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Camouflage M8 Scabbard


Pudgy (V)
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Has anyone seen a factory camouflaged M8 before? Did they exist? I purchased this scabbard with an M3 Imperial guard marked knife. It appears the camo was applied by the factory before the throat was attached. It doesn't look like the two taps holding the throat on were messed with.

Thank-you for your help!!

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My first observation is that it has an M8 BMCO metal throat. That indicates that it was made during WWII. The scabbard body has a VP mold number which is consistent with scabbards in this time period. The Webbing and double belt hook also are of the same WWII time period.

Therefore, it is likely that the camo paint was done after the construction of the scabbard and not by the factory. Very interesting though.

Marv

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Pudgy (V) - I agree with Marv, very doubtful it came from the factory this way. Have never seen any others. Now, I had a USN MK2 scabbard, for my MK2 Camillus, I hand painted camouflage, when I was in 5th SFGA, looked great. More than likely someone did it for their own personal preference. SKIP

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Thanks guys!!! I'm not sure how it was painted without getting paint all over the throat. Even if it was masked off, it would have been really hard to paint that close to the throat without getting paint on the lip. It appears to be painted with the throat off, but there are no signs of the throat being removed. Even if they cleaned the throat off after painting it, there would have been visible signs of scratches on the fiberglass. The brown is a very smooth paint just like the factory green. If it was done by a GI, he put a lot of effort into it and did a really nice job.

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I've seen a lot of repainted M8/M8A1's. Most of them were typical as having green paint on the sheath body and the metal throat. Many of those show definite signs of having the webbing removed before painting and either replaced or re-installed afterwards. I have two sheaths, one an M8 and the other an M8A1 that show that the body was repainted green while the throat was painted with a metal silver cover then also looks to have been done with the webbing removed. Neither of these throats show either broken tabs or signs of the tabs having been straightan and re-bent. My assumption is that there are times when the throat can be removed and re-installed without being obvious.

I've looked through copies of maintenance documents to try and get clues as to what exact repair procedures were. Certainly certain levels of maintenance were reserved for different levels of maintenance organizations. Even allowing for that, IMHO there appears to have been a degree of variance, allowing for expedience.

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Ok, thanks guys!! I appreciate your feedback!! However it was painted, I still enjoy it, and will display it proudly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was looking on ebay tonight and found a listing with a scabbard that looks almost identical to mine. I'm starting to wonder if this isn't some sort of factory or divisional thing.

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