There is something to be said for knowing how much discomfort a man can withstand before needing a break. If this whole tale tells, it is the perseverance that military service teaches.

With the worst part of the job behind you, I am extremely glad I found the Kijiji ad in the first place, and that things worked out so well for all concerned. What started with a couple of snooty neighbours trying to boss the seller around backfired when he got cash for his so-called yard junk, Rob gets two Sorel 25-pdrs and the MLU community came together in an important effort. Well done us! :thup2:

Rob, the St Hubert story is always the same for me too, having a Quebecoise at home and not taking her is always a big no no.
I usually tease her anyways knowing I will catch hell in the end by taking a quick pic and texting to her...

25 Pounder Rescue
 

Here are a few photos of the end of the day of winching and loading. Video later.


1. Rob's truck ready to roll.
2. Bob's truck ready to roll.
3. The previous owners seemed a bit sad to see the guns go.
4. Another shot of Bob's load.
5. Rob stops in at the World Famous Hammond Barn for an inspection.

Making someone sell those because of a municipal 'eyesore' bylaw is obscene. There was a similar instance here where an old guy had a collection of antique farm tractors. All well painted, maintained, almost invisible from the road and carefully trimmed grass around and under them. The old guy dies and before he's in the ground his widow is told to get rid of them or face a fine. She did. A great deal of history and her husband's investment were gone. How dare they.

Thanks for posting the photos Rob.

Just home about a half hour ago and am pretty zonked. Hopefully I can sleep in a little tomorrow, then unloading can begin.

Not sure when I'll be heading back to Ottawa for the second one.

The Guns
 

Rob

I talked to Ross last night, it sounds like you had some full days and lots of help. Aren't you glad that the Ontario collectors are so helpful and there none of the difficulties that removing things from the West creates.

Glad to see they went to a good home and help expand your collection. I'll be out to see them some time in the future.

Gord

Yes, very full days. When we went to St Huberts, I had to stand for a while as every muscle in my body started to cramp up.

As I have mentioned, without Bob and crew showing up, I would have been doing a lot of hand winching. At best I would have had the close one on the trailer and to Bob's for Tuesday evening, and then spent Wednesday hand winching the second one up the hill. I would have ended up backing the trailer onto the grass to pick it up once to the top of the hill, but even so, the first leg of the winching had to have been at least 70 feet, and all of it uphill.

I can promise you this: after seeing Bob's winch set-up, I'll be setting up similar on my trailer. I actually picked up an old Warn 8000 pound winch for the trailer last fall which has been kicking around the shop ever since. It will be on the trailer soon enough, hopefully for the trip back to Ottawa.

I think Bob mentioned some poaching from Saskatchewan. Perhaps I may be able to help out on that one, but I'll have to work out the details.

Funeral at noon, auction at 2:00pm.

Amazing story !


:thup:

Take your time. It is not often that a 25 pounder gets deployed at the Hammond Barn. We will be lifting the spade so it won't be in contact with the ground and after Bob and Grant have some time on the gun (preserving it with heavy oil), the breech and muzzle will be sealed. The traversing table is leaning against a sea can awaiting the next rain to wash the dirt off its bottom side.

Let us know if you have any instructions on how you want the gun stored. Right now it is hidden from view by a HUP or two in the back field. Enjoy your kip!

Perhaps one extra item that could be covered is that big gash on the plate over the spades. Winter is coming and I would hate that it would fill with water and then split the frame. Or is that just a Manitoba thing??

I am already searching the internet for some parts sources.

Movie Time
 

If you want to share in the experience of recovering a 25 Pounder, see the video at the following link: https://youtu.be/5m5_uRLBSDU

Some observations:

Rob L is a lucky man - first, his wife permits him to play hooky for a week, next he finds two guns and buys them before the rush of bidders, then both of the guns had wheels that turned (although one set of wheels had to be replaced - the nuts actually came off without a struggle), and the rain held off until the guns were loaded. Rob was assisted by fellow restorers from Ontario, who came along not only for the experience, but to help a guy who is well-known to help others in the hobby.

The video only shows the winch pulls and not all of the hard labour that went into keeping the lawn pristine, and the gun rolling. The slope in the video looks gentle, but it was fairly steep. Things went well, but it took some effort to move the guns safely. A look at Rob's shirt says it all. It was a hot and humid recovery, but very a satisfying day.

Well a little update. I have been trying to get that recoil mechanism back up on the gun to where it should be. Had two chain hoists tight enough that you could pluck the chains like a guitar, and no movement. Added some heat in certain spots and still no movement, even with the sledge and a block of oak trying to assist. I kept spraying it down with penetrating oil every time I went by it.

Managed to chain up a 5 ton jack to the back of the breech, and pumped to as hard as it goes. No luck.

Brought out the medium artillery this weekend. A Enerpac portapower with 10 ton (20,000 pound) cylinder with chain attachments. Wrapped a 7/16 chain through the trunnions and attached the cylinder to the back of the breech. Pumped her up, and suddenly it seemed like movement. Alas, it was a link on the 7/16 chain that had failed. Set it all up again and still no luck.

So yesterday I headed out to my favorite scrapyard to pick up a spare in case I have to torch off the cradle. This one is a little worse for wear, but I think it will clean up OK.

House renovations continue in earnest, so gun time is limited.

Great recovery and road trip. Some of us would have paid just to be along for the fun and Hammond Barn stop... :) House renovations always seem to pop up when there are more interesting things to do, but most of us know which is the more important and where the support for our hobbies comes from :thup2: Unless you're single, a tolerant partner goes a long way. Mine is pretty good about all of it, but has told my friends that she wants to go first, so she doesn't have to deal with my stuff...:ergh:

Tag your stuff or mark the vehicle type with a paint pen. Make an inventory list if you have really useful or saleable parts. Then put it in the will - funeral at noon, auction at 2:00.

Road trip
 

Hi All

Jes' Comment reminded me all the great road trips and across the border raids I used to go on with my mate Bob Mosley, who would be well known to MLU members. Bob would hear about a military vehicle standing in a paddock or some way off farm. I would receive a phone call and we would be off on the hunt.

I often stop and think of those great trips and ponder why he was taken so young. RIP Bob.:remember

Cheers

Tony :no4:

Not sure anyone would want to pay to be on one of these road trips here in Canada. Very long days and I am too cheap to go to a hotel each night. Not so much the money (well that too I guess) but the wasted time in the room and in the morning with breakfast and showering etc. Far easier to sleep in the back seat of the truck, wake up, relieve the bladder, wash the hair if need be using a bottle of water, and get on the way, grabbing some drive-thru breakfast at the next town.

As I would climb into the sleeping bag each night, I would toss the socks out the back window because they stunk so bad. After the day of loading the guns, the running shoes went out the back window as well.

Nothing like a clean fresh pair of socks in the morning to start your day right.

I did have one old timer near Kenogmi tell me about the 15cwt he has stashed away on his farm. He was looking to sell it. It was his dad's, and was in the same family since it was surplussed from the DND. Sounded very complete. I put him on to this site....not sure if he will follow through. At that point I was only interested in getting home, and was not looking to poach a CMP from Northern Ontario.

There's something to be said about solo runs. Get up, get down, drive, eat what have you at your own pace. Hold the eyes open with toothpicks as required. No pee breaks for passengers or complaint about the nefarious odors in the truck cab.
That's the way I usually fly on work assignments (and picks too!). :thup2:

I used to drive through the night until I could not drive anymore. But with older age comes the realization of mortality. I was on a deadline and could not afford a connection with a Moose, so around 11PM, it would be time to pull over. Better to pace oneself.

Been there, done that. Night driving is usually best avoided and that's my time to take a break nowadays... And then there is the Black Dog. Ever heard of it? There's a movie by the same name.

New one on me.

Black dog refers to a point when you are so tired that you swear you saw a black dog run across the road in front of you that really didn't exist. It is a common phenomenom in persons who are overtired to the point of delusion.
The mind begins to play tricks on you and you begin to see shadows and illusions that are not real. It is a dangerous condition.

When I was a lot younger, I used to visit a friend who was studying nursing at the U of A in Edmonton. I lived in Victoria would get off work at 4, catch the 5pm ferry to the mainland and drive all night. The 13 hr trip out wasn't too bad but after a weekend, little sleep, the drive back Sunday night would often have me seeing bushes at the side of the road come to life and other odd sights on the way. In those days, the CPR had a ferry that left Vancouver at 3am and arrived in Nanaimo around 5:30am. Just enough time to drive home to Victoria, change my shirt, crab a coffee and head to work. I recall one of the older fellows I worked with asking what I did on the weekend. I replied that I had been in Edmonton to visit my girlfriend. When did you get back? he asked. My reply was, About 30 minutes ago...

Its a wonder any of us survived...

As I mentioned previously, a 10 ton porta power did not move the barrel back into battery. So I brought home the big guns: 25 ton porta power cylinder. I went and picked up some gr70 transport chains as well which only have a safe working load of 6000 pounds or so, but have a breaking strength of over 26000 pounds. So between the two of them, I figured it should hold the energy behind the 50000 pounds of hydraulic force.

I got it all set up, and after pumping the enerpac for a bit, had the chains tight as a scottsman's wallet. I was sure the chains were going to give, but I decided to go for broke. The pump had to have been close to relief. Suddenly a big bang. I looked for the broken link, but to my surprise, the recoil had jumped two inches. So I pumped some more, and it jumped again. It never did get easy though. It made me fight right to the last inch. I got it back to where it belongs today. Normally I woudl weld a gun like this into battery, but I'm pretty sure I won't need to on this one.

The next issue was what to do with the recoil rods which were now sticking out past the muzzle. They were absolutely solid, and with the pitting on them I suspect they were never going to be made to work again anyway. It is certainly not my intention to make this into a working gun.

I simply torched them ff close to the cylinders. The center cylinder had been left open for all those years, and water had collected inside of it. It froze and cracked the bottom of the cylinder, possibly mis-shaping the whole recoil mechanism. I suspect that was why it was so hard putting the sleigh back to the proper position.

In the last photo you can see where I have installed a set of the STA 10.50-16 tires. They look a little baloonish but at the same time the tread doesn't look out of place either.

Truly an adventure only those around here could fully appreciate!!

And no blood!! A good day indeed.

On an earlier day of using the porta power, I tried to save time by inserting a piece of 3" diameter steel roundstock in place once the cylinder had reached it's maximum extension. That would have saved setting up the chains every 5 inches. A large bang told me it was a bad choice. There was a second smaller bang when the 8 pound chunk of bar landed somewhere behind me.

I did not try that method again. Pretty sure, had it found the top of my head, I would have needed more than a few aspirin for the headache.

So in the end no blood.

Gun number two is on it's way home now. Rob Clarke let the cat out of the bag over on the Hammond barn thread, so I'll expand on it a bit here.

When other MLUers heard I was coming out, the requests to transport stuff was fast and furious. I had to make two trips out to my favorite scrapyard to retrieve items for Chris, Jordan, and Martin. I got everything loaded on Friday night, and as soon as I woke up in the morning, I was on my way.

First stop though was just North of Winnipeg, where I dropped 3 sections of modular canvas off to Derk, and picked up about 6 boxes of Jeep stuff for Jim in Arnprior.

I made it to Longlac that night and slept in the backseat of the truck. The days are much shorter now, and although I have not seen a moose yet, they have signs every 10 miles warning of their night danger.

Day two, I made it to Chris Vs place just South of North Bay, where I dropped off a larger project for him (I'll let him reveal it when he is ready) and a fair number of wooden chests for Ross, along with 2 thermal food chests for Jordan Baker. I was supposed to pick up a pile of Jeep engines and axles etc for Wayne in Alberta at that time, but there just wasn't room, and the day was getting late. I also had to pick up 2 25 pdr modern style rims and tires, which I was going to install on my 25pdr for the trip home.So I headed off towards Ottawa.

Spent the night at the Irving truck stop at Pembroke. Fantastic food, and a very large parking lot. I slept there (again in the back seat of the truck) had breakfast, then back on the road to Ottawa.

One stop first though...Jimmy Frazers in Arnprior. I have talked to Jim for over 20 years on the phone, but finally got to meet him in person. For a guy who claims to need more Jeeps, I have to tell you I have not seen this many Jeeps in one spot in a long time.

So off goes his 6 boxes, and I made a trade of a Ramsey military PTO for a huge door stop that weighs about 400 pounds.

Off to Ottawa, and Martin and his dad were already waiting at the Hammond barn for their delivery of a 1970 recoiless rifle Jeep. While I was helping Martin out with the Jeep, the pit crew at the barn (Bob, Rob, and Grant) installed the new tires on the 25 pdr.

This was when the first problem cropped up. The new tires were significantly wider than the originals, so it was not going to fit onto the trailer. After looking at some of the possibilities, we went to Bob's scrappile to see if the original beat up rims from the 25pdr could be found.

Long story short, they were installed, we hand winched the gun on as far as we could, then used whatever I had to try and add tongue weight to the trailer. By 2, I was heading back to North Bay.

Travelling was a little slow, as I did not trust the trailer at high speed with marginal tongue weight. So by the time I got to North Bay, it was dark. I splurged and rented a hotel room. Holy cripes...$150. Anyway, a good nights sleep and in the morning, back to Chris V's just as the sun was starting to come up. Chris could not be there, as he headed off to a job the day before, but he had pointed out everything I would need to load all the Jeep stuff. 3 engines, a transmission/transfer case, 3 axles, frame portions, rims, drums.....it was a load. Got it all on and back on the road by about 11.

So I am now in Longlac again, but as the temps were expected to go down to -8 tonight, I again opted for a hotel room.

If all goes well, I should be home tomorrow night. I did drive through some snow squalls as well as hail today, but none of it was significant. I do worry about the roads getting icy.

Sorry, no photos for now, but I'll get some of the load when I get home before I unload.

So more than a few hours spent acquiring and distributing bits and pieces to the various members here, but many have done the same for me......I am sure it will all equal out in the end.

Sorry if it's a little longwinded. I like to look back at these posts to remind me how much work goes into these acquisitions.

Thanks again Rob for helping out.
As mentioned, there's a good chance that I will be going your way in the next year so perhaps I can return the favour back out and home again when the time comes.
To me, this is part of what the hobby is all about.

Safely home about an hour ago. Sure nice to be back in the warm Manitoba weather....far too much snow out there in Ontario.

Google maps shows a one way trip distance from my place to Bob's as being 2403 km, which theoretically is 4806 km round trip. Odometer showed 5067 so the side trips were only an extra 260 kms. That's not too bad for track discipline.

Photos of the booty in the morning.