These were brought to me today by a friend and I know nothing about them. Are they WWII era, any ideas what the markings mean? Both have 2 clips of ammo in each pouch. Thanks for any help.
-
-
Post WWII into Korea by the dates stamped on them. Legit though! -
Yup 303 bandoliers, these were used up to the 1980s and so are regularly restamped with progressively older dates.
I've got some that were originally wwii but last dated in the 60s
Early ones like the ones you have there have the wire hook and rough hole. Later ones have popper closures.
Each rifleman would carry at least two of these, usually one in the right ammo/bren pouch and one across the shoulders for immediate use.
It carries 50 rounds of 303 on ten stripper clips of five rounds each (2 in each pocket), its not unkonw for soldiers on recce patrols to leave the webbing behind and just take these with them.Comment
-
"It carries 50 rounds of 303 on ten stripper clips of five rounds each (2 in each pocket), its not unkonw for soldiers on recce patrols to leave the webbing behind and just take these with them."
Never seen these before. Interesting! They remind me of the assault vests issued to some of the troops for D-Day: cheap, meant for a single use and to be ditched when empty. In other words, the bane of a good QM Sergeant's soul! "Throw them away, sir? [outraged disbelief] They're practically new, sir! And I can just see some canny stores bloke re-stamping and re-issuing them for decades and saving the 'good kit' for 'later'.
Comment
-
If you know you're looking for them you'll start to see them in a *lot* of period pics.
As said they were in use right up to the 80s when the army switched to green plastic bandoliers.Comment
-
Some pics of them in use...they are literally everywhere in period pics like GHarvey said.
Comment
Comment