War Throphies

[old tanker]

That coax mount from the tank was for the .30 cal Browning. You can see the adjustments on the rear mounting so the gun could be moved to co-iincide with the main gun reticle. Loader needed to keep a dime in his pocket to set the clearance on the solenoid that allowed electrical firing by the gunner.

[RCS]

I think it was from a Sherman tank, the M1919A4 was used in the mount

[martins8589]

My Grandfather brought home a Lattey sight for an SMLE from when he was at headquarters in Sydney in WW2. He gave it to me as a small child and it sat in my socks and undies draw for 10 years. When I was old enough and started shooting I fitted it onto a SMLE and shot with it. The sight picture was that terrible I sold it to a chap at an arms fair being young and naive.
Well I have been trying for the last 10 years to buy it back as there is not much left of the Grandfathers things and we got along well.
Still praying that one day he will part with it.

[ssgross]

Still praying that one day he will part with it.

...at least you know where it is. keeping bugging him to come look at it every Sunday afternoon. wear him down.

[old tanker]

I think it was from a Sherman tank, the M1919A4 was used in the mount

The same mount was used for the coax up through the M48's out started out on. By that time we were using the final version of the .30 cal Browning, the M37. One of the little things that shows the genius of John Moses is that the front and rear mounting holes are the same size and the same distance apart. A mount that will hold a an M1917 will take also hold an M240 or an M2.

Attachment 115306Attachment 115307

[303 Collector]

My father was UK Navy. When the Germans surrendered in 1945 his ship
was order to Wilhelmshaven as the Army had not reached that far north.
The Captain ordered my father and some of the crew to load on to
the ship a large amount of Persian type carpets found in a warehouse.
When they had finished the only thing he could find to loot was the Police
Station typewriter. He said they were not happy about it but he took it anyway.
Later when our Army finally arrived he got drunk fell off a tank and broke his leg.
He called it his war wound, he was only 19. I can just remember my grandad using
the typewriter years later.

[RCS]

Old photo when I was an armorer, one of these was a M37 converted to M1919A6Attachment 115308

[Woodsy]

An old WW2 veteran I knew (an Air Force armourer who was already a keen gun collector) staggered off the troopship back in NZ with 2 Arisakas over his shoulder, his issue SMLE, a pack that contained at least 4 pistols, and an unissued .30-06 ANM2 Browning aircraft gun with a string loop around his neck and concealed under his armpit by his greatcoat. He died about 20 years ago and I got the Browning which was still solid from hardened WW2 grease. It is pictured in Dolf Goldsmith's 'The Browning Machine Gun' Volume 1, page 463.

[browningautorifle]

an unissued .30-06 ANM2 Browning aircraft gun

I had one of those come to hand about 25 years back and had to fire it. Mine was in .303 and I had 100 links, ammo was available through the system but of course I used reloads. They all worked fine with only one case separation. I used a .30 cal ground mount and modified a T&E to work. I had to fire it with a side plate trigger and a lever that came with it protruding from the bottom back end. It went through the first 50 and had the separation, went through the second half...all in about two one second bursts... Wouldn't have missed it for anything.

[jond41403]

Robert, where in East Tennessee are you? I'm in Kingsport