Carbine related... sort of

[imarangemaster]

I bought it from a guy in Oregon, who bought it years ago from a WW2 aviator. No provenance, but I am buying the gun, not the story. Considering I got it for $300, I am not complaining! Generally, shooting martial arms always gives me a sense of History. Shooting the Inland is an intense personal experience for me, that goes above that normal sense of History. My dad and his brothers, now all gone to their eternal rest, used the Carbines in the Pacific. I hope that shooting the Victory Model will also give me that heightened sense of personal History that shooting the carbine does.

My dad was Signals NCOIC with the Army headquarters and went on Iwo the 6th day with the advance party. He said he was never so scared in his life as the night that the main ammo dump blew up. A piece of shrapnel falling back to earth took out the middle of his cot while he was in the slit trench next to his tent.

Between daily snipers, sapper attacks, a dud type 97 grenade landing a his feet, dodging Jap artillery and bombs landing around him, and just missing stepping on a "bouncing betty" mine by one inch, he was quite convinced the Emperor wanted him dead!

I still have the minefield map he was issued, and a pre-invasion planning map, along with a bunch of his other stuff. Cherished family heirloom.

[painter777]

IRM,
Will you just shoot lead?
I'll be curious as to your load data.

I haven't shot mine, as a matter of fact I only shoot a couple of my Carbines.

A shooter carbine............. This just reminded me of something.........
That I completely forgot about......
I'll start a new post ....


Thanks
Charlie-painter777

[imarangemaster]

Probably just lead or copper plated. Doubt if I will shoot any jacked or FMJ military ammo from it. I really need to come up with an ammo pouch for it, I'll never find an original, though I do have a line on an original bely holster for it. I am guessing that guys used first aid dressing pouches for some extra rounds. Knowing my dad, that's what he would have probably done.

BTW, I ordered two different Repop aircrew shoulder holsters for it. One with sewn on leather bullet loops, and one with a canvas slide over the strap for 12 rounds. I will see which I like the best, then sell the other one cheap.

I don't know what kind of holster my dad used, but I would say probably it was a belt holster, because I know he had web belt belt for his extra carbine mags and the M1 Garand bayonet he said carried.

[imarangemaster]

You know, I have my dad's belt from Iwo, including the steel ring I heard was on Signal Corp belts for pole and tree climbing. It cam with two M1 carbine pouches and two first aid pouches. when I got it from him. I would venture a guess that possibly the second pouch WAS for the revolver ammo.

I mentioned the dud Jap Type 97 grenade landing at my dad's feet. He had an ordie de-activate it. As it turned out, it had no fuse in it... Probably made by Chinese or Korean slave labor. He kept it as a reminder of how close he came. I still have it....

[browningautorifle]

I still have it....

Have you shown us those pieces yet?

[imarangemaster]

The Type 97 that should have killed my dad is in the picture below. Items that were my dad's are both grenades (empty) the paybook, and the chevrons.



His minefield map:



His 1944 pre-invasion planning map:






When I was young, he never shared much. I was much later, after my military service, towards the end of my law enforcement career, that he began to share. It was usually after he had a couple shots of Scotch!

[browningautorifle]

It was much later, after my military service...that he began to share...after a couple shots of Scotch!

My dad was the same, when I was older he talked about it. I guess he figured I'd understand better. People say the guys that were there didn't talk about it, he was there, you could see it just looking at him, the bullet scars and shrapnel wounds. He told me everything, regularly. Then after he'd drank too much and was "asleep", I'd hear him calling out to guys that weren't there and I knew what had happened to them.
Nice clutch of gear...neat to see the difference in the map before invasion and after. The extended second runway for the B29s...that island must have been like NYC after the battle and before the Jap capitulation.

[imarangemaster]

I have a bunch of other stuff, including: his class A coat with medals and ribbons, his Overcoat, field jacket, several 30 cal ammo cans, a bottle of Iwo Jima black volcanic sand, a lot of booklets including "How the Jap Army Fights", an oxygen bottle from a B29 that crashed on Iwo, and a bunch of lesser stuff.

[browningautorifle]

I don't have a damn thing from mine. My brother at least has his medals...

[painter777]

I finally am acquiring a Victory Model 38 Special. I won one on Gunbroker,

As much as I m happy for IRM and looking forward to seeing his new S&W,
I guess I'm just not clear about posting What and Where.

Should this post have been put in the 'Commercial Auction and Sales Gossip forum' or in the 'Other Military Service Pistols and Revolvers' forum?

Is it OK that it's posted here because there was no Auction link provided within the text?