FOR THE EMPEROR!
Dec. 24th, 2007 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
titusnowlNot this power-armored pansy:
This Tim-Curry-lookin' Kraut is my emperor:
George "V"Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Windsor of the British Empire, back in the ol' sun-never-sets days. Specifically, 1910 to 1936.
For a bit in the middle of that, there was only war.
But you already knew that.
Friday, Justin and I went to the local gun shop and bought a sword. While there, we fingered all the milsurp as usual, and found a couple of WWI-dated SMLEs. We bought a '48 Ishapore No1 Mk3 there a few years ago, but I've always wanted a real Great War-era British one to go with my Webley (1915) and bayonet (Wilkinson, March 1918). I asked about trading the Ishy in on one of the old ones, and the proprietor said "Bring it in tomorrow, I'll see what I can do."
So we did. Mickey picked it up, looked down the bore and then the sights ("Where is that front sight? God, I'm getting old!") and declared an even swap, with a $20 charge for the hassle of doing the paperwork. I made Justin fill out the 4473, because I'm terrified of accidentally putting down a wrong answer. He is too, but at least he doesn't make stupid eyebrow-raising jokes about it ("Is it a problem if I killed a guy and am buying this to defend my stash from the cops?")
So, out with the old, in with the older.
1916. They had a '14, but it had the new-style cocking piece and ugly wood. This one is pretty and all-original, numbers-matching. (Well, kind of. Keep reading.)
Whatever could that mean? :google: Oh, "grenade-firing." I guess that explains this, then:
The explanation is that the higher pressures encountered in grenading might split the stock, but way up at the front?
Maybe that explains this patch job just behind the bolt that was also supposed to keep the stock from splitting. The bolt didn't work very well, apparently.
I don't know what's up with the handguard bits around the rear sight being cut off.
Ey? Ey! It actually mean "emergency use only," most likely because it's not a MkIII*, just an old MkIII, and thus obsolete.
Proof that there isn't a * on there covered up with paint/filth:
That's the slot in the receiver where the magazine cutoff went. It was put in a newer stock when it was rebuilt as a grenade launcher, as you can see from the wood covering up most of the slot.
After the conversion, it was issued to a unit, though I haven't been able to figure out who this represents. F.A 5 . 40. For some reason yesterday, despite LOOKING AT THE DAMN THING THE WHOLE TIME, I kept being dyslexic and reading it as 4.50. He was in the 5th, not the 4th.
Whoever it was, the poor guy lost his magazine at some point. The one what ain't crossed out is the rifle's number. Sorry, got to talking like a British soldier for a moment there.
I can't tell if they force-matched the stock as well, since the area where the stock serial number would be is under the wire at the front.
There is this hidden under the nosecap. No idea what it means.
Random "the Brits stamped EVERYTHING" pictures! Anybody know what any of these mean?
That last one is the right side of the stock. It's got a couple of GFs and "I [arrow] S" between them. The latter is in the style of the Commonwealth broad arrows, but doesn't correspond to any that I could find.
The whole thing, with bayonet:
Apologies for the linoleum. It's the only unobstructed space in the apartment long enough for the whole thing (seriously, this thing's fucking huge with the bayonet fixed. It's eyebrow-level when the butt's on the floor, and smacks into the ceiling when going from "port arms" to "right shoulder"). We'll go shoot it and take better pictures when we visit Justin's family tomorrow.
WWI British Weapons for the win!!
This Tim-Curry-lookin' Kraut is my emperor:
George "V"
For a bit in the middle of that, there was only war.
But you already knew that.
Friday, Justin and I went to the local gun shop and bought a sword. While there, we fingered all the milsurp as usual, and found a couple of WWI-dated SMLEs. We bought a '48 Ishapore No1 Mk3 there a few years ago, but I've always wanted a real Great War-era British one to go with my Webley (1915) and bayonet (Wilkinson, March 1918). I asked about trading the Ishy in on one of the old ones, and the proprietor said "Bring it in tomorrow, I'll see what I can do."
So we did. Mickey picked it up, looked down the bore and then the sights ("Where is that front sight? God, I'm getting old!") and declared an even swap, with a $20 charge for the hassle of doing the paperwork. I made Justin fill out the 4473, because I'm terrified of accidentally putting down a wrong answer. He is too, but at least he doesn't make stupid eyebrow-raising jokes about it ("Is it a problem if I killed a guy and am buying this to defend my stash from the cops?")
So, out with the old, in with the older.
1916. They had a '14, but it had the new-style cocking piece and ugly wood. This one is pretty and all-original, numbers-matching. (Well, kind of. Keep reading.)
Whatever could that mean? :google: Oh, "grenade-firing." I guess that explains this, then:
The explanation is that the higher pressures encountered in grenading might split the stock, but way up at the front?
Maybe that explains this patch job just behind the bolt that was also supposed to keep the stock from splitting. The bolt didn't work very well, apparently.
I don't know what's up with the handguard bits around the rear sight being cut off.
Ey? Ey! It actually mean "emergency use only," most likely because it's not a MkIII*, just an old MkIII, and thus obsolete.
Proof that there isn't a * on there covered up with paint/filth:
That's the slot in the receiver where the magazine cutoff went. It was put in a newer stock when it was rebuilt as a grenade launcher, as you can see from the wood covering up most of the slot.
After the conversion, it was issued to a unit, though I haven't been able to figure out who this represents. F.A 5 . 40. For some reason yesterday, despite LOOKING AT THE DAMN THING THE WHOLE TIME, I kept being dyslexic and reading it as 4.50. He was in the 5th, not the 4th.
Whoever it was, the poor guy lost his magazine at some point. The one what ain't crossed out is the rifle's number. Sorry, got to talking like a British soldier for a moment there.
I can't tell if they force-matched the stock as well, since the area where the stock serial number would be is under the wire at the front.
There is this hidden under the nosecap. No idea what it means.
Random "the Brits stamped EVERYTHING" pictures! Anybody know what any of these mean?
That last one is the right side of the stock. It's got a couple of GFs and "I [arrow] S" between them. The latter is in the style of the Commonwealth broad arrows, but doesn't correspond to any that I could find.
The whole thing, with bayonet:
Apologies for the linoleum. It's the only unobstructed space in the apartment long enough for the whole thing (seriously, this thing's fucking huge with the bayonet fixed. It's eyebrow-level when the butt's on the floor, and smacks into the ceiling when going from "port arms" to "right shoulder"). We'll go shoot it and take better pictures when we visit Justin's family tomorrow.
WWI British Weapons for the win!!
