My WW2 Firearms

[Paul R]

mortar

[Paul R]

Next up is a close up of the K98/Rifle grenade laucher combo

[Paul R]

stock with a rack number?

[Paul R]

another closer...muzzle

[Paul R]

Now.. here is the grenade launcher... bear in mind, it was recovered from the ground a few years ago... I am a purist in most of the time, yet I hope you can forgive me for restoring this piece! Not too bad for something that was in the ground about 60 years!

[Paul R]

Here is the bore... I was told that when it was found, it was best described as a ball of rust and sediment. I wish I would have kept the photo!

[Paul R]

The wrench can be seen on the base plate of the mortar above. I also have an original pouch that is in the same photo hanging from the K98 in the corner.

Regards

Paul

[CroppyBoy1798]

A nice collection you have there Paul R. I was very surprised to hear that grenade launcher came out of the ground, I never would have thought it was just by looking at the picture. I recently got an 'out of the ground' item, a WW1 SMLE wire cutting attachment, but unfortunately its a lot worse for wear than your launcher, still, I guess it was in the ground 30 years more or so .

As you can see in the pic below its in relic condition, but it has that 'been there, done that look' and the fact that these are pretty rare makes even one in this condition nice to have.

CroppyBoy1798

Edited January 9, 2006 by CroppyBoy1798

[Paul R]

I have never even heard of one of these!!! Pretty darned nice! Did you find it yourself? I wonder how well it worked in the field!

[CroppyBoy1798]

I have never even heard of one of these!!! Pretty darned nice! Did you find it yourself? I wonder how well it worked in the field!

Hi Paul, the wire cutters was an e-bay buy and from what I was told was recovered in France last summer. And when I got it still had a lot of loose rust and mud/dirt present in it, I cleaned it up as best as possible, but there is only so much you can do. And of course this means the action instide it is seized up, a real pity.

They were one of the wackier inventions of WW1, and from what I heard not much good, because of the fact that they had to be used on the end of the rifle and you had to use your rifle as a level to operate the cutters, hence standing in 'no mans land'....not good as you can well imagine.

Thus there wasnt a great demand for them and production stopped, many of them, like this one would have been lost in the field and those that survived for the most part were destroyed, making the odd few that escaped the net VERY desirable.

CroppyBoy1798