How battle scarred is your milsurp?

Not firearm related but a milsurp (of sorts) that took a whack from small arms back in the day.


1944 kettenkrad that the seller in Belgium claimed was at the Battle of the Bulge.
 
Steve1987 said:
I find it funny how some folks tend to think every beat up and abused rifle is a "combat vet".

If the rifles could talk it might turn out some interesting stories come from those in mint condition as well.
-Steve
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If they could talk, wouldn't they be insane from being in storage for so long? :p
 
Had an old Steyr-Mannlicher long rifle a fair while ago. On the wrist, just above where your thumbs rests were five notches that would have been cut into it with a good thumbnail.

What they could mean, I have no idea. Wishful thinking might suggest battlefield, but I more suspected it was just carried by a soldier with a nervous tick.
 
Have a No1Mk3 that was picked up on the Somme. Barrel bent, NO wood, heavily pitted, Bolt frozen shut with rust. However the safety is on, so I think there is "one up the spout" Never going to be able to open the bolt to find out
 
kennymo said:
A few of mine look like they have stories to tell. One of my SVT's is covered with repairs to the stock, and if my 1916 Lithgow could talk... It's not in bad shape but there's enough dings and nicks on the original wood that it must've done something in it's lifetime. The K31 looks like a beaver chewed on the butt, but I hear that's from fashionable Swiss boots.
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If your K31 was butt scared, it was likely issued to Mountain troops, their boots have big hoof nails on them for scaling mountains. When they do drill (and the SWISS do precious little drill, they are a citizen-soldier army that trains not parades) they tend to scar the stocks.
 
fraserdw said:
If your K31 was butt scared, it was likely issued to Mountain troops, their boots have big hoof nails on them for scaling mountains. When they do drill (and the SWISS do precious little drill, they are a citizen-soldier army that trains not parades) they tend to scar the stocks.
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That explains why my K31 looks more beat up than my other Russian milsurps.
 
Steve1987 said:
I find it funny how some folks tend to think every beat up and abused rifle is a "combat vet".

-Steve
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Well not all maybe, but since my K98 is a Russian capture, that means 1 of 3 things happened to it. 1) The soldier carrying it was shot in battle. 2) The solider carrying it surrendered in battle. 3) It was at the front at some point along the Russian advance and simply taken as they moved towards Germany.
I'm just saying if it's a RC, it's safe to say it's seen some serious stuff.
 
My 1944 dated Mosin Nagant '44 Carbine is all matching and in really great shape. The knob on the bolt handle has been reground a bit as if to remove an imperfection and there is a sanded portion on the stock just under it. It's smoothed out but you can see a dimple in the middle. If I had to say, I'm certain an 8mm Mauser round made these marks and some Russian arms tech tried to polished them out.
 
collector67 said:
I have 2 Type 38 Arisakas that have seen a lot of combat, the pics don't do them justice...
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My beat up Type 38 came with a load of oily sand under the stock (luckily not watery sand). I wonder how that got there?

My 1912 Enfield Sht. L.E. Mk.III (DP'd for cadet use) is so worn the bolt head is able to swing up from the rail it slides on. How many million times does it take to #### a L.E to get that worn?
 
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metalslug said:
Well not all maybe, but since my K98 is a Russian capture, that means 1 of 5 things happened to it. 1) The soldier carrying it was shot in battle. 2) The solider carrying it surrendered in battle. 3) It was at the front at some point along the Russian advance and simply taken as they moved towards Germany.
I'm just saying if it's a RC, it's safe to say it's seen some serious stuff.
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4. It was sitting in a storage depot at the end of the war.
5. It was sitting in a factory at the end of the war.
 
XRCD011 said:
Not firearm related but a milsurp (of sorts) that took a whack from small arms back in the day.

1944 kettenkrad that the seller in Belgium claimed was at the Battle of the Bulge.
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A buddy of mine restoring a WW2 Canadian armoured car used in Angola showed me a storage bin in the turret that had a bullet hole in it. The angle was such that someone had to be on the turret roof firing down into an open hatch.
 
metalslug said:
Well not all maybe, but since my K98 is a Russian capture, that means 1 of 3 things happened to it. 1) The soldier carrying it was shot in battle. 2) The solider carrying it surrendered in battle. 3) It was at the front at some point along the Russian advance and simply taken as they moved towards Germany.
I'm just saying if it's a RC, it's safe to say it's seen some serious stuff.
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Russian Capture K98s have probably the highest odds of actually having seen combat out of virtually all milsurps without providence for the simple reason that pretty much all the parts of the gun came off a different rifle. Other rifles only have the one chance, a RC has over 12 chances (a quick guesstimate) for the one gun.
 
I bought a .303 from a pawn shop that was missing to upper and lower hand guards, didn't notice till afterwards that there are 2 deep grooves embedded into the barrel. Not 100% sure but they look like AP rifle rounds hitting the barrel.
 
I got a few that are battle scared for some reason these guns sell cheaper then rifles in good shape I see more history they have a greater value to me then some rifle that was made and never used. as for tanks and or vehicles if it dose not impede its movement or fully penetrate leave the strikes and if it dose fully penetrate id just fill it with some plate and leave the scars
 
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