Posted: 8/4/2007 6:30:42 AM EDT
|
Found this what I think is a .50 cal case on a beach in North Wales last weekend with a £20 metal detector from Argos. The sandunes around the beach were apparentley an army training area during the war. There are several army 'pill boxes' scattered around, one right in the middle of the beach. I found several .303 cases which were very brittle and litterally crumbled and this which I think is a .50 cal, which is as solid as the day it was made except for a little corrosion around the top, its in excellent condition. This picture is taken next to an inert .50 cal with a 7.62x39 rd for comparison.  This picture shows the headstamp which is SL 43  Anyone recognise this headstamp, and how old is the .50 cal ?? |
|
SL = St Louis 43 = Year of manuf. cartridgecollectors.org/ww2usmfrs/index.htm |
This case was only about 3 - 4 inches in very soft sand, I dug it up by hand ! We spent a couple of hours on the beach mainly walking my dogs, but I got talking to an old chap on the beach a few months ago and he told me where the training area was and when he was a kid he would sneek on the beach at night and find the emtpy cases he could and sell them. We found loads of bullet links, but these just crumbled when you touched them. That case will of been on the beach since 1944-45 !! There are a couple of caravan sites nearby that have been built since the late 60's and during construction the builders apparentley regullaly found un-exploded ordanace 
|
