Who has fired a WW2 era weapon?

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by Owen, Nov 27, 2019.

  1. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Around 1969 or 1970 I did have my very own Luger pistol which, much to the consternation of my neighbours, I used to fire in the street.

    I am not sure that it counts though as it was the cap firing Man from U.N.C.L.E version complete with shoulder holder and plastic silencer.
     
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  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I had an 8mm blank firing Luger , I used to drive round in my car shooting at my mate who fired back with his blank firing Browning.
    Empty cases rattling off the bonnet.
    What fun we had.
    Couldn't do that nowadays.
     
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  3. Topfmine

    Topfmine Active Member

    Anyone fire anything unusual, i fired a Schermuly line thrower, its a rocket you place in a long barrelled flare pistol which is ignited by a 1" cartridge which projects the rocket out of the barrel about a foot igniting the rocket attached to the line. quite an experience, better than firing any machine gun by far.
     
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  4. James K

    James K Active Member

    Lee Enfield No4 and Bren Gun in the cadets and later 2" mortar in the infantry. Later Browning 9mm Pistol, in the 80's and 90's some were WW2 vintage. On foreign weapons days on the ranges the M1 Garand, M1911 .45 Pistol and the 7.62mm version of the MG42 (the MG3)
     
  5. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Only WW2 gun I have fired was a Luger, this was at a gun club in France back in the late 1980's.
     
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  6. Bruneval

    Bruneval Well-Known Member

    Picture of me from a book taken in Macedonia 2001. I was fortunate to handle many vintage weapons but never got to fire them. Look at the weapon at my feet!

    Regards

    Me.jpg
     
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  7. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    One wonders how and from where all this vintage gear turned up.
     
  8. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I'd like to imagine the Sten was found by some farmer during the war, maybe from a resistance parachute drop, and stashed away in a barn. They never throw anything mechanical away. :)
     
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  9. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    A lot of WW2 weapons were recycled by Belgian arms dealers who bought them cheap from the victorious Allies and later sold them not quite so cheap to whoever had the cash.
     
  10. Bruneval

    Bruneval Well-Known Member

    The weapons were brought down, by mules, from the mountains by the UCK as part of a ceasefire agreement in 2001. I seem to recall seeing a few Stens and Lee Enfields; most likely belonging to partisans from the war. However, the travesty is, after several attempts to retain the vintage weapons for the Bn, all weapons handed in were later cut up and melted down!
     
  11. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    What a waste ! One feels a museum would have homed some of these. :(
     
  12. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I popped my cherry with a service rifle this week. :)

    FireShot Capture 095 - Facebook - www.facebook.com.jpg

    I also fired an Inglis...and it's still sensitive between thumb and forefinger. :rolleyes:
     
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  13. James K

    James K Active Member

    A lot of UK museums are busy trying to get rid of weapons (and much else besides)
     
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  14. Topfmine

    Topfmine Active Member

    I know people who have donated items or to help with their displays only to find years later that things go missing or sold on.
     
  15. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Items donated should not be sold, period to me this is like a betrayal of trust, if something is accepted it should be retained, or if no longer required should be returned.
     
  16. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Easy to say - difficult to do. I'm a volunteer researcher at a small museum. We are full - no more space, we have stuff we don't really need any more and better examples have been offered that we can't take and the original donors are long gone. We will be moving to larger premises - in two years time but until then we are frozen.
     
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  17. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Robert, I take your point, if the donors are no longer with us - you do have little choice...... yes easy to say, i see where you are coming from.
     
  18. Bernhart

    Bernhart Member

    lee enfield jungle carbine I think it was called, a mauser and the French rifle MAS
     
  19. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi

    When I joined the RAF in the 1980s I was told I would be using "State of the Art" radar equipment. And to be fair, with retrospect, the computing we used was very impressive for its time.

    But when the computers broke, I was very surprised to find that the "backup-plan" was.......

    [​IMG]

    Yes, a huge plotting table, a dozen or so airmen with long sticks, pushing lots of brightly colored plastic shapes around, in all directions.

    Whilst it wasn't strictly a weapon of WW2, it certainly was something straight out of the Battle Of Britain.

    Gus
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2020
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