I have had 2 Lee Enfields, both bored out to .410. Not a brilliant range but enough to stop incoming crows at lambing time!
Had to have the mag. welded up and a certificate to prove it, so it couldn't pop another round in when you pull the bolt back. It never occurred to the numpties that drew up these regulations that a shotgun cartridge, by nature of its non-tapered nose, will not go into the breech anyway ! Of course THEY know best (?)
The last one was dated 1943, so presume the "long" version ??
The last one was dated 1943, so presume the "long" version ??
That would be a SMLE No.4 Mk.1 (as opposed to SMLE No.1 Mk.III & earlier). They were what we used in competition in the RAF. The most obvious difference was that the barrel stuck out a couple of inches beyond the furniture, whereas the earlier ones were virtually flush. I've never seen one converted to shotgun; I suspect it felt a bit unwieldy. Glad to know it did the job though.
I live on the estate commonly known as the RAF houses just by what was RAF West Kirby... last year we had a large part of the garden removed to level it off... and when we were removing the earth, there were loads of old cartridge cases...I will go out and dig one up a bit later and post a pic.. maybe someone could tell me what they were from...
Sorry to change the subject completely on this post but just bought a little book on ebay about the RAF base and it has a brilliant description of Wirral and surrounding areas .
I had a 3 hour rummage around RAF West Kirby yesterday. You really have to walk round the place to take in the size - it is/was massive.
In between all the roadways (which have mostly been left in place), the ground has been completely scraped clean at some time, the furrows of the bulldozers are still clearly visible around all the areas in the woodland. Most of the woodland consists of young birch type trees (see later in post).
Only in one corner of the site (western edge of woods in northern corner) is there any remnants that I found, this is like a concrete squarish tank, about 18ft square, I have seen these before at other sites, I assume it is either a bund (to contain oil leaks in an oil store) or a cess pit, or less possibly a EWS (emergency water supply). Just by this was also part of a brick building base. Other than that corner, I found less than ten bricks on the whole site - it has been very thoroughly sterilised.
Three hours is not sufficient time to very thoroughly search this site, plus for many areas even I (this goes totally against the grain) would need some protective wear against brambles and hawthorn. But it doesn't take long to take in how thoroughly most of the site has been cleared. Also a swathe of more recent clearance has taken place to put pylons in. I have not checked the woods south of the stuff I found (above) - I ran out of time and was getting a bit physically tired - a fall in shoulder high nettles and brambles when solo is not for the faint hearted like me!
If anyone wants to do searching of areas like this - a few hints. 1. Dominant quantities of young birch trees seem to be indicative that ground has been thorughly scraped/sterilised - this occurs around bromborough, eastham, larton and bidston. 2. Look for older estalished trees such as beech or oaks - this has paid of many times, the bulldozers miss these areas out and leave things behind. 3. Best areas seem to be where there is a natural mix of plants - namely nettles, hawthorn, brambles, ground clearings (because of tree cover) and ivy. This shows the area has had minimal man-interference and so has not been thoroughly cleared. 4. Trees fallen over for no apparent reason - sometimes indicates there is concrete bases underneath, tree couldn't root properly and falls over. Sometimes if brick bases the trees pull bricks out the ground when they fall - have a good look at fallen trees at the root end. 5. FLAT wet areas but only a couple of inches sinkage - often concrete bases underneath - no drainage. 6. Furrows - usually at 3 foot or 6 foot spacing - indicate heavy bulldozing.
Couple of pictures of concrete structure later - if you actually read this far.
![[Linked Image]](http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9940/334766523006ccdm3.jpg)
Please do not adjust your mind, there is a slight problem with reality
good pics though bud.
