Vernon Range, Blenheim

[oj]

I have had no detailed look at Blenheim since 1962 (so much has been missed in my life!).
Some Google Earthing shows some growth since then.
I cannot find any trace of the Vernon Range, where we had many hot and thirsty days (slaked only by cheap orange "Mess" cordial).
So it was all .303 ball, out of our old Lee Enfield Mk1*'s, and a bit of Bren chucked in near the end (I guess when we were competent enough).
And some trip-flares, thunder-flashes and tracer on night exercises.
Actually BES 19 was very lucky to receive much more (I mean it really was a LOT more) live-firing than was normally attributed to BE's.
There was apparently a glut of .303 ball that was coming up to being shelf-life expired, so we had the job of using it up.

I can honestly say that I have never fired a rifle since.
Oh, there was supposed to be "Annual Musketry" at Ohakea but it never reached me.

So what happened to the old Vernon Range?
When did it close down?
What streets or roads would now comprise the former peripheral boundary of the range?
Is there any single object remaining? A plaque? A concrete remnant of the butts?

[lumpy]

If Im thinking of the same place , then the property that the range was on had Wither road as its Northern boundry , the Wither hills to the South ( shooting was from the North ,towards the hills ) . Taylor pass road was the Western boundry , with just farm land to the East .

Forrest Park Drive goes through what would have been the range . Housing to the North of that ( town side ) is new ( ish ) , and land South ( toward the hills) is now part of what is council owned " Farm Park " .

There is now newer housing going in along Taylor Pass Road .

There is a public entrance to the farm park and a parking area that is off a small road thats called " Rifle Range Place " .( pretty self explainatory really )

Last time I was there the butts were pretty much intact ( although I never saw them when the range was in use , but there is still a large chunk there )

Cant say when it was shut down , but the College used to run cross country runs over the same area in the early eighties , and it was closed by then ( but the big line of trees was still there )

[isc]

It was fairly hot and dusty in 64 when I was there with #21 BES, I'm sure it was LE Mk 4*. Still got a .303 in the gun cabinet, but it's an old P14. isc

[xbaggy]

You are right isc, it was a very dry and dusty place. I shot there during cadet school in 1966, as well as annual musketry qualifying while at Woodbourne.
My Wednesday afternoon sport was rifle shooting. We used to shoot at ranges up to 1000 yards on 6 foot x 6 foot targets, using the standard 303 fully wooded rifles.
We also used to shoot against the local rifle clubs on Saturdays, and felt a bit like country cousins, as they were using expensive purpose made rifles. However the 303 fitted with Parker-Hale sights was more than up to the task.

[suthg]

My Dad had a P14 he used with the orifice back sight and shot deer in our back country - the NI Aorangi mounts - Sth Wairarapa. His father had the first license to shoot red deer in 1921 after WWI when they (he and his brother) cleared 2,500 acres of this back block - they were protected up to that point, but they then created a 800yd range back on the terraced flats closer to home for a local club range. My Dad became an expert shot at Wairarapa College and then in Canterbury while at Uni (Lincoln College) I believe. He brought out a lot of venison from our back country with that P14.

[isc]

The P-14 that I have was my late brother in laws, and probably his dads(he shot in the Ballenger Belt, and had a number of rifles), this one has the fore stock cut down. My sister doesn't have a licence, so I'm looking after it.
My cousin Gary Clark worked as a Vet with Tim Wallis to domesticate deer. Gary was the boss at Invermay. I bought a Parker Hale/ LE Mk 3 a couple of years after I left the BES, but it didn't get that much use. isc