silverplate

The Craighead holster for the Victory .38 Special is indeed a rare and desirable holster. I've collected three different holsters for the Victory revolvers and examples in any condition were the most difficult to find. Yours is indeed in great shape. I've included photos of mine showing the unaltered length, so yours looks like only a small amount of material was removed. No telling when the pistol belt hanger was removed, but you could probably reinstall one if you wanted. Here are photos of my example for comparison. The last photo shows the three examples of holsters in my collection. The s

Amazing technology for the time. Very cool.

The "SG" in the barrel markings stands for "Steering Gear" , but the Saginaw Steering Gear Division of GM had plants in both Grand Rapids and Saginaw, Michigan. In April 1943, Saginaw took over production of carbines from Irwin-Pedersen.

Just out of curiosity, what is the seller asking for the "Red Navy" victory?

The "U.S. NAVY" top-strap marked Victory revolvers were part of a contract for 65K revolvers that the Navy issued to S&W. They were all delivered in 1942. The Army also had contracts that ran from 1942 to 1945, with total deliveries exceeding 264K. Those revolvers had "U S PROPERTY" on the top strap. Any Navy marked Victory revolver is more desirable due to the low numbers. I looked for a Victory with the red Navy property markings you describe for a long time with no luck. Since it was not a factory applied stamp, there's no telling how many exist. It appears that it was a locally-applie

During WWI, the 24 round "M1911 in clips" ammo boxes were supplied by Remington, Winchester, Peters, and U.S. Cartridge Co. Great display pieces if you can find them. In the early 20s, to support the existing inventory of M1917 revolvers, Frankford Arsenal repacked a quantity of .45 ACP rounds in their standard 20 round box, and included 7 loose clips inside. The box is quite scarce, and could be missed if the top label isn't visible. There seems to have been only one lot made. During WW2, the half moon clips were made in quantity for use with the "old" revolvers still

Sorry, but your ammo is not WW2. Winchester Repeating Arms M1911 rounds produced in 1945 were from Lots 22140 to 22196. Your ammo was most likely made in the mid-50s. The lot number information came from my 1946 copy of Ordnance Service Bulletin SB 9-AMM 4 (Ammunition Lots and Grades). Post-war through 1959, the lot numbers ran from 22197 to 22451, as listed in my 1959 copy of Army Technical Bulletin TB 9-AMM 4 (Small Arms Ammunition Lots and Grades). A sealed spam can is a desirable collectible no matter when the ammo was made. Hope this helps.

I remember going to a huge gun/military show in Ontario when I lived in Rialto in the mid-80s. You could find almost anything there. Was that the Great Western show? That show was awesome!

The T-44 round production started during the summer of 1944, continuing until April 1945 when its nomenclature was changed to M22. Production of that round ended late in 1945. The T74 round was an M22 round tested with different powder , but never went into full-scale production. The length of time that the T-44 was produced vs. the other rounds may account for its more common availability. Here's an interesting box label that was altered at the plant during the nomenclature change-over.

There seems to be better availability of the T-44 since I started looking for them.

Towed target sleeves were shot at with standard .30 caliber ammunition. Later, in order to make the training more realistic, frangible rounds were developed to shoot at modified (armored) aircraft. The frangible round had a bullet that was a mixture of powdered lead and bakelite, designed to shatter on impact. You can read about this program by searching for "Operation Pinball". The pictures show a box of frangible rounds, and a modified P-63 used in Operation Pinball, and based at Kingman. My apologies for the confusion on the original question.

If the crate you found is for 500 rounds, then it is most likely contained 10-25 round boxes of shells. The individual boxes would have been wrapped in a foil/paper outer wrap for protection. Here is a 25 round carton:

Here is another photo published during the war: From the looks of the terrain, this could have been taken at Kingman.

Both the Army and Navy used shotguns for primary aerial gunnery training, preferring autoloaders used from the back of a moving truck. The #8 Chilled Shot and #8 Chilled Shot with Tracer were procured in 25 round and 10 round cartons. Here is a photo showing gunnery training and a 10 round box of shells.

Great restoration work. That's my favorite WW2 weapon. Thanks for sharing.