No.5 "jungle carbine" question

[nhetzer]

Lol! I'll post some more pictures tonight after dinner. I'd love to have one of the first thousand, that's pretty neat. Mine is in pretty good shape and wasn't beat up. I feel very fortunate to have this particular gun and also that the gentleman who had it decided to part with it. He was an old Navy vet, an early UDT member. I was at the Show of Shows in Louisville with my recruiter buddies who had a table (I was active duty Navy then). I was helping out and was is uniform. We started chatting, the gun was behind the table and not for sale. By the end of the show he decided it being in his 90's meant he wasn't going to shoot it any more and deemed me worthy enough to sell it to me at a good price. I really enjoyed meeting him and it was a privilege to meet a man who lived such a storied life.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I really enjoyed meeting him and it was a privilege to meet a man who lived such a storied life.

And I am certain he felt he was passing the No 5 to a good steward. UDT! I know he had high standards.

[nhetzer]

I felt pretty humbled that he decided to let it go. He told me that he ran ops with British commandos and that he has had this gun since those days. Whether that was post WWII or not I don't know. All I do know that he did time with the Brits and that it was easier to carry their weapons due to supply chains and shortage of US ammo. This gun, according to him, was a bring back from those days. I always believe in "buy the gun, not the story" and I am the biggest skeptic you'll ever meet when it comes "amazing stories" about guns. But this gentleman's story of his career added up and his son openly spoke about all of it as well.

In the end, if he and his son were running some sort of scam to sell me a gun that wasn't technically for sale then I guess I should give them credit or going to such great lengths. ; )

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

In the end, if he and his son were running some sort of scam to sell me a gun that wasn't technically for sale then I guess I should give them credit or going to such great lengths. ; )

Some storys are too good to be true and still are. I think I would go with true. Folks that age have very little incentive to lie, in my experience.

[nhetzer]

As promised here are some more pics. This was the best I could do with the camera on my phone in my workshop.
Attachment 37970

Attachment 37971

Attachment 37972

Sorry for the relatively poor quality. The lighting is fine for working but terrible for picture taking.

[Beerhunter]

The story is extremely unlikely to be true. The early issues (and possibly only war-time issues) seem to have been with airborne troops in North West Europe.

[Thunderbox]

Could conceivably be SE Asia or Korea. Korea of course had UK and US units being cross-equipped at various times - famously including 41 Cdo RM using US kit & small arms.

[nhetzer]

I didn't go into depth asking loads of questions to piece it all together. As far as special operations units, I know that there are lots of unusual scenarios that take units all over the place. That is being said as a generalized and broad sweeping statement based on what I know of special operations now and back then. The odds of hundreds of guns ending up in an unlikely place would raise an eyebrow, but a few (in this case one) in the hands if someone who was part of a commando unit turning up some place unlikely isn't a stretch for me to believe. Especially if I am not even sure if we are talking about WWII or Korea. He did state he was in both conflicts. I just don't have enough info to disprove (or prove) his claim but after meeting the guy and getting to chat with him a bit about his life was enough for me to lean towards the side of believing him.

For you guys who know the history of these and the folks who carried them, any other thoughts on where their paths could have crossed?

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Thanks ! I would love to add a 44/45 or even a 46. Nice looking rifle!

[Peter Laidler]

I wouldn't agree with HoH about the memories of some of the '.....old and bold......' In the small-arms world in which I was, the old and bold were known to be notoriously ....er.........., lets call them, er......pure horse er......... Let me think again..... 'unreliable' is the word I was looking for. Some of the old chestnuts about Sten guns being used as jumping jack charges and Bren guns being soooooooooo accurate that....... and PIAT's breaking shoulders and Boys rifles pushing you off the firing points etc etc. It didn't push my son Robert, then aged about 11 and nor did many rounds from a Barratt the same day. In fact he loved it in much the same way as he enjoyed thousands of rounds with some Sten guns

Sorry to be one of those cynics chaps but I can remember the two straight-down-the-line storytellers. One was Leslie Barham the bomber pilot and the others were a sniper pair of old farm boys/poachers from the Lincolnshire Regiment who had remained friends ever since. No dramas, just told in a cold and calculated way, just like it was. In fact to Leslie Barham, Berlin wasn't the problem, it was Essen that gave them the creeps!

Buy the gun and not the story I say - ESPECIALLY if it comes from an old boy!

I've got my steel helmet on and await the incoming mortars