ferretfixer

Well done again Jack this place just gets better and better!

 

And thats the amazing thing... It's not a place... its just all of us sat individually gawping at computer screens somewhere across the globe, at some odd hour of the day or night, feeling like you have mates around you! Its no coincidence that the whole 'clubhouse' running joke is picked up by nearly every new member and perpetuated because it is exactly what it feels like. A friendly welcoming environment where you can ask the most poigniant of questions or simply have a natter without fear of being laughed at or shot down, in the knowledge that your green obsession is not given a sideways look!

You've given us the best pub, best photo album, best meeting room, best telly and most concise 'Maintenance Manuals' all rolled into one.

Your drive and enthusiasm is utterly infectious and has taken the entire movement in new and exciting directions...

 

We've often spoken about entrenched issues and dated thinking within the movement and how a breath of fresh air is needed... Well mate, wether you realised it or not...you're it!

Enjoy the credit, you've earned it...

& to the 'nay sayers' ya-boo-sucks!

 

Oh and give the Dutch guy a pay rise...

Dodge and child to support now (not necessarily in that order though!)

As a Relatively new member (Sprog!) MINOR contributor, & Humble 'Monitor' of this clubs postings.

I would just like to say, it is difficult to add any more to the above post.

Jack I have enjoyed our chats on the phone, nice to meet a kindered spirit.

It is your attitude & those of fellow members who through thier generous giving of time, advice & assitance. Truly embody the spirit of this Hobby & make it such an enjoyable one.

I offer my personal thanks to you & fellow team & 'Ordinary' (If thats truly the right term!) Members for establishing & maintaning this Outstanding Communication & Friendship Facility.

Warmest Regards: Mike. :yay:

Beats my 'finds' from normandy! let me know next time your going anywhere lol!!

I think Normandy is pretty well played out now. People are aware of what things are worth & also the Battlefileds & Beaches have been pretty well picked over.

Though Im sure things will still turn up....................:cool2:

Beats my 'finds' from normandy! let me know next time your going anywhere lol!!

Found some excellent stuff at Peenemunde (The original V2 Rocket base site in the North) also. I only kept one item from there though. I still have it, a large Luwtwaffe water pitcher. Funnily enough, I also found a lot of WWII Soviet stuf there too. Empty & complete cart cases, Ammo belts for the Maxim & bottles, tins Etc.

Up the road from one of my postings in a Town called Hagen. During the war there was a factory there which made german insignia, medals Etc. Going over the derilect site. I found various medal bar crossed swords, the centre from A Spanish Cross & tho halves of an Iron Cross 2nd class frame.

I also still have these. :yay:

'finds'? care to share Mike?

German model 36 Steel helmet in an attic eaves. Also a Luger pistol.

Various buttons, general assualt badge, ammo, tins, bottles Etc.

There was a training area out the back of the camp manily used by the Bundeswher. Wartime disused rifle range there also. overgrown, but found many empty carts Etc. loads of postwar bundy pyro's ! :cool2:

Happy days.............:coffee:

Hemer and Menden were the two names in my mind. I suspect Menden as you say was the camp and Hemer the site.

 

I also have an idea that 94 Locating were in the same camp, but I could be wrong.

I was stationed at Hemer (Actually Dielinghofen) with 1 WFR & 2 Light Inf.

Next door were the Irish Rangers. All infantry units.

I went back years later whilst touring & it was the RTR in my old camp. I now hear from a Civvy friend in Hemer that the camps are closed & handed back to the German authorities. I belive they are building housed on the sites, what a shame. :-(

the rocket bnase was the other side of Menden, Couldnt tell you for the life of me where! :???

ADD ON: It's better to be safe than sorry (And out of pocket with a lot of expensive parts to buy!)

Mike.

How can this be true Mike? All the services are still connected when it's out of the vehicle, there is no seperate oil circuit which needs connecting etc. I have a lot of 432 manuals and even the SEME pack lift instructional video and I have never seen any mention of the 15 min rule you mention? :???

 

Chris

Having spent my last six months in the 430 bay before remustering as an Armourer. I attest that I was truly sick of the sight of 432's & pack lifts. :-(

I have personally been involved (Minimum of two people) with many pack lifts using the 434 Hiab. There is a frame you bolt to the top of the pack. five engine frame mounting bolts out, disconect prop shaft from steering unit. all cables from interior front pannel, exhaust pipe interior two clamps & exhaust belows. fuel feed pipe is on front pannel also if i remember correctly. lift out pack, rotate 180 degrees, drop pack. connect all cables/ pipes to front pannel & run up engine. WEAR EAR DEFENDERS = ENGINE NOISE LOUD WITH EXHUST DISCONNECTED! we were always taught NEVER to run pack for more than 15 mins. Something to do with pressure oil feed to gearbox? i THINK, because you put the gearbox transfer lever into NEUTRAL when run out of the vehicle, There is no pressure feed out of it & it fills up & causes big trouble. Why would the Army teach us this rule if it meant nothing?? :nono:

Dont forget I last did pack changes in 1979!! :???

Mike. :coffee:

Thanks to Joris you can now upload MP3 sound files to the forum... NO Copyright songs or soundtracks please....

 

I'll start of with this lot of WW2 chatter....

NICE ONE LEE, CHEERS. I HAVE SAVED THEM ON MY MEDIA PLAYER & WILL BURN LATER. USEFULL, BUT WHAT I REALLY NEED IS POSTWAR RADIO TRAFFIC. BUT THANKS FOR BOTHERING TO POST ANYWAY. :-D

BY THE WAY, HOW'S THE 25 PDR COMMING ALONG?

MIKE. :coffee:

I have a CD that I could burn a copy of, lasts about an hour with made up selections of Military Radio traffic with American, English, German, Japanese & Russian versions, or I could email the files, cheers Paul

PAUL, THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND OFFER SIR. PLEASE LINK UP WITH ME VIA PM FACILITY & WE CAN MOVE THIS ON.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ASSISTANCE

THIS IS FERRETFIXER,..OUT............................................:cool2:

I've always fancied starting a small village to be called "Wipham Down"

When I was stationed at Warminster attached to 27 Command Worshops. We had an approach road to the Main Gate resurfaced. It was discovered that this road had never been given a name.

Tenders were put out to all Personnel to suggest a name.

The Commanding Officer there at the time was a Lt.Colonel Wareham.

To that end, one wag suggested 'Wareham Down'. :-D The CO thought this was good, he couldnt see the Irony in this as we did. he was a Boring Bu**er! :rofl:

I have a little problem with the wireing on my 432 ,

firstly i know the pack is ok....thank god !!!

when i try to start the vehicle ,bat isolator on ,lights on dash come on and fuel guage oporates temperature gauge goes off the scale ..to hot ,though engine cold !

next when gen switch thrown the two push to test lamps do not glow ...new bulbs though so that not an option,also fuel pump not running .....though i have tested it and it works ok.

next through the start switch ,the engine turns.....sometimes.!.! help .... fed up with my hot wire and would love to start the vehicle properly

Though obviously not conclusive. The gauge going 'off the clock' is usually indicative of a short circuit to earth.

If you have a Manual, all you can really do is labourously go through the wiring circuit with a test lamp. Start at the item it goes to, & work your way back to source (+) at each juction. In theory, the lamp should light each time you check. As soon as it doesnt, there is your break/ short. from where it doesnt light, try other wire at that point. If it lights from there to another place, than that is where the 'Juice' is going to. :???

I am not a Vehicle Sparkey, but I have done a lot of electrical fault finding myself when one was not avilable at unit. By doing the above sequence. It takes time, but you might be lucky & find it within half an hour. I would imagine, that if you cannot reach all the wiring prior to discovering the fault, it's 'Pack out' Time & you should then be able to get to EVERYTHING! :-D

When the pack is out of the vehicle, if you get the pack to face the front of the veh in front of the steering hatch. You CAN re-connect all cables to the pannel on the pack. This is done so you can start the pack out of the vehicle to test systems to check for leaks, correct function Etc. WARNING: Do NOT run for more than 15 Mins. or Pack will seize!! :stop:

Pack out is obviosly a last resort. But, if you cannot get to all cables & juctions.....you have no choice! I wish you luck. It would be nice to know for all other 432 Series owners to know the outcome of your labours! :yay:

Mike.

hello everyone,

my name is Nick Walsh but i get called Doc most of the time! :-D

i am not lucky enough to own any historic vehicles although i wish i could lol,{would love an 80's army ambulance and a katy ambulance} i am a living historian as a rule i have a small ww1 field hospital display {in the great war society} with the only mock up of a ww1 field x-ray unit in the world, i also have a small ww2 field hospital {basically same kit with a few bits swapped around} i also dabble in ww2 desert medical officer,R.A.F WW2 M.O, 1st world war imperial russian m.o, and a RAMC officer in korea, new projects in development is cyprus U.N 1969 M.O, 1980's RAMC officer / nco and RAF M.O 1980'S {I hope towards falkands/n.i impressions} i would like to work with a katy ambulance in the future and maybe an army/raf ambulance 1980's, i have also had offers to work with a ww1 model t ambulance.

some of you may know me as BLOOD&BULLETS from the wwii forum.

i have been asked to appear at the bunker bash last year and this year but without transport hire for my kit i cannot alas attend.

i am an active xbox live player and can be found online most nights playing "World at War" as an accomplished sniper and i have occasionally been asked to train new xbox snipers:saluting:

cheers

nick walsh:):-D

Hello Nick, Isnt that a Paradox though? A Doctor & then a Sniper....Ha,Ha.:rofl:

Hi everyone. I am requesting assistance if at all possible?

I am looking for a cd/ tape of Military Radio traffic for a Display. Anyone copied anything from an Excersise or got anything like that?

I need it to play through an extention speaker from the vehicle at displays to represent radio traffic as though it was live.

Obviously, I am willing to pay expenses for this item if you would be kind enough to help me out.

The vehicle will also be used at British Legion Fund raising events throughout the year as well as normal Mil Veh shows.

Thanking you all in advance.

Mike. :iloveyou:

Are you sure that wasnt a site guard base that was supose to hold the missiles for 50 miserable regt. Run by the yanks but we all had to take turns sanger bashing.

I dont think so. 50 Miserable was in Menden & the yank missile site wasnt' too far from thier camp. I too had to do sanger bashing when attached to 26 Engineers over one Christmas period. we were billeted in the attic of one of the blocks at Menden in 50's Barracks. Most boring! 50's & 26's camps have now been handed back to the German authorities, :argh: damm shame. :cry: I liked those barracks, original German pre-war camps. Had a few interesting 'finds' there.................:cool2:

Mike.

I take it you have never been to Wankum Germany yet?

Been there many times, was used as the last BP filling station you could use your petrol coupons in before leaving FRG comming home on leave.

Interesting place up the road from there called 'Wachendonk'!

Also been past Titz in the south of Germany..... :rofl:

A lot of our SLR's were converted to full Auto in my day Mike - but then neither Regiment didn't exactly follow "normal" Army procedures in most things. The O/C we had was of the "if it works - lets use it" school. Can't speak for his successors of course as this was nigh on 30 years ago now.

 

Back then the armoury at Chelsea included

 

 

• 7.62mm SLR's,

• 9m SMG's (normal and silenced),

• 66mm LMG's,

• 7.62mm GPMG's,

• 66mm LAW's,

• 88mm Charlie G's)

• 7.62mm Lee Enfield Mk IV T's,

• 9mm Browning Hi-Power's,

• A couple of FN/FAL's

• MP40's,

• AK-74's,

• a couple of Dragonovs,

• PPSH's,

• M16's

• HK's.

• And some other odd-ball stuff I can't recall!!

A happy place to spend a working weekend!!

Im with you all that Neil. But it was a case of be VERY carefull. If anything had been unofficially altered & something went wrong. You were looking at big time trouble. Today, Christ! I dread to think. With health & safety, & all the rule book boys & laptop kings in abundance, they would hang you for getting upto anything remotely like we used to!

I was one of the Armourers at the school in Infatry at Warminster for 3 years. A great posting, no excercises & we went away once a year for a week for 'adventure training' in devon. I was trusted enough & a good friend of the then curator of the small arms weapon collection in the museum. I could draw ANYTHING i wanted from the collection & use it on the range. I had 20 ak47's on strength in the Armoury next to the Armourers shop. I used to 'function test' them on a regular bassis. Also had access officialy to the training area upon liason with the range staff. I was sanctioned to rob anything I wanted from vehicle targets for spares. Happy days...............:yay:

Normally used for taking a pop around corners :-)

 

Mods for fully auto involved stripping the weapon down and modifying the profile of the safety catch - hence the armourer.

Once done the safety catch could be pressed down with the thumb to single shot and thence fully auto as in the FN/FAL.

Powers-that-be frowned upon such mods but they came in useful - as in fooling the bad guys into thinking you had more firepower than you really had.. All the world's bad guys - and those acting the role on exercise - knew the UK SLR was single shot only so when a 7.62mm hailstorm went their way it was obvious, wasn't it, that you had a GPMG fire team in support....

When the above MOD was done, the Armourer also had to shorten the trigger return plunger as well. This would have prevented the weapon from firing full auto by retricting the amount of rearward travel of the trigger.

As a better add on to the Guchi kit the guys wanted. I used to mdify a pair of plasit front handguards & a GPMG bipod assembly. I fitted this to the rifle to make it a bit more stable when firing full auto. But the min reason it was done was for the IWS sight for observation work. They got VERY heavy after a few hours! This was TOTALY unofficial, but unofficialy sanctioned within the unit. I was attached to the Paras at this time in my career. :shake:

im finding these quirks really intersting!! one thing you guys might help with.. is it correct that the l4a1 mags were useless in a S.L.R as they were gravity assisted?

Not quite correct. They were ok with blanks because the round were lighter. BUT, only filled with 28 rounds of ball were thay useful.

if you think about it, you are asking the magazine to opperate in 180 degrees differntly to the way it was desighned to work! Also the spring was flat steel strip. The SLR had steel wire & was much stronger. :coffee:

Cross the armourers palm with silver and you got a fully auto SLR.

Problem then was controlling it.... :cool2: :cool2:

No, the problem was IF YOU GOT CAUGHT WITH IT!... :nono:

the Danger was, some guy who had the 'Magic' done by an 'Anynonemous' :cool2: Armourer. Sometimes forgot to change back the componants to standard before returning the weapon to the Armoury after usage! OPPS! :shake:

In addition to the SUIT sight for general issue to the infantry, we did have NOD sights for SLRs. ISTR they were mounted onto a spare cover and simply swapped in / out for night / day use, which raised the question of breaking the zeroing every time you changed sight. This was an issue with the SLR anyway because backsight was mounted on one half of the broken rifle and foresight on the other half, so that shooting pedants would never break the rifle for cleaning after zeroing. If this caused a stoppage, the SOP was to wind up the gas setting until the gun fired.

 

In checking the derivation of the acronym NOD, I managed to find Clive's own work on this subject on this forum at:

 

http://www.hmvf.co.uk/pdf/Tabby04.pdf

 

It is a Myth that did the rounds in the Service that 'Breaking the weapon altered the zeroing'. As a Professional Service Armourer, I was attached to Numerous shooting teams. The Cr*p that some of them came up with never failed to astound me. Many a Pre-Madoner had little theroys on this or that subject, a lot of it rubbish! It is correct that because of the design of the rifle. The front & rear sights were on two different mountings. Any Armourer woth his salt could tighten up any body movement with a special tool that was issued. I have done thousands over the years. There is much that could be done to accurise the weapon, & indeed was. But this was always a combat weapon & NOT a target rifle. The demands set upon it for competion use were a littel high, though not unachieveable. Winding up the gas regulator would make no difference in braking the rifle to clean / inspect. All the gas system was on the front half! If wound out too much, only damage would result. If a Rifle was not ejecting correctly. We also had a set of special reamers to open out the gas port a little. This usually corrected a troublesome ejection problem. I found in my personal expireince, that not wanting to open the rifle to clean it was an excuse to simply NOT clean it as often as it should have been! :nono:

I have recently picked up another project for restoration. This one I can use when I get old and infirm!:idea:

Manufactured by Harding probably late 1940's. Battery electric drive.

I recall see only a few of these as a lad, being operated by Ex servicemen.

Doug

Interesting 'Over Engineered' front Girder forks.

Perhaps when it's done, you could locate a Restored Ex-Serviceman to go in it!!!!..........:rofl:

what if it fires blanks or one i saw ran on gas to make the bang and this in turn moved the brech.

If it is a Blank Firer, this now falls under the VCR Act.

You neeed to be an Accredited member of a Historical Re-Enactment or living History group to be able to buy/ sell this class of Replica. :nono:

It is NOT illegal to own or possess one. :yay:

Blank Firing Replicas can be converted from Inert Replicas, or scratch built (If building, must comply with the above RE:VCR Act) be they blank or gas firing. :confused:

IT IS ILLEGAL TO CONVERT A DEACT TO FIRE, PERIOD! :stop:

If you need any more help, PM me. :coffee:

Fellas

 

A big thanks for all your help. Seems there isn't agreement on whether the proof house will just approve the Euro deactivation OR weld it up to bring in line with UK deact standards. Does anyone know for sure what they will do?

 

Ferretfixer - can you give me the details of the guy who imports deacts, as there is another MP40 I'm looking at that's in Germany. Probably best to do it the RIGHT way next time...:nono:

 

Thanks

 

Max

Max: PM Me. Mike :coffee:

For future reference, what is the accepted method of importing deactivated firearms from Europe?

 

So, in the meantime, I need to call an RFD who will arrange for the weapon to be submitted to a proof house, checked and certed. And, if the deactivation has been done correctly, they won't carry out any further work on it?

 

Will I be prosecuted retrospectively for importing it without a licence?

 

Any idea of how much the RFD and proofing house would charge for this?

 

Appreciate your help.

 

Max

The LEGAL way is to get an Approved Sec 5 RFD to import it for you on your behalf. I have a collegue who does this in a big way all the time.

If you get it to a Sec 5 RFD ASAP. He will take it in & do the Nessacary work & submit the item & get a certificate for it. It is then done. ALL in, work plus cert shopuldnt cost you more than £50 quid. :yay:

As for prosecution, If you say nothing & hand it to said RFD, you should be OK. He's is not interested in getting you 'done'. He just wants your money & has the Licence to get you out of a position that is bad for you to say the least!. It's only when you go to the Authorities & say what you have done. Then they will jump on you big time! Im my expirience, half the time they dont even know thier own rules (Just like VOSA!) DONT go to the proof house yourself, they have an obligation to seize the item & report you. Go to an aproved Sec.5 RFD. :yay:

Thanks for the replies.

 

It was de-activated in Germany recently (past 12 months) and can be stripped and dry fired. This, am I right in saying, is consistent with a pre-95 UK deactivation?

 

When I get the proofing house to approve it, will they insist on carrying out the newer UK deactivation type and start welding things?

 

Also, does turning up there with a non-UK approved deact put me the wrong side of the law?

 

Max

If found with it in it's present state, no matter what excuse, the penalty is Five years enforced holiday = NO excuse! :stop:

Your best bet is to hand to a section 5 RFD who will do all that is nessacary for you with no problem. It is also an offence to import a 'Firearm' into the uk without a vaild licence. :shocked: In this case a Home Office issued Section 5 Authority. If you need help, PM me & this can be sorted Legally & quickly.

Mike. (A REAL Professional Armourer) :yay: