A few years ago I picked up a Haenel manufactured MP41 Machine Pistol. These are pretty rare because they only made about 20,000 of them before Erma forced them to stop due to a copyright issue on the MP40 design. This is the magazine loader, also made by Haenel, for the MP41. Even more rare that the gun I would expect.
A pretty simple little bit of kit, these are a pair of green Italian made leather ammunition pouches for the Carcano infantry carbine. These date from pre-1943.
A fair while back I found a single front ammunition pouch for the Arisaka battle rifle. The standard issue was two front pouches and one rear one. The front pouches held 30 rounds and the rear one 60, for a full load of 120 rounds.
The rear pouch also houses a small oil bottle. Both of these came stinking of mothballs. I sat them outside for a couple of months and then soaked them in vinegar & water overnight. They still stink but not so much as to drive me out of my own house.
This item, produced in 1942, is the 1905 pattern 50 round ammunition bandolier, issued to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles regiments. Unique to New Zealand, it was intended to provide additional ammunition in case of extended reconnaissance patrols and was popular because of the ability to sling these over the necks of the horses.
NZMR hero 13/129 Corporal Sinclair Chapman Reid – North Auckland Mounted Rifles. Wearing the lightweight desert uniform. First known rank corporal rose to Lieutenant by wars end. During WWII held the rank of Major. Recipient of the Military Cross. Sinclair Reid had the distinction of being a combatant at both the attack on Chunuk Bair on the 8th August 1915 during the Gallipoli Campaign and the attack at Ayun Kara on the 14th November 1917 in Turkish Palestine. These actions were the most deadly engagements experienced by the NZMR during WWI.
Difficult to find in good condition as Japanese leather didn’t last and the environment in which they were used wasn’t healthy for leather. This is the front ammunition pouch for Arisaka 6.5 and 7.7 ammunition as used in the Type 38 and Type 99 infantry rifles. This one came to me still with a cardboard liner and 6×6.5mm stripper clips.
These two cartons arrived in the mail today, all the way from the U.S. I expect you won’t be that excited by them but finding unopened cartons of wartime Japanese Nambu ammunition is almost unobtainium. Getting them into Canada from the States is a painful experience as any ammunition export from the US requires Department of the Interior approval. These two cartons are marked almost identically. The star marking is for the Tokyo First Arsenal. The first line of characters is “ju-yon-nen-shiki-ken-ju-jip-po” which translates to “Type 14 Handgun Ammunition”. The second row is “ju-go-hatsu” meaning “15 rounds”. On the underneath of the cartons are the stamps for “sho” meaning Showa Year and 19.11, which translates to November 1944. These are perfect for my 1944 Type 14 Pistol here and fit into the front pocket of the 1944 holster I have here.
Here’s something I had forgotten to post, an unmatched but similar pair of ammunition pouches for the Mauser K98k service rifle. Note the difference in the rear loop as well as the metal internal stiffener.
A few weeks back I hooked an MP28/II submachine pistol. Just after that I was lucky enough to find a magazine pouch produced for the same weapon. When I accumulate these things I do my best to get the appropriate pouches, sling, magazines and bayonets for them all. It’s part of the joy of having OCD. This pouch is marked Otto Sindel, Berlin, 1935.
Here is a great pair of 1944 dated K43 magazine pouches. These are stamped ROS44 on the inside the left pouch and correspond to Type 11a on Claus Espeholt’s site. These are made from rubberised canvas. The ros code is presumed to be E.G.Leuner, Bautzen.
This German ersatz leather pouch is designed to carry the flare rounds for 27mm flare pistols such as the LP42. The manufacturer in this case is FSX41, which is code for the Albin Scholle Lederwarenfabrik in Zeitz. These pouches are identical to the postwar VOPOS ones so you have to be careful when you go hunting. All the ones I have seen to date seem to be manufactured by the same company and stamped FSX.
This unmarked magazine pouch was manufactured to hold three magazines for the Austrian Steyr MP-34. This machine pistol was taken into German service after the Anschluss as the MP-34ö to distinguish it from the Bergmann MP-34. I have an example of this submachine-gun here.
Kiwi Medals 