Gun-believable moment fisherman pulls up World War II submachine guns from canal

By Ed Cullinane via SWNS

A magnet fisherman was shocked when he pulled six WW2 submachine guns from a canal.

Nigel Lamford, 50, pulled the iconic Sten guns out of the water using his powerful specially-made magnet - capable of lifting over a ton of metal from the water.

Throwing the magnet into the boggy canal at random, he was thrilled to pull out a magazine - followed by the gun and stock which they re-assembled on the bank.

The grime-covered weapon was the first of six Nigel and his pals dragged from the depths in Weedon Bec, England

Thrilled with the discovery, he and his fellow magnet fishers posed with the weapons before they were taken away to a local military museum.

Dad-of-three Nigel, who runs the UK's biggest magnet fishing YouTube channels, said it's his best find ever.

The guns were recovered from a stretch of water near the site of the former Royal Ordnance Depot.

Nigel reckons the weapons - which could be fired if they were cleaned out - are worth around £1,000 ($1,300) each.

The auto-electrician from Kettering, Northamptonshire, said: "A find like that was just the best find ever in my opinion.

"You can find some amazing stuff, but I've never found so many guns in such good condition together.

"They're such iconic guns, we all had great fun posing with them and putting them all back together once I'd pulled them out."

Nigel pulled the Stens from the canal during a 10-hour fishing session on January 9, 2022.

The famous submachine gun was one of the most well-used weapons in WW2 by British forces, with over two million being made.

This is just one of many of Nigel's discoveries from Britain's rivers.

He's previously uncovered artillery shells, grenades, knives and flintlock muskets from the 18th century.

He has now surrendered the weapons to the local military museum to clean up.

He's discovered all kinds of historical relics across the country, even briefly accidentally closing down part of Reading after discovering an artillery shell in the Thames.

Nigel said: "I've recovered about 61 guns now in total.

"You don't get many very often but the place we were dredging was the UK's biggest ordinance depo for 150 years, so it goes right back to Napoleonic times.

"You obviously can't have weapons in the UK though so they are always surrendered to police to be destroyed, or given away to museums to clean up.

"We got special permission to be there because it's private land."

Nigel's YouTube channel, 'Northantsmagnetfishing,' has viewers and sponsors from across the world.

He said: "[Magnet fishing] is getting really big in the UK now. When I first started three years ago there were maybe ten YouTube channels for it, now there are over 100 in the UK.

"It's an amazing community too. Usually, there's five of us in a group, and we go out looking together and have a bit of fun, that's the main thing."