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Discovered: Revolver which belonged to British hero killed on the first day of the Somme
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 19th February 2009 | Daily Mail Reporter

Posted on 02/19/2009 6:45:05 AM PST by PotatoHeadMick

A rare World War One revolver used by an army hero who died at the Somme has been found dumped in a bundle of second-hand clothes which were donated to a charity shop.

Staff at the store were shocked to discover the rare and engraved pistol mixed up in a pile of clothes that had been donated to them anonymously.

After finding the 1912 Webley Revolver, staff at the shop in Earl Sholton, near Leicester called Leicestershire police to collect the weapon so it could be dismantled.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs
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A British policeman with some sense of history stops his colleagues "dismantling" a WWI relic.
1 posted on 02/19/2009 6:45:05 AM PST by PotatoHeadMick
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To: PotatoHeadMick

I would pay to watch the this turn up on Antiques Roadshow UK. :)


2 posted on 02/19/2009 6:48:18 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: PotatoHeadMick
Interesting article, but truly scary.

Did you read the quote about "Making the gun safe"? In general, I would think that an unloaded weapon is about as safe as it gets, unless you drop it on your foot.

3 posted on 02/19/2009 6:48:47 AM PST by wbill
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To: PotatoHeadMick
After finding the 1912 Webley Revolver, staff at the shop in Earl Sholton, near Leicester called Leicestershire police to collect the weapon so it could be dismantled.

If that doesn't epitomize what has happened to England - a war hero's weapon dismantled - I don't know what does.

4 posted on 02/19/2009 6:49:29 AM PST by dirtboy
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To: PotatoHeadMick

“dismantled” - are you kidding me? In their view it’s a bomb that could go off at any time.


5 posted on 02/19/2009 6:50:41 AM PST by stubb
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To: stubb

Wait and see. They’ll call on the Arsenal of Democracy again some day.


6 posted on 02/19/2009 6:54:32 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: PotatoHeadMick

7 posted on 02/19/2009 6:57:56 AM PST by ladtx ( "Never miss a good chance to shut up." - - Will Rogers)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Which is also being neutered.


8 posted on 02/19/2009 6:58:45 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Technological progress cannot be legislated.)
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To: wbill
Did you read the quote about "Making the gun safe"?

The police must have come in hazmat suits and then evacuated and cordoned off a 4 block area before gingerly approaching the dangerous weapon. I suspect that folks who find such a piece of history in their family's archival closets and turn them in to the police will then face charges for possessing these heinous objects and not having found and turned them in when Confiscation was decreed.

9 posted on 02/19/2009 7:02:04 AM PST by arthurus ( H.L. Mencken said, "Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.")
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To: wbill

“In general, I would think that an unloaded weapon is about as safe as it gets, unless you drop it on your foot.”

I have a couple Webleys from a WW II Veteran Uncle. By their condition, I would guess my Uncle’s last words were “don’t fire the Webleys.”


10 posted on 02/19/2009 7:02:44 AM PST by gate2wire
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To: wbill
Exactly. How about making it safe by keeping your finger out of the trigger housing?

Those evil guns again. Even nearly 100 years later they are trying to kill innocent launderers.

11 posted on 02/19/2009 7:03:53 AM PST by LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot ("If you don't have my army supplied, and keep it supplied, we'll eat your mules up, sir"-Gen.Sherman)
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To: dirtboy

It really does make no sense that the revolver was dismantled, and is explicable only by the bizarre anti-gun culture that now dominates England. Consider that the weapon’s caliber is 9mm x 16, which is not exactly a commonly-found cartridge these days. (In comparison, 9mm Parabellum is 9x19 and Makarov is 9x18). Even if one could buy pistol ammunition in the UK, which you cannot, finding suitable cartridges would be a remote possibility. In that respect, the gun, fully assembled threatened no one, except as a symbol.


12 posted on 02/19/2009 7:08:57 AM PST by andy58-in-nh (Ronald Reagan had a vision of America. Barack Obama has a vision of Barack Obama.)
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To: wbill

Well they probably wanted to file off the firing pin (or whatever) to make sure the weapon could never be fired again. Can you even get a cartridge/round for that thing?


13 posted on 02/19/2009 7:11:11 AM PST by Locomotive Breath
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To: osagebowman

Ping! LSA


14 posted on 02/19/2009 7:11:50 AM PST by osagebowman
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To: Locomotive Breath
Its an antique and part of their heritage. Not that anyone in the UK would understand that.
15 posted on 02/19/2009 7:14:37 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Locomotive Breath

“Can you even get a cartridge/round for that thing?”

Am hardly an expert on ammunition, but here goes.
One of mine has a couple clips which allow the revolver to fire .45ACP.


16 posted on 02/19/2009 7:15:35 AM PST by gate2wire
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

“Wait and see. They’ll call on the Arsenal of Democracy again some day.”

And it won’t be here.


17 posted on 02/19/2009 7:32:35 AM PST by caver (Obama's first goals: allow more killing of innocents and allow the killers of innocents to go free.)
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To: PotatoHeadMick

we would urge anyone who finds any sort of weapon in their family’s belongings to call the police and not to dispose of it on their own.

‘Officers will come to your house, and make the gun safe.

Mine are on safe already thank you.
God what has happened to England.


18 posted on 02/19/2009 7:40:02 AM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: PotatoHeadMick
"found dumped in a bundle of second-hand clothes."

(sigh) Heartbreaking. Not the first time this has happened in the U.K. Plenty found before were sent to the furnace for melt down, without a second thought. It would appear that given this coupled with the current state of affairs in England, I'd say that the good Capt. Sayres ultimately gave his life for an England that disappeared at the close of the 20th Century.
19 posted on 02/19/2009 7:53:31 AM PST by PowderMonkey (Will Work for Ammo)
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To: tet68
Officers will come to your house, and make the gun safe.

And promptly arrest you for having it in your home.

20 posted on 02/19/2009 7:58:10 AM PST by bgill
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