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My weapons of WWII thus far...


alktrio06
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After collecting for about a year and change, here is what I have so far...

(Pardon the non-US)

 

1. Mosin Nagant

2. Kar 98

3. Arisaka Type 99

4. M1903 Smith- Corona

5. M1 Garand

6. Smith and Wesson Victory .38

7. M1911 Colt .45

8. P-38 Spreewerke

 

My collecting goals firearms wise, are to acquire each main battlefield weapon of each major power and all used by US minus automatic ones.

post-98749-0-93786600-1361402550.jpg

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Nice..99 needs a cleaning rod..SC is varnished? M1 rifle, and M1 carbines overhaul? Late war Garand? Rear sight, and stamped guard look post WW2, type 2 carbine stock, with later features, or is stock "I", cant see?

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Nice collection. I have a few of those myself. It's interesting to think of the stories those guns could tell...

 

I have an Enfield 303 with an interesting history. A guy that knows a lot more about markings than I do gave me this rundown:

 

The gun contains two sets of parts- some that were produced around WWI and others that were produced in 1943 in preparation for WWII.

 

The bolt in particular is an early design, which appears to have been mated with the rest of the gun (which is stamped 1943 on the grip) at some point in 1957. This sounds like a hodge-podge at first, but the interesting thing is that this was done by the British Arsenal, which means that all of the parts on the gun were in British military service from at least WWI through WWII through 1957.

 

The “U” on the side indicates that it was produced in Great Britain- not India or somewhere else that the British Empire had sprawled across at that time.

 

You’ll notice that the tops of the “3”s in the serial numbers are flat on some parts and rounded on others. The parts that have the flat 3s are original to the gun, the parts that have the round 3, like the back of the bolt, would have been mated with the gun and restamped at the time of the British military’s arsenal rebuild in 1957. That said, we know that the bolt is an older style- the armorer ground down the back face of the bolt and restamped it to match the serial numbers on the rest of rifle- same thing with the magazine. The magazine, though removable, would have been loaded only with stripper clips and removed only to clean the rifle.

 

The bottom of the trigger guard bears the "broad arrow" symbol and a “57” indicating that that was the year in which the British Arsenal reworked the rifle and put it back into service.

 

So here’s what we know- the bolt came off of an early model, WWI-era, Enfield.

 

The rest of the rifle was produced in 1943- a year before the U.S. entered WWII, and several years after G.B. had been bombed to hell by the German Blitz.

 

The rifle was officially reworked by the British Arsenal in 1957 and likely served for sometime thereafter, before being sold into the civilian market.

 

The bayonet bears markings of having been produced in 1907 by Wilkinson Sword Co.

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Nice..99 needs a cleaning rod..SC is varnished? M1 rifle, and M1 carbines overhaul? Late war Garand? Rear sight, and stamped guard look post WW2, type 2 carbine stock, with later features, or is stock "I", cant see?

 

I thought so to with the 99, but I did not see a slot for the cleaning rod. I'll take a look tomorrow. The guy I bought the SC from treated the wood somehow, he said I could restore it, but I'm happy with it. The Springfield M1 has a serial of 525225, which puts it around '42. The Carbine has the high wood, I believe the rear sight is is the post war adjustable version. The hand guard is the only other thing inccorect about this saginaw to my knowledge. It has the four holes instead of two. Oh and it is also import marked on the barrel.

 

 

Thanks to all for the kind words as well.

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I thought so to with the 99, but I did not see a slot for the cleaning rod. I'll take a look tomorrow. The guy I bought the SC from treated the wood somehow, he said I could restore it, but I'm happy with it. The Springfield M1 has a serial of 525225, which puts it around '42. The Carbine has the high wood, I believe the rear sight is is the post war adjustable version. The hand guard is the only other thing inccorect about this saginaw to my knowledge. It has the four holes instead of two. Oh and it is also import marked on the barrel.

 

 

Thanks to all for the kind words as well.

 

The 99 looks like a late war last ditch.Wood butt plate,two piece lower stock?? and Im guessing a solid rear site.Many of these had no provision for a cleaning rod as they didnt drill the stock for one that late in the war.Pretty common to see these with out a rod.

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Your S&W victory barrel looks longer than 4 inches. Is it a 38 s&w? Or is it British? Most US issue victory models were 4 inch barrels.

 

 

Shtur,

 

I measured the barrel and its about 4 inches. It is a 38 S&W, as it has the flaming bomb with the initials GHD. The serial also has the "V" prefix.

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  • 1 year later...

Very nice collection! When I was younger I used to collect WW2 era firearms from different countries..... then I went to college and my money disappeared lol. . .

 

Thaddeus

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Nice collection. Im surprised you can post some of these because when i posted my M-98 Mauser--the photo got deleted.

 

Post it with US militaria as an additional weapon in the picture and it'll stay, just like these. Post it by itself and you'll find out that this site is for US militaria (except for the bring-back section). That's my understanding, anyway.

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