I'd say it is a hallway wall rifle rack as found in the US barracks in Germany.
Neat item! Wonder how it got to the US?
Sarge
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I'd say it is a hallway wall rifle rack as found in the US barracks in Germany.
Neat item! Wonder how it got to the US?
Sarge
It would make a neat home accessory to decorate the hallway of one's home. Not sure that one's spouse would feel the same way about it though.
What is interesting about the engineering drawings is that they depict an SMLE in place, the spelling of 'Centre' is our way and not the American way, and the dating is day, month, year instead of the American convention of month day year.
One wonders, what all else more was there to Lend Lease than weapons, munitions, aircraft, ships, and vehicles?
I don't know if they dated back to WWII but those look almost exactly like the racks we had in the armory in Gulfport, MS in the 70's
Mr Baker, on your rifle racks in the armory in Gulfport, what kind of rifles were stored in the racks ? M1 Rifles/M1 Carbines or were the racks modified for something else ?
In the rare spirit of; "Waste not, want not', here in Oz, we "re-engineered" the big transit / storage boxes for the No1 rifle to also accept the L1A1.
Placed one way up, a hinged "flap" cut out for the rounded handguards of the No1 was presented.
Invert the box, and that one hinged out of the way and the other one, with sort-of triangular cut-outs came into play.
Also included was a "locking bar" that retained the rifles du jour. This ran from side to side and was secured by a pair of padlocks.
In the centre of this retaining bar, a small lug was welded on and this protruded through a slot in the centre "door". Another padlock held this in place. DO NOT Lose the keys!!
In the "good old days", this was how rifles were conveniently stored in armouries; the boxes being stackable, and transported to the field, etc.
Some were painted in the classic "Bronze Green', others in the equally classic "Olive Drab".
Come the somewhat shorter "Tupperware rifle", a lot of these storage / transport crates met their end in the regular funeral pyres that marks the passing of a generation of gear.
Rumour has it that some, apparently, "fell off the backs of trucks" on their way to immolation, and now live quietly in various "retirement homes".