thorin6

Not to belittle the tragic ending of a life, but there is more to this story. At this point the BATF doesn't know for sure where the live grenade came from, although they suspect a flea market in North Carolina that may have sold some others. Until more information comes out one should be careful on how this one spins. We have all heard or read stories of live ordnance being found in fields and beaches, as well as in veteran's estates. One thing to remember is that any live ordnance in the US, no matter how old, can kill. Sad loss of a young boy.

I don't believe it means they were sealed with paint, just that the oilers were painted, and any paint around the joint would have to be removed to allow untightening. As for painting the oilers, I hazard a guess it was a long term storage issue.

Please post a larger picture of the front sight. From the photos it looks like the front sight could be for a M1903, which would indicate a problem.

While the books show seven types of cut-offs, the main difference is in the early ones, when the thumb piece was up, the cartridges would be single loaded, and when down, feed from the magazine. Around 107,000 serial number it was reversed so when up, the cartridges would feed from the magazine, and down the cartridges would be single loaded. The general concept of loading was that the cartridges would be single loaded and the magazine cartridges would be held in reserve. By reversing the loading lever made it easier for NCOs to see when the thumb piece was up, their men were using the roun

Collecting FS knives without the ENGLAND stamp is just a preference, I recognize that the value is more related to type and condition, and the ENGLAND stamp makes little difference.

Nickel plated?

Remember there are two types of magazine cut-offs; make sure you get the right one.

Same here.

I like the Fairbairn-Sykes knives. I just have 3 myself, but only get the non-imported ones (no ENGLAND stamps).

I don't like the markings, look etched not stamped to me.

Went there, saw some fellow forum members. When I went in August it was well attended and there were plenty of venders. This Saturday there were about 75% of the venders in August, and it appears that the hours up till about 1 pm were pretty busy (based on talking to several venders I knew). I usually set up with Dan the Krag guy, but he's been avoiding the shows because of COVID and because he can't breath that long with a mask on. Mask wearing was about 50/50 even though most people had masks. I picked up a WW1 German Trench Knife at a nice price; most everything else I saw I alread

Talk about Tap Line Road does bring back memories. I visit two of the POW camps with BG Frix, and we flew over a Blackhawk that had gone down. Never saw the specific burnt up vehicles but saw a lot of other stuff.

Just a short thought on collecting and it's lure. I've noticed that there are two kinds of collectors, the "one of all" and the "all of one." Which is to say some people have to have one example of everything (me), and some people want all of one thing. That isn't to say we don't collect things outside those areas, but we tend to look at adding to the collection differently. I find that my weak spot is something I don't have (like the WW1 German Trench Knife I just picked up), while other folks have a weak spot for a different variation, like an M3 Imperial knife. blade marked, that is dou

Modern paper, I believe after 1950, have optical brighteners in the paper fiber. It will glow under a blacklight. While not definitive, lack of glow would indicate the paper is earlier than that. When I got one of these letters, I looked at a lot of known ones, and the location of the folds are pretty much the same, while the reproduction on ebay, while having 3 folds, doesn't have them in the right places. I'm no expert on all this, but short of having a professional appraiser look at it, one has to make a decision based on cost (how much are you willing to risk) and matching known exampl

BTW here is a reproduction letter on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW2-Eisenhower-D-Day-Message-Letter/133083959026?hash=item1efc6c0ef2:g:ZTYAAOSwLnZayuIt