What piqued your interest about military surplus?

**CoatiMundi** · 09-02-2021 03:02 AM

1992, $179.99 M-1 Carbines, and $279.99 M-1 Garands at the local sporting goods store. You could even pick your favorite manufacturer.

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**CINDERS** · 09-02-2021 04:35 AM

Started with my dad WWII vet 4 years o/seas LAC Engine Fitter, brother 20 years RAAF Flt/Sgt, Brother in/law VN Vet and myself doing a 2 year stint in the cadets ('72-'73) where we were introduced to and fired the No 1 MkIII SMLE and the Bren.
Along with our 3" mortar (Never allowed live ammo, only set up, how to sight, range calculations and so on) A small demo at the school oval with initiator cartridges only was a laugh.
It was in the cadets I received my Crossed Rifles as a 2nd year Corporal we having to shoot the Regular Army course of fire with our SMLE and obtain 75/100 total over 3 ranges, 300-200-100yds, 4 shooting positions with 20 rounds I was the only one to achieve the required hits at our school.
Twice went to join up in the regular service once in the Army and next in the RAAF got to the point of signing the dotted line thought better of it as I was riding fast bikes and faster chicks at that time in my life, highly recommend fast bikes not that the other was not enjoyable though!

Spent time on the land as a farmhand dairy then wheat/sheep my opinion of the wooly jumbucks is they are either highly intelligent or plain stupid I'll go with the second option, gave that up poor pay and went into construction for 41 years (1980-2021). Now retired.
So I started at primary school my favourite battleship was the Warspite and its morphed into a wide selection of military things, rifles Lithgows MkIII's, No.4's then mainly books on AIF WWI and WWII.

**baltimoreed** · 09-03-2021 05:05 PM

Attachment 119890Always been a military history and movie buff but didn’t get my first milsurp rifle until a good friend gave me a bag-o-garand parts and a bbl in the ‘70s. Bought the missing parts and had a Marine armourer put it together in Jacksonvlle, NC. Next rifles were Krags, then ‘03s, trench guns and now a 1917. Have a bunch of 1911s and martial .45 revolvers [Smith, Colt and Webley] and all the accoutrements that go with them. I shoot cas matches with my lever action muskets and BAMM with the boltguns. And of course you’ve got to have uniforms and hats. We shot a BAMM last weekend [used a No1Mk3 and a ‘03 and 2 Smith .45 1918 revolvers] and will have a Wild Bunch this month, 1911s, M12 trench and a ‘94 Marlin. Nothing piqued my interest as I’ve always had it, just a gradual accumulation of stuff as interests evolved and changed. Fun stuff.

**Aragorn243** · 09-04-2021 12:59 PM

I've been a military history nut since the 1st grade and I started taking every war book in the school library home. That was basically my thing for the first 25 years, books. I've accumulated a massive library that takes up several rooms of my house. Not really sure what caused a jump from books to the actual things talked about in the books but when I made it I made it pretty hard which is how I've always been. I'm a collectaholic and have many collections which were a passion for anywhere from months to years. I collected hard until I couldn't afford it anymore. Military stuff has lasted about 30 years now with the last 20 being pretty aggressive. Part of the appeal is there is always another direction to go when one is topped off. First thing I actually bought was a rifle, SMLE MKIII* followed shortly after by a Swedish icon

Mauser and a few months later with an Australian icon

cadet rifle. Then our first child arrived and all that came to an end for about 10 years. Then I went with bayonets as they were much cheaper than rifles. 10 more years and the kids are grown or at least one of them is and I went back to rifles with bayonets being items of opportunity. Gradually bayonets and rifles both reached the realm of I bought all those I can afford so I moved on to pistols, canteens, helmets, mess kits and gear. Now I pick up almost anything of interest but keep a special eye out for WWI US cavalry items. I still get the occasional rifle or bayonet when I come across one I can afford, pistols are slowing down to a couple a year, just running out of canteens and mess kits, helmets suddenly became very costly so they've slowed. My solution seems to have been to move to military toys. It's a constant battle. In summary. I still buy it all, I rarely get rid of anything and I do not have that large of a house and my kids didn't take their stuff with them when they moved out. I struggle. I am a "one of" collector. I try to get one example of an item. One Garand icon

, one Luger, one British icon

WWII canteen, etc. I don't specifically collect variants. The only real exceptions to this are when I have multiple rifles, usually of different types, that take the same bayonet. Then I will have multiple bayonets and I will try to have different variants. Variants would allow me to continue affordable purchases but then I would really run out of room faster. I put on displays every once and a while and one is all I really need for that. That being said, I currently have 20 milsurp pistols and 108 milsurp rifles. several hundred bayonets, couple dozen canteens, same with mess kits, and several large boxes of various military gear ranging from horse halters, tents, rucksacks, blankets, medals, uniforms and a counter top filled with munitions, grenades, mortars, shells, and bombs, all inert of course. And with some searching, most of it can be viewed somewhere on this website.

**Eaglelord17** · 09-05-2021 06:11 AM

Always enjoyed history, when I was younger the Russian icon

Revolution and subsequent rise of Communism interested me. When I was finally able to get a gun I decided I wanted a SKS (partially because it was a military firearm, partially because I had been told by some friends they were a lot of fun). My dad said for my first gun he would buy it as long as it wasn't one of those Commie pieces of crap, but I was insistent and paid for it myself. Fast forward a year after that he also had to have one because 'for a Communist rifle it is actually pretty good'. Since then my interest has only expanded.

**MSW2** · 09-05-2021 07:31 AM

Seeing older guys go off to war as I was growing up. Hearing their stories. Being taught at primary school level how to recognize limpet mines and other items in the terrorist arsenal. My grandfather running away from home at 15 to join the Navy and all his WWII experiences. Growing up in a country where firearms are part of our culture and shooting my first shot with a rifle when I was 6.
All of the above rolled into one.