Thread: 1918 303 experience

In my opening post I alluded to an incident with my .303 years ago.
I used to work for the NZ Railways and was posted in a relief role to Wanganui back in the early 1980's. I duly trundled off into the unknown and filled this relief role while the normal guy took off to the roar in Stewart Island. He arranged for me to stay with his Mum and I duly spent 2 weeks in a strange town getting fed better than if I was at home.
At some stage I found out she had an old 303 up in the roof of the garage and it was mine for some pultry sum WOW was I rapt at the find - yes sure it was a bit rusty on the surface but with elbow grease and gun oil she cleaned up pretty well. Its a 1918 Lee Enfield Mk3 sporterized.
I took it back home after letting the Police know of the transfer ( yeah right this was the (Eighties).
Used it to cull some goats out the back of Grandads farm and roll on a couple of years I'm married but the marriage didn't last. She leaves and cleans most of the house out but leaves all the blokey stuff so that included the rifle.
So a few weeks go by and my friends say come out for a shoot. Saturday comes round so I pick up the gun and check it over before heading out. Darn cant see out the bore - must be blocked - darn wasp nest
On further checking my pull through goes all the way through - WTF??
Hold it up to the light and cant see anything
Hold the rifle and look more carefully
Some BAst...d had put the barrel in a vice and bent it !!
My heart pumped pretty faaast as if I hadn't been so careful I do not know what would have happened if I had pulled the trigger.
After a brief stint in the gunsmiths at Papakura she got a new barrel and all is at peace in the world.
Same friends said -we've got a farm out the back of Karaka we can use. Off we go and I make sure they know all I have is the 303 and its over kill but it was camaraderie and a good evening out.
Shot one rabbit and cleaned the carcass out from chest to backside. No need for any gutting with this boy.
And after that it hasn't seen much use but it lives in a dry safe place and gets a round or two through it now and again.

Any rate onto my username 35 Desoto
I bought a 1935 Desoto Airstream off a good friend of mine years ago. Got it road worthy and made some modifications to keep it a good vehicle in modern day traffic. Im a bit of a hot rodder so she got disc brakes and a better steering box, a later model diff and mag wheels. She was a great beast - never been off its chassis so I didn't want to cut her up or molest the body as there was something in its originality that way. It collapsed the exhaust manifold and by a luck there were none available here in NZ or USA. It was an odd bod motor and while Chrysler people will say you can get exhaust manifolds try and find one out of a 24.5 inch side valve used in Airflows. So I made a set of extractors for her and boy did that let the engine breathe better - no increase in horsepower but did its torque curve improve and she'd hunt any small block V8 up any hill.
But as things go I wanted a V8 ans it got sold to a neat guy in the Waikato who I think still owns her. The username 35 Desoto stuck and thats that tale!

great yarn....so moral of story is dont let Mrs have access to your guns particularly if you have pissed her off.

Welcome to the forum

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... ��*♂️

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

great yarn....so moral of story is dont let Mrs have access to your guns particularly if you have pissed her off.

My 'Ex', many moons ago, let all her mates take what they wanted, before I cleared my shed. Pissed to say the least, yet on good terms now. Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned...even dead people know about it !

Got a letter yogs ago from the ex's lawyer round the time we split up and itemized list of things she wanted. Right down to the teaspoons. FFS.

Surely you could have straightened the barrel with a pipe bender? Oh wait thats mosin nagant style gunsmithing. Welcome along, there are turkeys as well out karaka way according to my cousin.

Ahh sounds like you lead a normal life! Desoto's My father bought a 1949 model in the 50s. An ex Ngauranga Freezing Works Buyers car. 300.000 miles on the clock, Micro peened the pistons, new rings and big end bearings left the mains. Had 900,000 miles on it when he finally sold it in the late 70s. Got my licence in it, Would put a bag of sand on the front bumper on long trips to stop the shimmys!! Really nice wagons in their day!
Welcome to forum, enjoy

That was a classic car @35desoto - looks like they are worth serious money in the US now
I learned to drive in a 39 De Soto when I was 15 - Dad loved that car and he kept it for many years - reconditioned the motor at about 90,000 miles - he was seriously pissed when I had to fess up and tell him my Mate had put a 22 bullet up through the roof - just missed my left ear. Bloody pump action Winchester with a tube mag - we came back to the car in the dark - sitting inside and he pumped it to empty - but still one up the spout - silly buggar pulled the trigger - we never told Mum but it always had a burn mark in the roof upholstery

Now - these are some good tales too. I feel humbled to be amongst peers of similar values LOL.
Its strange too that I can speak to the ex A OK now but back in the time we couldn't stand each other - yet I do wonder if others were influencing her and now she sees life through a different perspective. I couldn't hold her responsible for the damage to the rifle as i did press charges against the person who did but that is another tale in its self

I had an ex gf years ago she sold my Ruger 22 & my new 2 wheeler while I was over seas shearing ...as it turns out she took offence when I mentioned leaving her behind was half the price & twice the fun .

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

I had an ex gf years ago she sold my Ruger 22 & my new 2 wheeler while I was over seas shearing ...as it turns out she took offence when I mentioned leaving her behind was half the price & twice the fun .

This seems common to a lot of women, they think that they have to get revenge for some imagined slight and that they can do such things without consequence. It opens the philosophical debate as to whether or not women should be allowed to vote, own property, and have equal rights before the law etc or have we actually gone too far ??
Would we be happier in a more Patriarchal society where men are respected by woman ??

Originally Posted by rewa

My 'Ex', many moons ago, let all her mates take what they wanted, before I cleared my shed. Pissed to say the least, yet on good terms now. Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned...even dead people know about it !

My mates feral ex let her brother help himself to his shed while he was at work . Bizarrely he took her back and they broke up again and she cleaned him out some more. Anyway years later his ex brother in law had the cheek to ask him if he could stay at his farm for a while and store some stuff in his sheds. So he brings a uteload of stuff around and there's my mates chainsaw, arc welder , generator and a bunch of smaller tools that were originally his. It wasn't easy to get all of his stuff out of the shed and hide it at his sons house because the the brother in law was a lazy slob and didn't leave the farm for a while before he could manage it.

After that he got the brother in law to get his series 2A running really nice and fix the brakes before he kicked his fat arse out.

Then he decided to go halves in a house with his ex , he did it up and she was supposed to organise flatmates and make sure the rent was paid . What actually happened was she moved in with her friend and he ended up paying the mortgage because the bank kept sending him nasty letters.

Some people are gluttons for punishment I guess.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

This seems common to a lot of women, they think that they have to get revenge for some imagined slight and that they can do such things without consequence. It opens the philosophical debate as to whether or not women should be allowed to vote, own property, and have equal rights before the law etc or have we actually gone too far ??
Would we be happier in a more Patriarchal society where men are respected by woman ??

There's to many feminist bitches out there that's why.