what on earth is this?

[Marcus H]

Originally Posted by ebro

Phil,
The black plastic oil bottles were for the SLR.
Eddie

Yes, I too, recall the SLR cleaning kit consisting of a black plastic oil bottle, and mine was contained in a green plastic hinged case. However, my personal weapon initially in 1989 was an SMG and I recall that had a small metal hinged tin - rather like a tobacco tin - with the tools, etc, inside. And, I can't for the life of me recall the oil bottle in that kit though.

Kind regards,

Marcus

[ebro]

Marcus,
You are doing better than me, I can't remember a cleaning kit for the Sterling.
I think I used the same kit for the SMG & SLR.
But then, there wasn't much to clean in the SMG.
Eddie

[REMEVMBEA1]

Originally Posted by Terry Rayner

As every body has said that it is an oil bottle for the Lee Enfield,
my Dad told me that when they had to go on parade they would remove the oil bottle and pull through, and put small stones in the butt, so when they hit the butt it made a lot more of a cracking sound.
Terry

We put pennies in the magazine of the 303 but I don't ever recall doing it with the SLR which was introduced during my basic training at Lichfield in 1958. I do remember the oil bottle in the 303 butt but never in the SLR.

[rockape560]

Originally Posted by REMEVMBEA1

We put pennies in the magazine of the 303 but I don't ever recall doing it with the SLR which was introduced during my basic training at Lichfield in 1958. I do remember the oil bottle in the 303 butt but never in the SLR.

we did the pennies in the magazine with the slr but we also slightly loosened the the two halfs of the stock as well for that extra crash,,,maybe it was just a ref regt thing...

[ebro]

Philip,
It was not just an RAF thing
Eddie

[Luc]

All I can add is that EFD stands for Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield Lock.

[leigh kitchen]

Some SLRs did have oil bottles in the butts, in the 70's I had one or two with old brass oil bottles.

[AndyC_65]

Originally Posted by Marcus H

Yes, I too, recall the SLR cleaning kit consisting of a black plastic oil bottle, and mine was contained in a green plastic hinged case. However, my personal weapon initially in 1989 was an SMG and I recall that had a small metal hinged tin - rather like a tobacco tin - with the tools, etc, inside. And, I can't for the life of me recall the oil bottle in that kit though.

Kind regards,

Marcus

The SMG was my personal weapon too.

I remember the small metal tin - but it didn't have a lot in it - I seem to recall having to use oil either from a large bottle shared out or scrounge some from the SLR boys.

cheers,

Andy C

[Roy]

Hi Gents,

It's been fun reading this thread from the first post. Who would have thought that a simply oil bottle could bring back so many memories.

As a youngster I picked up an oil bottle/can (sometimes called 'oilers') and from then on would grab any when I saw them at steam rallies etc. Well as a dyed in the wool collectors wouldn't you know I ended up with a bunch, ranging from gun oilers to all sorts. I even think one is out of the dashboard of a 1930's Rover!

Don't know how many I have (perhaps 50 or so) but some months back I dug them out and popped them in a display cabinet. Just took a photo for you chaps (see attached).

The thing that brings me the most happiness with these is that I don't recall ever paying more than a couple quid each.

Cheers, Roy.

[Hussar100]

God but I haven't see one of those in years. Everyone had their own personal weapon cleaning kit with one of those in it. Nobody bothered keeping it in the brass slot in the butt because sometimes you were carrying an SMG, LMG or GPMG. Of course the combi tools for those were different so you then had to carry two tool kits but invariably the one issued for the other weapon had no oil in the bottle.

I note all the stuff about pennies in mags and loosening the stock. I knew about all that stuff but we never bothered. Those are old tricks for ceremonial duties and chrome bayonets.

A bottle of oil, a combi too, pull through and a good lump of 4 x 2 and you could sit there for ages smoking a fag and passing the time with others.

[REMEVMBEA1]

Originally Posted by davec2

Must be a modification Jerry ??

Mine was, as Eddie suggested, in the cleaning tin with the pull through and 4 by 2 etc but it was in the ' dark ages ', 1960 - 1962 ???

Dave.

And in the even darker ages I joined the North Staffords in 1958 and we started training with the Number 4 which had the oil bottle and pull through in the butt , during training we converted to the SLR and were each issued a tin with the oil can etc in it.

PS> Transferred to REME because I was a left handed shot which was not allowed with the SLR although I ended up with one in REME.

[Hussar100]

Originally Posted by REMEVMBEA1

And in the even darker ages I joined the North Staffords in 1958 and we started training with the Number 4 which had the oil bottle and pull through in the butt , during training we converted to the SLR and were each issued a tin with the oil can etc in it.

PS> Transferred to REME because I was a left handed shot which was not allowed with the SLR although I ended up with one in REME.

The oil bottle/pull through slot was still in the SLR when I joined up. It only disappeared when they converted the weapon to plastic furniture.

Never heard of l/h problems with SLR. It ejected to the front right. It was the SMG which was the big problem for kak handers. It ejected right and rear. Mind you, the speed at which the empties came out of the SMG your eyelashes would have stopped an empty case.

[AndyC_65]

Originally Posted by Hussar100

The oil bottle/pull through slot was still in the SLR when I joined up. It only disappeared when they converted the weapon to plastic furniture.

Never heard of l/h problems with SLR. It ejected to the front right. It was the SMG which was the big problem for kak handers. It ejected right and rear. Mind you, the speed at which the empties came out of the SMG your eyelashes would haver stopped an empty case.

And a wet army issue blanket would have stopped the round.......discuss..

cheers

Andy C

[Hussar100]

Originally Posted by AndyC_65

And a wet army issue blanket would have stopped the round.......discuss..

cheers

Andy C

Aye but still an all it was a handy wee yoke. Just chuck it o'er one's shoulder for swanning around then fold it up and clip it back on the turret wall when finished - sit out of turret hatch, drinking tea, smoking fag watching grunts go past bearing heavy loads. *sigh*

Weapon cleaning - GPMG

ImberClump.jpg

[REMEVMBEA1]

Originally Posted by Hussar100

The oil bottle/pull through slot was still in the SLR when I joined up. It only disappeared when they converted the weapon to plastic furniture.

Never heard of l/h problems with SLR. It ejected to the front right. It was the SMG which was the big problem for kak handers. It ejected right and rear. Mind you, the speed at which the empties came out of the SMG your eyelashes would have stopped an empty case.

I'm afraid whether you'd heard of it or not that was the reason I was given the option of a discharge or transfer so that must have been the ruling at the time.