Here here.AndyC wrote:And..... begged American civilians to donate hunting rifles during WW2 - after the war, the British gov't dumped those rifles in the ocean.
Wonderful article in the September 2012 issue of the NRA's American Rifleman: "This Rifle's Story Should Make Every Englishman Blush."
After the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, More than 7,000 privately-owned firearms were donated and shipped to England by the American Committee for the Defense of British Homes.
One of those U.S. guns was donated by Major John W. Hession. The rifle was a 30-06 Springfield Model 1903. Major Hession was a long-range competition shooter. He took that rifle to the Olympics in 1908 then, in 1909, he used it to set a world record at Camp Perry where he made 67 consecutive bullseyes at 800 yards. He won the Wimbledon Cup in 1919 and 1921. His 1962 obituary read, in part: "...one of his major achievements was to set four world records in one day. This he did in on July 3, 1925..."
At Dunkirk, the British force retreated back across the English Channel, leaving most of their equipment behind...a massive loss of armament. Combine that with the English Firearms Act of 1920 and that left almost all British citizens unarmed in the face of an advancing Third Reich. A lesson to be learned.
Hession was working for Winchester Arms in 1940. He packed up his prized Springfield Model 1903 and gave it to the American Committee for the Defense of British Homes, where it was shipped to England. A fore-end plate on the rifle read: "For obvious reasons the return of this rifle after Germany is defeated would be deeply appreciated."
The rifle now resides in the NRA's National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia.
