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lithgow arms factory museum,australia

kiwieod

Well-Known Member
I visited the Lithgow small arms factory museum this week and it is an excellent museum for any one interested in small arms production.they have a very good collection of guns that were made there as well as guns in general.most of the factory buildings remain,the museum is in the admin building in the front.the entire area is owned by the French company THALES but the museum is in the process of buying the museum part.
the lathes and other machines have been gathered from the buildings where they were left after production finished,some still had rifle bolts etc in them
 

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some more from the museum,all the large buildings in photo 883 are the factory
the last photo is some typical Australians,standing around doing nothing!
 

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Are kangaroo a problem in the road, like wild pigs in Europe or deer is US? Sorry, never been Down Under.
 
I hope you are going to post some more photos - i.e of the pistol room, the .303 semi-automatic rifles, & the De Lisle carbine etc............or were you too busy perving at the "locals"! :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

(Pity we didn't meet up - would have spent all afternoon cracking insults at each other!)
 
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That makes two of us then Peregrinvs!
My understanding is that a significant quantity of Lithgow Bren guns were sold off from the Australian war reserve in the 1990’s and were imported into the UK. Those that didn’t make it out were later scrapped due to a change of policy on military small arms disposal. Therefore most of the worlds remaining population of Australian Bren guns survive in deactivated form in the UK.

A quantity of Australian Vickers MG’s also made it out at the same time. Sadly the Owen SMG’s in reserve had been scrapped sometime before.
 
here are some more photos.looks like I didn't take any photos of the pistol collection.i was speaking with the staff at the museum about the new laws and as we all know they will achieve absolutely nothing
yes kangaroos are big problem on the roads,alot of cars and trucks have "roo bars" fitted to the front of them to prevent damage(to the vehicle,not the kangaroo)
I think kangaroos are considered a pest and do a lot of damage to farms,fences
 

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To complement your excellent photos - here are some of the pistol room -taken a couple of years back - does it still look the same?
 

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yes looks pretty much the same.for those who don't know this pistol collection was procured by one man,i think they said he had over 200 different lugers
 
Lithgow SAF is on my list...if we are ever allowed out of NZ ...and can get back in again!.
 
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