Yesterday and today the Military Channel has been running a lot of good WWI pieces which, combined with a nice sunny day and the wife and kids being away, prompted me to drag some of my WWI items out for a photo shoot. The focal point of these photos was to accurately depict the Tankgewehr Mauser M 1918 #2854 which I was recently able to acquire via the help of Forum Member (and my local MP-40 shooting buddy) "Col. Klink".
T-Gewehr #2854 was a WWI bringback by Frederick S. Fleckenstein (1887-1957) of Ulster County, NY. Mr. Fleckenstein served as First Sargent of Company "K", 23rd Engineer Regiment (Road) during WWI. First Sgt. Fleckenstein acquired the gun in the Argonne area of France where he was supervising a detail of German POW's being used as labor for clean up and repair work. When found the gun did not have a bipod on it, so the MG08/15 bipod used for the photos does not belong with the T-Gewehr. If anyone knows of an original (w/ original paint) T-Gewehr tubular-type bipod that is for sale or trade, I would be most interested in it.
The details of how Mr. Fleckenstein brought the gun home are now lost to time, but as big and heavy as it is I can personally attest that he must have wanted this souvenir REALLY bad to go to the trouble of bringing it home with him (as I've already pulled a muscle in my back when handling it for cleanup). Also, as you go through the photos you will see where First Sgt. Fleckenstein stamped his name into the wood of the stock just forward of the trigger group, using what appears to be the same type of die stamp set as was used at the unit level in WWI to create "dogtag" ID disks. He also stamped the same information into the metal of the gun under the rear sight (but these stampings are not visible with the stock on). In my view First Sgt. Fleckenstein marked the gun while overseas, as a way of discouraging other souvenir-hungry Doughboys from getting any ideas about absconding with "his" relic.
Based on the serial number chart and other data in Wolfgang Kern's book "Das Tankgewehr Mauser M 1918", I think that T-Gewehr #2854 was probably manufactured in the July-August period of 1918.
I hope you enjoy the photos.
AMMO: I have read posts on the Web indicating that new production ammo is available from Austria. Anyone know the details of how I can source the Austrian-made (or any other) 13mm T-Gewehr ammo so that Col. Klink and I can go shoot this monster?
T-Gewehr #2854 was a WWI bringback by Frederick S. Fleckenstein (1887-1957) of Ulster County, NY. Mr. Fleckenstein served as First Sargent of Company "K", 23rd Engineer Regiment (Road) during WWI. First Sgt. Fleckenstein acquired the gun in the Argonne area of France where he was supervising a detail of German POW's being used as labor for clean up and repair work. When found the gun did not have a bipod on it, so the MG08/15 bipod used for the photos does not belong with the T-Gewehr. If anyone knows of an original (w/ original paint) T-Gewehr tubular-type bipod that is for sale or trade, I would be most interested in it.
The details of how Mr. Fleckenstein brought the gun home are now lost to time, but as big and heavy as it is I can personally attest that he must have wanted this souvenir REALLY bad to go to the trouble of bringing it home with him (as I've already pulled a muscle in my back when handling it for cleanup). Also, as you go through the photos you will see where First Sgt. Fleckenstein stamped his name into the wood of the stock just forward of the trigger group, using what appears to be the same type of die stamp set as was used at the unit level in WWI to create "dogtag" ID disks. He also stamped the same information into the metal of the gun under the rear sight (but these stampings are not visible with the stock on). In my view First Sgt. Fleckenstein marked the gun while overseas, as a way of discouraging other souvenir-hungry Doughboys from getting any ideas about absconding with "his" relic.
Based on the serial number chart and other data in Wolfgang Kern's book "Das Tankgewehr Mauser M 1918", I think that T-Gewehr #2854 was probably manufactured in the July-August period of 1918.
I hope you enjoy the photos.
AMMO: I have read posts on the Web indicating that new production ammo is available from Austria. Anyone know the details of how I can source the Austrian-made (or any other) 13mm T-Gewehr ammo so that Col. Klink and I can go shoot this monster?
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