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Mills 1907 Naval Cartridge Belt Score!


Celduin
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Found this unusual Mills cartridge belt hanging from a peg in a hole-in-the-wall outdoors shop here in town. Early Mills equipment is out of my zone of expertise, but the 40 rounds of shootable ammo tucked into the loops sealed the deal. The best part was the price... 50 bucks!

 

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As the picture shows, the belt is in excellent shape for being over 100 years old. There's not even any verdigris on the brass fittings. I have always been very impressed with the quality of Mills webbing, and this piece is no exception. With good care, I am confident that it will last another century.

 

 

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The belt has the SpanAm War-style fastener in the front, which is puzzling because by this time (1907) Mills had since moved to the T-bar latching system on their 1903 and 1907 cartridge belts.

 

I personally quite like the look of the belt. Kinda like cowboy action shooting meets Belle Epoque dreadnoughts. Despite this, I don't know whether this piece of equipment would have been terribly practical for serious fighting. The front third of the belt circumference is empty, the cartridges are exposed to mud and dirt from the bottom, and the rearmost cartridges are more or less unreachable. Plus, there are no brass grommets to loop suspenders, canteens, bayonets, or other pouches.

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I counted 35 M2 ball rounds stamped HXP 77, 3 FA 41 tracers, and 2 softpoints. I'll feed the HXP to my Garand and set aside the old tracers in the collectible pile. I've found that Berdan-primed .30-06 brass makes a great display filler, so that's what I'll put in the loops to keep their shape.

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I didn't know that this belt was originally for the Krag. I've got a few odd rounds of .30-40 knocking around but the loops hold the '06 brass just fine.

 

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The sunlight washes it out somewhat, but the belt is stamped "E. L. LARWOOD 41 N. E. SACRAMENTO ST." very prominently both under the rear flap and on the back part of the belt itself, facing towards the wearer's body. Was he the original sailor, or maybe just a surplus dealer? Who knows...

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WOW!!!! What a score; that looks like a Marine-style name stencil. Usually the Navy had the surname and then the initials, but as we all know, never say "never".

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Here's a shot of the rear snap. The snaps holding down the left and right sides of the big canvas flap have an identical design. The underside of the snap reads "PAT. JULY 30, 1907".

 

Unlike on other Mills designs, this cartridge belt does not reference a specific patent date. The left brass keeper reads "MADE UNDER MILLS PATENTS" and has an engraved Mills bullet alongside the stamped logo seen in the earlier photos. The right reads "MADE BY MILLS WOVEN CARTRIDGE BELT CO. WORCESTER, MASS."

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