Case Straight Guard M3

[SKIPH]

Saturday bought a Case straight guard, smooth handle, parkerized, mint, M3. Paid $200, good buy. Since I was the first I ever had my hands on, did some research. Cole has drawing, Silvey-photos, Trazaska- a couple of sentences, and Coniglio-not mentioned. These are my questions and thoughts. 1) Was it an issued item?(always thought it was a PX purchase) 2) How many were produced? (early or experimental,- late left over parts) 3) Not marked M3 or has ordinance stamp, but as I recall the V42 is not marked w/ item designation or ord. stamp. Very well made, not appearing to be made from left-overs. Just super curious. THX SKIP

Information

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[Jos (Holland)]

Skip, I recently I bought my second straight guard Case. This one was also parkerized and the smooth handle has washers that are in different shades of brown. My first is not (or no longer) parkerized. The blade is more civilian-looking with an almost chrome finish. The handle on that one is black. 1) As far as I know these knifes were privat purchases and never issued to soldiers. 2) Don't know, but I've seen several on ebay, so I think it's not as rare as some might like to think. 3) It's not a regular M3. But as a collector of M3's I had to have at least one. :-)
Hope this helped a little.

Jos

[SKIPH]

Jos- Had not seen you around for a while. Thanks for the input. Hopefully some other folks will get some more info to us. There are 2 Case straight guards on ebay. One is in a M8 scabbard, that would be where I'd expect one. But, have seen them in leather scabbards. Maybe we could get some info from some of the writers. THX SKIP

[Jos (Holland)]

Thanks Skip. I wonder if the px-knifes were offered at the time with the m8 scabbart or just with those leather ones. They look great in both, although I feel the leather scabbart makes for a more honest look. Jos.

[SKIPH]

Jos- The other Case sraight guard on ebay is in a Milsco M6. That's one of the reasons I wonder whether or not at one point they were an issued item. Of course an M6 or M8 scabbard would be a natural way to go.-SKIP

[jimb16]

Check the edge of the pommel. Sometimes there was an ordnance bomb on the edge!

[SKIPH]

jimb16-Great idea! Coniglio does mention ordinance stamp on side of pommel. Checked it out, unfortunately not on mine. I truly appreciate the reminder. Forgot to even look there. The mystery continues. THX SKIP

[roosterinalabamy]

i purchased 1 at the Case auction in knoxville? nashville? many years ago. they were in a cardboard box with a couple other , shall we say, variants!
my understanding at the time was made for commercial market with surplus parts, the war effort being on the wane. no scabbards were in the box. well made completely authentic. my 2 pesos

[SKIPH]

Roosterinalabamy-Great first hand information! I appreciate you input. As far as I'm concerned that pretty much confirms my initial assumption that they were commercial or PX items. Folks would naturally want to put one in an M6 or M8 scabbard, especially if the commercial ones were lousy. I'm gonna keep a chart, just for fun to see what type scabbards they show up in on ebay and other sights, also if parkerized or not. Curious to see where it goes. THX again SKIP

[Jos (Holland)]

Skip. At this moment there is one straight guard Case on ebay. It comes with a leather commercial scabbard. Just like the one I have. This reminded me that I had to look if my Cases had an ordnance bomb... unfortunately they didn't. What I did find is both knives were originaly parkerized but one has been polished to a chrome-like bright finish. The other still has all its parkerization.
Good luck with your research.