Gun and Ammunition Found on Dive

[clownfishsydney]

Interesting dive on Saturday morning at Lilli Pilli Baths in Port Hacking on the southern side of Sydney. As well as sea horses, an anglerfish, wobbegong shark and lots of species of fish, I found a container of bullets and then after a search, the corresponding .303 rifle. The barrel and stock had been cut off, but it still worked. I suspect that it has only been in the water a very short time. Remember, guns are very rare in Australia!

I then went to the police station to hand it in. I certainly did not take it into the police station, no way was I going to walk in with a gun and ammunition!

Later that day three police came to my home and got a statement.

Sunday morning I came out after another dive to find a message from police divers. They were at the site and wanted directions as to where I found the gun etc. They were searching for the rest of it I assume.

Most interesting thing I have found in 34 years of diving.

 

[Martijn]

Nice find! I would be thrilled

 

[Blackcrusader]

I used to hunt with one as a kid in the 1970's. Was in NSW at Captains Flat out past Queanbeyan

Good for shooting roos, feral pigs, and dogs. Sometimes would head out to Braidwood and Araluen.

Araluen was a good place for gathering mushrooms to sell to university students. They found those mushrooms to be very magical.

 

[Cthippo]

Looks like the remains of a Short Magazine Lee-Enfield, or SMLE. Ammo appears to be .303 British, which would be consistent. Given it was in service from before WW1 through the 1950s, could be from many eras.

 

[CT-Rich]

Not much left of it. The wood stock wouldn’t necessarily last, but I am surprised the action still works. I’m not not an expert, but they would be coated in gun oil to prevent rust. Were the bullets in the plastic jar? It could have been there years or decades.

Props to the local police for actually going out to look for more. American cops would be annoyed that you brought it in…. In that condition, it looks pretty much in operable, and unless it had a number on it, I would put it on my treasure shelf.

 

[admikar]

I won't even bother picking ammo up. What I have kept so far....

 

[Fibonacci]

Not much left of it. The wood stock wouldn’t necessarily last, but I am surprised the action still works. I’m not not an expert, but they would be coated in gun oil to prevent rust. Were the bullets in the plastic jar? It could have been there years or decades.

Props to the local police for actually going out to look for more. American cops would be annoyed that you brought it in…. In that condition, it looks pretty much in operable, and unless it had a number on it, I would put it on my treasure shelf.

That looks like a No 1 MK III SMLE, depending on the receiver stamps could have been made under licence at the Lithgow Small Arms factory.

Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum

At first glance I thought it may have come off a fishing trawler, at one time it was quite common to have a cheap cut down rifle aboard to shoot big sharks caught up in the nets. Martini Cadet .310 was more popular till ammo dried up in the 1970's.

The stock was held on with a long through-bolt accessed via the brass butt plate... easy enough to undo so whoever dumped this wanted to get rid of it in a hurry. Looks like they've simply cut off the stock and barrel with a disk grinder?!

The ammo is in remarkably good condition, it was usually well-sealed with a purple lacquer, standard MK VII 174gr FMJ military ball, cordite, big Berdan corrosive primer... also manufactured at a couple of sites in Australia. Headstamp will confirm.
The MK VII bullet was unusual in it had an aluminium (later compressed paper) inner tip to give better ballistic coefficient at long range without adding excessive weight, but it also had the side effect of making the bullet unstable when it hit anything, so tumbled on impact.
Very nasty yet still met the terms of the Hague Convention.

They were one of the most rugged and capable battle rifles ever made, bit of WD40, a scrub with steel wool, re-oil and I'm sure it would fire again

 

[Cthippo]

I won't even bother picking ammo up. What I have kept so far....

Holy ****, is that a Roth-Styer?

Granted, they are probably more common where you are, but still!

 

[SlugLife]

That is cool!

Just saying the obvious, the ammo is almost certainly garbage, and even if it can fire would be unsafe. The gun may technically be able to fire too with extensive cleaning, but I wouldn't recommend that either. I'd keep it as a "wall trophy" in a place like Texas, however I seem to remember Australia has some rather restrictive gun-laws.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

I’m surprised the police made such a big deal out of it. Maybe they were just bored.