Looking for a book

[joz]

I'm looking for a book on the topic of the different private companies that helped supply materials for WWII. I am a WWII firearms collector with familiarity of 1911A1 , M1 Carbine and 1903A3 wartime manufactures. However, I would like to learn more on other companies that made field gear, rations, ammunition, and other WWII related products.

Let me know if you have any book titles that come to mind. Thank you.

Information

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[Flying10uk]

Is it just U.S. manufacturers/companies that you are interested in or any company worldwide doing war-work for any country?

[jdmcomp]

Not quite what you seek but take a look at Government Issue Collectors Guide, of which I think there are at least two volumes.

GI Collectors Guide: Army Service Forces Catalog, U.S. Army European Theater of Operations: Henry-Paul Enjames: 9782352500803: Amazon.com: Books

[joz]

I am mainly interested in USGI manufactures. This Collectors Guide looks promising.
If I had the time (and knew how to write) I'd love to write this book I seek.
Thanks everyone for your help!

[Seaspriter]

Be sure to check out the history of the Remington P-14/M1917 at
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/rsa/journals/Eddystone
The Remington Society of America is an organization dedicated to the collection and study of Remington firearms, ammunition and history, and may have a lot of data you are seeking.
Also, check Colt and Winchester histories.

[Frederick303]

The expert I know is William Ricca

used to publish on the old Gun and Knife forum, then Culvers page, until he realized he was just helping the fakers.

do a search on him. He could lead you to the material.

[RT Ellis]

I think the document that would serve your purpose is "Alphabetic Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, Cumulative June 1940 through September 1945." published by Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. The document lists contracts of $50,000 or greater and is 3521 pages. The listing covers all the armed forces, including the Merchant Marine Service, Lend Lease and etc. As far as I know this document is not available in book form or online. I obtained a digital copy from the researcher that had it copied, and I know he has provided copies to other interested people so a few copies are in the hands of advanced militaria historians. I don't know where the original he had copied is, or any other source for the document.

The organization is by the contractor's identity, if a name last name first, otherwise the company identity alphabetically listed. For the most part the listing provides generic nomenclature for example the field jacket commonly referred to by collectors as "M-1941" is listed as "FIELD JACKET" and the later jacket as "FIELD JACKET M1943". The contract number is listed (although occasionally omitted), month and year awarded, contract amount, and month and year completed/paid. This would be a much more useful document if the quantity of the contracted material was listed, however it is possible to get a sense of quantity from the amount of the contract by simple division, dividing the contract amount by the estimated price each.

There are 1000s of entries for raw materials like fabric, aluminum, and other items like canteen caps, that were in turn supplied to what I refer to as the assembly contractors, i.e. the contractors that manufactured the final product. There was no index provided so it's necessary to go through the document page by page to extract the information. I produced an index that only assists in finding the page(s) the contractors are listed on, so it's necessary to know the contractor identification. I can tell you that there was a great deal more contractors manufactured field equipment than any of the online listings you will find, developed primarily from examination of existing equipment, and in some cases inaccurately recorded.

I did an online search and apparently this document is not available online, but this link will provide location of the document at a library near you:

Alphabetical listing of major war supply contracts, active as of September 30, 1944 (Book, 1944) [WorldCat.org]

A document with the same title was published in 1944, so you may want to check with the library as to which of the documents are available there..