SPA Modeler

Very nice collection, Fermis!!

Fermis, ya know that Pikelhaube helmet needs a 50 Mission crush US Officer cap dangling off of the spike...

Some nice looking stuff Fermis! The USAAF helmet was the base used to build the original Rebel helmets they used in return of the jedi

I have a few.

**Please click on image for full-size view**

Mauser collection:



Finn Mosin-Nagant rifles, four M39s and one M27:



Russian Mosin-Nagant rifles:



Swiss K31s and K11 rifles:



Enfield rifles:



Semi-auto, and one full-auto milsurps:

1944 Springfield Armory M1 Garand rifle:



1943 Ljungman AG-42B:



FN49, Egyptian model 8mm:



James River Armory BM59:



1944 Long Branch Ontario built Sten MkII submachine gun 9mm:



Thanks for having a look!

Some really beautiful Mausers! A very impressive collection.

I've also got my great-grandfather's WWI helmet Fermis, but it was hanging in a barn for decades so it's not in as good shape. Also have all of my dad's Vietnam campaign ribbons. I know this isn't gear related, but there is a guy on You Tube called Steve1989 who collects MREs and his videos involve him eating them...the best part is him trying out food from WWII and even before...they call him the Bob Ross of MREs because of the way he describes them... I've fallen down the rabbit hope and have watched hours of his videos.

Floki wrote:Some really beautiful Mausers! A very impressive collection.

Thanks Floki! I enjoy them a lot.

The most interesting surplus, indeed, most interesting of any of my guns (to me anyway ) weapon is this old pistol. It is known as a "Ruby-type" pistol. In 1915, the French government gave a contract to the Ruby company in the Eibar region of Spain for a large number of pistols for the French Army of World War One. The number was beyond Ruby's capacity to produce so they subbed out the contract to the myriad small arms manufacturers of the Eibar region.

In late Spring of 1945, a large unit of German troops surrendered to my Dad's unit. They were instructed to line up alongside the road while a couple GIs drove along in a Jeep with duffel bags, collecting their weapons. Later, Dad's CO offered the loot to his troops for booty. My Dad got a sword, Mauser bayonet, a .22 cal pistol and this one. It was manufactured by the Isidro Gaztanaga Company and is, like all the Ruby-types, a copy of the Colt 1903 model. It's chambered in 7.65cal.(.32acp). I still have the original leather military holster too.

Here's the interesting part. This pistol served in two World Wars, in three different armies and was carried by who knows how many different soldiers. How did it get from 1916 France to 1945 Germany? Was it captured in WWI perhaps and kept by a German family to be sent to war again in 1939? Or perhaps captured when France fell in 1940 and carried by a German soldier until the end? There is no way to know and that makes it quite interesting to me! Imagine what it might've seen, and the stories it could tell.





The big knob seen on the slide was added by French armorers in WWI to prevent the rudimentary safety from contacting the holster sides.

Jeeves wrote:I've also got my great-grandfather's WWI helmet Fermis, but it was hanging in a barn for decades so it's not in as good shape. Also have all of my dad's Vietnam campaign ribbons. I know this isn't gear related, but there is a guy on You Tube called Steve1989 who collects MREs and his videos involve him eating them...the best part is him trying out food from WWII and even before...they call him the Bob Ross of MREs because of the way he describes them... I've fallen down the rabbit hope and have watched hours of his videos.

Dad's still got a case of C-Rats...and several MRE's!

I had cases of MREs that I’d accumulated over my years of service. Pitched them all when I moved last year because they were all well past their shelf life expiration.