Skill At Arms

[Ovenpaa]

I was looking at my Uncles Skill At Arms record book again this morning. The very first sentence in the book:

"YOUR WEAPONS ARE GIVEN TO YOU TO KILL THE ENEMY"

The entries for the record book are dated August 1946 and it is interesting that it includes his rifle number but does not say what it is (No4 Mk1/2 maybe?) It starts 09/08/1946 with .22 and by the 23/08/1946 he had progressed to .303 and shot an admirable 2" 5 shot group scoring 20 points on the 100 yard range. The weather was fine. Same day he was out at 200 and scored a 16 with a HPS of 20.

By the 30/08/1946 he was settling down with the Bren gun (LMG) shooting a 13 with 5 rounds single shot at 200 with HPS of 20. It looks like Uncle was not quite so suited to the Bren as returned a 21 versus a HPS of 30 and by the time he was on 30 second exposures at 200 best he shot was a 22 ex 60 on a small target.

There are no records of grenade or mortar or pistol so I guess this is as far as he got. As far as I can tell he had shot at maybe a dozen targets and that was it. The SAA book finally records a pass 07/09/1946 he was done and ready to defend our country.

I also have my Grandfathers Royal Engineers Field Service pocket book from the first World War and a Musketry regulations Part 1 1909 (Reprint 1914) All make for fascinating reading on a Sunday morning when I should be doing something else...

[Chuck]

My old fellas just said rifle (it was a no 4 with spike bayonet for some reason according to him) and Bren Gun.

[Ovenpaa]

This says rifle 29393. I wonder if it still exists.

[Michael Sproul]

How amazing it would be to find the rifle, even if it was deactivated or a bit of a mess!

[Dave 101]

It kind of puts a different slant on things when you associate a rifle and a person who may have shot it 70 years ago . Like treading in their footsteps however hard that must have been for them we do it in relative safety , at least when we fire these old rifles theres no one firing back .

Dave

[Gaz]

This says rifle 29393. I wonder if it still exists.

My de-ac No.4 is serialled PA 23239 - outside chance it might be a No.4?

[John25]

When I used to shoot at Tavistock, an old chap called Bill Friend used to shoot a P14 converted to7.62. It had a barrel like a gas pipe but Bill regularly shot in the high forties wiith it. He shot in a tweed jacket, cloth cap and always had a lit roll up btween his lips. His P14 had been issued whilst he was in the home guard (Tavistock had been a Home Guard range) and had kept it.

Bill is long gone now, as is, I suspect, the rifle. Memories to bring a smile.