I read somewhere that early T's were issued with a US Model 1907 pattern leather sling. Any info on who made them and what time frame they were issued ?
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I read somewhere that early T's were issued with a US Model 1907 pattern leather sling. Any info on who made them and what time frame they were issued ?
Mostly WWI vintage US slings. By the 1960s I'd guess those were about kaput, and the preferred sling in most cases was the standard British web sling.
The info you need and the story behind them is all detailed in a little book about the No4T and L42 rifles Charlie. I believe that it's available from Brian at BDLLtd. A jolly good read too, so I have been informed
You can buy excellent quality, new manufacture Pattern 1907 slings from Turner Saddlery in Alabama. He makes them with both steel and brass hooks.
Ok, let me try again. I do happen to have tyour book Peter, but it doesn't tell me what I want to know. And, I'm not trying to buy one Brian. My question is, were any of the US pattern 1907 leather slings made in England ? If so, by whom. I ask, because I have a 1907 pattern leather sling that came with a T rifle. The sling is obviously quite old and well used. Even though it is a 1907 pattern sling it doesn't look exactly like those produced in the US. The only marking on the sling is a Crown over the word PACE or possibly PAGE ? Any ideas ?
They were not made here. The vast majority we see here (or did before Fleabay started to sweep up things like that) have WW1 dates on them.
Tangential to this thread (sorry about that), but thought it might be of interest as it shows how to mount the sling .. :)
Milsurps Knowledge Library - 1952 Instructional Pamphlet for No.4 Mk1(T) sniper rifle
Regards,
Doug
Is this marking similar to yours?
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...54655549-1.jpg
Yep, that's it.
And the history of those slings? Wild guess: Post WWII mfg. for target shooters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amatikulu
I have one that came on a Long Branch "T" - The crown may be a clue to its origin.
Could it be Finnish? I know they copied British P37 type webbing and uniforms after WWII and marked them with a crown. Or like was said, a commercial product.
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I would expect that an issue item, even with today's equipment, there would be a broad arrow mark and a makers code (not a symbol that is hard to list on paperwork).
Page Belting Co. in New hampshire was this countries largest supplier of industrial leather belting at a time when all industrial machinery was run by overhead line shafts and leather belting and is still in business today. They are the only leather products suppler I have been able to find with the name PAGE. There were many companies here filling British contracts during both wars and PAGE Belting may have been one of them. I have contacted the company to see if they have any historical data from that period.
Good lead Charlie, I did a quick search and came up with this:
Page Belting has been producing leather machinery belts, straps, valves and tool pouches since it was founded in 1868. But company president Mark Coen is most proud of Page Belting's long history of supplying the military.
We've been at it since probably 1893, he said during a tour of the company's 40,000-square foot factory. Especially during World War I and World War II. We really geared up for doing knife sheaths and rifle slings.
Amatikulu, I saw that and that was what prompted me to contact them. I sent them a picture of the sling stamping also. Will post any response I get from them.
Of all the WWI and WWII M1907 slings that I've seen, not once has the big crown (Page) shown up. That's a very distinctive marking!
We kept the US part number for the leather rifle slings right from when they arrived here during the 1st WW right up until they were replaced by the wide nylon slings that were even worse than the leather slings. Even during the post 2nd|WW change from Ordnance to Ministry of Supply (MoS) numbering, the old leather sniper slings remained the XX-XX-XX part number. Strangely enough, so did the Browning M1919's until they were gradually converted to L3 spec and even then, for 15 or so years, while the changed parts became NATO numbers, the original parts, such as barrels, feed mechs. etc remained XX-XX-XX US numbers