Lager!.... (Only joking!, But it WOULD be nice!) Mike

The box with the brackets in was pretty much a universal container. However, those particular brackets were for when the container was used with 2" Mortar Bombs. These Bombs were in cardboard tubes carrying two bombs in each tube. There were three cardboard tubes then fitted in a thin metal sheet skeleton frame carrier. The frames slid down between these brackets & the brackets prevented them falling over when one frame was lifted out of the Box. hope this has solved your enquirey? Mike

The Field gun is a Soviet 76mm Artillery Piece. I observe a Ural truck in the background of another pic. Im certain that some of the other Forum members more knowledgable in thier own spheres of interest will id the others!

Dear Mr. Mikey, Sir, Your Honour, Blessings be upon you & all you come into contact with. I am hoping you are having a daily lovely. May the lord bless you with much sunshine from your nether regions when you being bended overly. I hoping muchly that you will accept my generous offerings for the purchasing of your army vehicle which is of muchly interest to me in personly. so I will being sendingly to you a cheque for the sum of £1,250,000. which is £54 of your Englishly Quidlings for the Car, & the rest is for posting off charges to me. I am appologising to the profusely for the mistakings is writing out the chech to youse. but this is definately the very lastly one I am having left. Please could you be sending me directly backwards, the excess for this transaction either by Cash in registering letter. Or by English Banking Drafty. Thanking you with Muchly blessings & thank you please. Yours Sinceringly, with Blessings. Dr. Rt.Hon. OOHMEGOOLIE. Esq, D.S.O, C.D.M, Mention in Dispatchings. :-D

Even worse! Those Sterlings are NOT Replica's, they are actualy DEACTS!!!!!! :shocked:

Yep, they are exactly the same pattern! just different colouyred material, obviously! :-)

These are Trousers, OG. (Olive Green) They are green cotten & a superb pair of 'Strides' to wear! They are FAR superior to the later Trousers, Lightweight. Reason being, they are cotten NOT nylon & dry faster when wet in the Field. They are cut wider in the leg & you can remove your trousers to change them OVER your Boot's DMS & Putteees without having to remove your footwear.(A BIG plus when on Excersise!) You CANNOT do this with lightweight trousers. They always were highly sought after even after the lightweights were introduced into Service. They wear & last longer, & are far better made than the nylon lightweights. I was R.E.M.E attached to the Para's over 1980-1982 & green lightweights & a Para smock was the standard uniform (Even in the field, although we also got matching DPM Trousers) I can tell you, We used to Kill for these OG trousers for the facts mentioned above! Not only that, If we were Honnest, it made you look like an 'Old Sweat' too, as if you had some. People assumed you had gotten them issued before the introduction of lighweights! Mike.

A couple of Ammo boxes & Inert Grenades would not be out of place!