Smitty's Junk

DiscoLad

New member
All of your pictures from today, Montana?
Sweet.(y)

Looks like a Colt until you get up close.

Sharkey, what are you talking about, man?:confused:
 

Montana Smith

Active member
DiscoLad said:
Sharkey, what are you talking about, man?:confused:

Sharkey (or shall we call him Bullet Tooth Tony?) was having a flashback to the time he was in the movie Snatch!

DiscoLad said:
All of your pictures from today, Montana?
Sweet.(y)

Yes, both packages arrived yesterday.

DiscoLad said:
Looks like a Colt until you get up close.

Quoting from Hogg and Weeks' Military Small Arms of the Tewntieth Century:

7.62mm Tokarev TT-33

This was designed by Feodor V Tokarev during the late 1920s and was approved for service in 1930, being called the TT-30 (Tula-Tokarev). Basically it was a Browning swinging-link breech lock with modifications to improve reliability and simplify manufacture and maintenance. The principle changes from, say the Colt M1911 were a removable hammer and lockwork in a separate module which made initial assembly and subsequent repair much easier, the formation of the magazine feed lips in the pistol frame, thus making the manufacture of magazines much easier and their maintenance less critical, and the absence of any form of safety device other than a half-**** notch on the hammer.

In 1933 the design was slightly changed; the TT-30 had two ribs on the top of the barrel which engaged in recesses in the slide, but in order to speed up production the TT-33 had these ribs formed as complete circles around the barrel.

In appearance it looks very much like Browning's FN Model 1903:

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Ryton Arms write on their website:

The weapons we sell are from direct purchase contacts with overseas Governments and are deactivated by our staff in our workshops.

...

Ryton Arms is on the Ministry of Defence approved list for the deactivation of weapons for the Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

...

We also regularly deactivate armoured cars, self propelled guns and the whole range of tanks right up to the 50 tonne British Chieftain Tank for shipment to overseas collectors.

We have also supplied deactivated weapons to overseas Governments for use on ceremonial occasions.

...

We are presently importing material from the former USSR - this ranges from United States weapons shipped to help the Russian war effort in 1941/42; captured German weapons from the retreat from Stalingrad and Kursk and the whole range of weapons used by the Russian Armies during World War 2 to the present day.

It really does look like this TT-33 set has been well maintained, albeit sitting in storage in the Soviet Union/Russian Federation for over fifty years. Ryton's price was also half that being asked for a 1949 dated example with holster etc offered by another company.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Staying with the Soviet theme, five brass army belt buckles of the style first introduced during the Second World War for cadets at the Suvorov Military Schools. The design was later adopted for use by regular Soviet army units, and used for many years.

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And here for us today is the delightful Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko modelling the buckle:

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The junk currently on display:

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DiscoLad

New member
If somebody robbed your house. . .:eek:

Good God.
I do like the far left, black revolver there.
That's some Civil War replica, hm?
 

Montana Smith

Active member
DiscoLad said:
If somebody robbed your house. . .:eek:

Good God.
I do like the far left, black revolver there.
That's some Civil War replica, hm?

Yes, it's an 1860 Griswold & Gunnison .36, which was the Confederate Army?s copy of the .36 Colt, using iron and brass due to a shortage of steel.

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HovitosKing

Well-known member
So are those replicas, or authentic examples? I have a Colt 1873 clone from Uberti that I love to shoot in 45LC.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
HovitosKing said:
So are those replicas, or authentic examples? I have a Colt 1873 clone from Uberti that I love to shoot in 45LC.

You can't have live firing handguns in the UK any more.

The guns on the wall are:

Deactivated:

Webley Mk IV .38 double action
Vincenzo Bernadelli Mod. 60 .22 LR semi-automatic
Soviet Tokarev TT-33 7.62mm semi-automatic

Blank firers:

Smith & Wesson Model 19 .357 Combat Magnum (MGC of Japan)
Beretta Model 1934 9mm semi-automatic (RMI of Japan)

Replicas (all heavyweight with working actions):

1860 Army Colt .44
1860 Griswold & Gunnison .36
1866 Winchester .45
M1869 Smith & Wesson Schofield .45 ?top break?
1873 Colt .45 Peacemaker
1873 Colt .45 US Cavalry
Luger P08 9mm Parabellum

Airsoft:

Heckler & Koch 9mm MP5
Walther 9mm P99 heavyweight replica
 

HovitosKing

Well-known member
Very nice indeed, sir. I have a small collection of arms myself, as any native Texan should. They include the aforementioned Colt 1873 clone in 45LC, Smith&Wesson model 36 snubnose in .38sp, Walther P99AS in .40, RIA 1911 in 9mm, Beretta PX4 Storm subcompact 9mm, and a modified Mossberg 500 tactical pump 12-ga shotgun with tri-rail mount and pistol grip. Mostly for range time and home defense, so none of them would be considered especially collectible I guess.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
HovitosKing said:
Very nice indeed, sir. I have a small collection of arms myself, as any native Texan should. They include the aforementioned Colt 1873 clone in 45LC, Smith&Wesson model 36 snubnose in .38sp, Walther P99AS in .40, RIA 1911 in 9mm, Beretta PX4 Storm subcompact 9mm, and a modified Mossberg 500 tactical pump 12-ga shotgun with tri-rail mount and pistol grip. Mostly for range time and home defense, so none of them would be considered especially collectible I guess.

Ah, the joys of living in Texas! Nice selection. Here in the UK home defence is limited to hitting a burglar over the head with a gun!
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Here's one for Stoo. A little curio picked up today for 20p.

A brass and enamel screw-back button made for "Army & Navy Veterans in Canada".

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The Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada is Canada's oldest veterans' association. Although the precise start-date is obscured by time, it is known that a charter was given in 1840 by Queen Victoria to create a unit in Montreal. It is felt that units existed well before that time, perhaps as early as the Conquest of New France in the seventeen hundreds.

The Association derives its name from those remnants of British and French colonial regiments which were left in Canada when their regiments returned to Britain or France following their tours of duty protecting the colonies. These men banded together to exchange information on service benefits available to them and to fraternize. They called themselves "The Army Veterans in Canada" so that when they were in Britain they could denote their location as opposed to the Army Veterans in Australia or South-Africa. The reference to Canada became an integral part of the Association's title, as incorporated by the Government of Canada in 1917.

Following the War of 1812 sailors from the British Navy which patrolled the Great Lakes and the eastern seaboard, who remained in Canada, joined the Army Veterans in Canada and the title was changed to "The Army and Navy Veterans in Canada".

The association was also composed of volunteers who answered the call of the Canadian Government for active service during the Fenian Raids of 1860, 1870 and 1871, the Red River Expedition of 1870, and the North-West Rebellion of 1885.

A cairn was raised in 1902 by the Toronto Army and Navy Veterans Association to commemorate the first Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, John Graves Simcoe, founder of York (now Toronto) and to mark the Military Burying Grounds (now the Victoria Memorial Gardens) situated in a park at the junction of King St. West and Bathurst St. in Toronto.

...

During and following the Second World War, members of the Air Force were welcomed as members and the official title the "The Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada" was enacted, by an amendment to our Act of Incorporation, by Parliament in 1946. The Association uses the short form ANAVETS to identify itself.

http://anavets.ca/about_history.html

So presumably this button dates between 1917 and 1946.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Montana Smith said:
Here's one for Stoo. A little curio picked up today for 20p.

A brass and enamel screw-back button made for "Army & Navy Veterans in Canada".
Cool! I'm sure one of my mother's cousins has one of these. He was in the Navy during WW2.(y) (A couple of her uncles were in the Army but they are no longer with us.)
The association was also composed of volunteers who answered the call of the Canadian Government for active service during the Fenian Raids of 1860, 1870 and 1871, the Red River Expedition of 1870, and the North-West Rebellion of 1885.
My interest in these campaigns is quite large. To add to that, I have a pin & ribbon relating to the 2nd Boer War (in which Canadian regiments fought). It reads:

South African War
F.C.P. Roberts
60th Anniversary
31st May 1962
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
Cool! I'm sure one of my mother's cousins has one of these. He was in the Navy during WW2.(y) (A couple of her uncles were in the Army but they are no longer with us.)
My interest in these campaigns is quite large. To add to that, I have a pin & ribbon relating to the 2nd Boer War (in which Canadian regiments fought). It reads:

South African War
F.C.P. Roberts
60th Anniversary
31st May 1962

Nice connections, especially to the Boer War.

Are the eight stars on the button significant? The current logo now has 10 maple leaves:

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Montana Smith

Active member
I wasn't sure when I picked this up today, but as Del Boy would say, "He who dares wins." (And I didn't have to dare much money at all!)

I always expect items to be fakes or reproductions, but I've sounded out some people, done some digging and compared some photos.

I think it's a genuine Special Air Service Regiment early pattern Victor stable belt (Victor was a military outfitter, based at Aldershot, the 'home of the British Army').

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It's a bit of local history, as I live not too many miles from the 22 SAS base at Credenhill, and the buckle also surfaced locally.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Had these unmarked galilean binoculars for a little while. Can't identify the maker or when they were made, or even find a photograph of an identical pair.

They're brass construction covered with leather, and eyepieces made from green bakelite. The strap is khaki with brass fittings.

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Indy was using galilean field glasses in The Last Crusade, but of a different style:

http://spyhunter007.com/indiana_jones_and_his_legacy.htm

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Montana Smith

Active member
Over the weekend I bought a load of military buttons relevant to specific formations. It's taking a while identifying them all, and there's still a dozen I'm struggling with.

For a short time I thought I might have something relevant to Young Indy's Belgian unform. But the buttons I have turned out to be earlier:

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The first two buttons are from tunics of the Belgian Army 5ème Régiment de Ligne and 7ème Régiment de Ligne (5th & 7th Infantry Line Regiments). Made by Fonson of Bruxelles, these would have been used between 1897 and Summer 1915, when new tunics with the Lion button were issued.

The Lion buttons can just be seen on Remy's uniform here:

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Other curios included the short-lived Machine Gun Corps (October 1915-1922):

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A couple of East Africa Shillings from 1950 and a Quarter Rupee from 1947, India's last year as part of the British Empire:

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Montana Smith

Active member
From the same source as the buttons was this medal.

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Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have given it a second look. But once turned over there's a nice 'Desert Rat' Jerboa, which for me totally transforms my interest in it.

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Phillips of Aldershot have been making medals for the British Army since at least 1918, and this particular football engraving design was used at least as far back as 1928, to commemmorate a 1927-1928 inter-company army tournament.

The 7th Armoured Division ('Desert Rats') date from 16th February 1940, being previously known as the Mobile Division.

After the war the Division continued to serve in Germany, but in January 1948 it was disbanded, being perpetuated by 7th Armoured Brigade. It was reformed in March 1949 and served with the British Army On the Rhine (BAOR) until it was finally disbanded in January 1957. In its entire history it had only been in the United Kingdom for about six months.

http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.a.paterson/history.htm



And also from the same button seller was this pin badge:

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At first I thought this might be commemmorating a Royal Air Force expedition, but after a little digging...

Turracher Höhe was the location of the 'RAF Mountain Rescue, Ski, and Officers Rest and Leave Centre' in the Austrian Alps, south of Salzburg in the province of Carinthia.

This page records the first hand experiences in 1946 of an RAF Flight Mechanic who had worked with the RAF Mountain Rescue Team, which had been created at RAF Llandwrog in North Wales in 1943.

The writer records there was a hotel right by the lakeside, serving as a base for an officers rest and leave centre, plus a ski training school staffed by local skilled ski instructors. The Commanding Officer of the Central Mediterranean Forces, Air Vice Marshal Foster even had a private chalet by the side of the lake.
 
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