.303 Freak Battle Damage

[MikeyH]

As a small boy in the 50's I remember seeing and being fascinated by a Lee-Enfield .303 rifle with a German bullet 'up the spout' in the Imperial War Museum. This had caused extensive barrel damage as at the precise moment the enemy round had entered it, Tommy had discharged his own rifle. This must have been a ten million to one chance happening. I visited again many years later and was unable to spot the exhibit. Is it still on display and where on the Western Front did this incident occur?

Mike.

[MikB]

I don't recall seeing anything like that when I went to IWM several times in the 50s and 60s. It wouldn't surprise me if it was removed because of doubts of authenticity - an SMLE barrel would likely be blown open and possibly lose the muzzle end as a result of such an incident - and I can't imagine the opposing bullet remaining lodged afterwards, even if the muzzle end of the barrel still remained.

Stuck bullets from whatever cause could leave exhibits like that at revolver velocities and pressures, but not AFAIK at those of fullbore rifles.

But then maybe I'll stand corrected?

Regards,

MikB

[Bombadier]

A few years ago I had a link to a Dutch site where there was a picture of a rifle with a bulged and probably split barrel. This had been X rayed and showed the bullet which had entered the muzzle was still in place.

The site was something like "an unfortunate land".

Nigel

[TonyE]

I remember that exhibit at the IWM well, but I don't know where it is now. I will ask around.

Regards

TonyE

[dman]

Happened in American Civil War 50 years before........

[T8HANTS]

Strange I thought I had seen that Enfield at the Rotunda Museum Woolwich, or did they have their own?

[Sepoy]

There was a photograph of an SMLE, which had been "hit" up the barrel, in a recent copy of the "Britain at War" magazine in an article on sniping!

Sepoy

[David Filsell]

I recall a German rifle at the IWM for firing round corners. Didn't believe a word of it I always thought it had been used to lever a door open!

[museumtom]

Bullet Shot Into Enemy’s Rifle.

A German volunteer gives to a Cologne newspaper a remarkable account of a peculiar shot. He says;--“ At a distance of about 70 metres (about 76 yards) the outlines of a cap offered a remarkably good aim. I pointed my rifle, and was just pulling the trigger when suddenly a shot fell from the other side. I staggered back, and when I recovered I found my rifle damaged at the lock and the chamber. I had a very ugly wound at the forehead and the eye from pieces of my own rifle. I examined my rifle, and found in the barrel a French and a German bullet, both flattened. No doubt the French bullet had entered my rifle at the muzzle, followed the course of the barrel, caused the explosion of my cartridge, and so wounded me through my own rifle. ”

[Stoppage Drill]

I recall a German rifle at the IWM for firing round corners. Didn't believe a word of it I always thought it had been used to lever a door open!

Krummlauf

[Old Tom]

I have a faint recollection of seeing, in a museum, a rifle with a bullet the wrong way in the barrel. The barrel may have been sectioned. The museum may have been one of those in Winchester. It was a long time ago!

Old Tom

[Thunderbox]

I also recall the sectioned one in the IWM. The barrel was sectioned to show the "incoming" bullet lodged in the smashed remains of the chambered .303 round. Presumably the bolt on that rifle was jammed in place.

There are also a couple of personal accounts of such events happening. It stands to reason that it must just be a matter of statistical chance: billions of bullets going in opposite directions, a small number striking the flat of the nosecap of an SMLE - and a small subset finding the bore aperture itself. I suppose the bullet would not have to be central to the bore, or even in parallel to its axis; probably its sufficient for the spitzer point of a bullet to enter the crown at any angle, and then the bullet might be deflected into the bore.

IIRC there are/were several such SMLEs in collections at one time. I have a feeling that there might be another in the Warminster Collection.

[tootrock]

The website Bombadier refers to is www.unfortunate-region.org

Look for "Hardware" and then "Weapons of the Great War (2): Rifles".

Martin

[Sniper]

There is at least one example at the Small Arms School Corps museum.

Sniper

[Mitter2k1]

I've seen an article on this. Wasn't the rifle originally mounted to a periscope setup?

Mike

[303man]

There are several SMLE 's with Various damage from bullets in the Infantry Weapons collection at Warminster.

[centurion]

I recall a German rifle at the IWM for firing round corners. Didn't believe a word of it I always thought it had been used to lever a door open!

That would be a WW2 MP 44

Originally intended to be poked out of a tank hatch to discourage any Soviets who might have hitched a ride with malicious intent

[5thBatt]

Was it this one?

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=20135

[chrissparrow]

Excellent! I am off to Warminster in a couple of weeks with a group of boys who will love to see this.

Chris

[Martin Feledziak]

I saw this in a French museum near Vimy Ridge and wondered how it came about

[303man]

In the Guards Museum this week and they have on display an SMLE battle damaged by a shell that killed the person carrying it, large chunk out of the forend and butt completely trashed.