Fisherman pulls six Second World War machine guns from canal

[RoscoeTurner]

"A magnet fisherman was left shocked when he pulled six Second World War submachine guns from a canal.

Nigel Lamford, 50, lifted the 'Sten' Mk II guns out of the water using his specially-made magnet, which can lift over a ton of metal."

 

 

https://news.yahoo.com/nigel-lamford-second-world-war-machine-guns-canal-weedon-bec-northamptonshire-165518368.html

 

 

 

[Grasshopper]

Wow,

 

Nice haul. I could use a loop stock!

 

BTW. Ever hear the story of when I went fishing and the boat turned over and I lost my firearms?

 

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

 

Grasshopper

[DINK]

The haul even included six of the pistol grips that replace the butt stock. Interesting.

[Robert Henley]

Amazing they were in as good a shape as they were, considering my assumption is they were there for a long time.

 

Robert

[laurencen]

in the early 70s I completed my apprentice for tool and die with a company in UK that during the war made artillery's and firearms throughout the war period, this was a huge company that had roadways and canals passing thro, they dredged the canal in 1978 and pulled up tons of heavy equipment and firearm parts, they were dumped there due to rejections the old guys at the time had stories when some items were dumped and looking back should have paid more attention.

 

when my father was on the Queen Mary bringing back GIs he had stories how gear would be inspected entering New York harbor that guns and trophies would be confiscated, said there were loads of stuff thrown over the side, he also recalled how the wooden rear rail has thousands of GIs names carved into it, we took him to long beach in the 90s to riminess, sadly the wood had been replaced but when we spoke with the personnel running the hotel they allowed him to go in restricted areas where he had some stories even found his initials in the engine room, sadly he passed and many stories with him.

 

not sure those guns would clean up if indeed they had sat in water for that long, there were lots of bring backs and canals were the easiest place to dispose of items

[WinSten]

Thanks for sharing! I recall Peter Laidler mentions a similar find in his book the Sten machine carbine. A few parts were replaced and had them working. Ill have to look it up.

[AlanDavid]

That canal runs right past the front of Central Ordnance Depot Weedon which had massive quantities of small arms pass through its doors in the war. The brick buildings looks to be part of COD Weedon which is now a commercial storage facility with most of the original buildings intact. Why these Sten's ended up in the canal I don't know. Weedon would have had proper procedures for the destruction of small arms, which would have involved the metal ending up in a furnace.

 

If the Sten's ended up being covered in algae on the bed of the canal this would have reduced the amount of oxidation and may have help preserve the metal, to a degree.

 

The Airborne rear grips , if genuine (!) must be worth good money if they are in reasonable shape. No license required for these or the magazines in the U.K.

 

Regards

 

Alan