American Tripod?

[michael leone]

Any Ideas On What This My Have Been Used For? I Found It At A Garage Sale , Actually It Was In The Basement Of The House That Was Having The Sale, As I Asked If There Were Any Military Items, The Home Owner Said They Thought They Had Some Stuff In The Basement But It Was Too Heavy/dirty To Bring Up! Well I Bought It, Lugged It Up The Steps And Now My Wife Thinks I Am Really Crazy As It Sits Under The Steps In Our Basement. Looks To Me Like Some Type Of Ww1 Tripod For A Browning ? Or Potato Digger? Any Ideas Or Opinions Would Be Welcomed,. I Took Some Pics Of The Markings I Found On It. There Was A Bayonet As Well, Ww2 Long Type For A Springfield I Think, And Some Us Navy Uniforms.

[michael leone]

American Tripod?

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[michael leone]

American Tripod?

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[michael leone]

American Tripod?

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[michael leone]

American Tripod?

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[ChrisCook]

Tripod

I'm sure Bill Grist or one of the other guys that have a plethora of knowledge will chime in soon. I'm just curious, was there any other militaria besides this? I never find stuff this good at yard sales, well hardly ever.... Chris...

[michael leone]

american machine gun tripod

what was a potato digger? someone pmd me and said it may be from a ptoato digger? i was going to try and find a dummy browning automatic rifle or something similar to mount on it for display. or, there is alot of brass in the parts, perhaps it is worth more as a scrap value.

[Adrian Stevenson]

what was a potato digger?

Hi Mike, it was the Colt Browning Model of 1895. The gun was nick named that. The guy was correct and that is what you have.

Cheers, Ade.

[michael leone]

american machine gun tripod

thanks adrian for the info, i finally looked up and found something about the gun you mentioned. i am still wondering about the anchor marking on the tripod. was it for the navy or just a maker mark of of some type? do they make dummey versions of that gun for display? regards,,mike

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Mike, sorry I cannot help with these questions. Way outside my area.


Cheers, Ade.

[geopop71]

Tripod

http://www.spanamwar.com/Coltmachinegun.htm


Here is a link to some pics and info about this tripod and it's use. The Marines did use this gun so that may explain the anchor. There were several type's of mount used for this weapon, one was on wheels another on a ship deck and so on. It was a so called "potatoe digger" although on ship board it may have been called a "clam digger"
geopop

[gew98]

thanks adrian for the info, i finally looked up and found something about the gun you mentioned. i am still wondering about the anchor marking on the tripod. was it for the navy or just a maker mark of of some type? do they make dummey versions of that gun for display? regards,,mike

Being of nearly all brass I'd say it's a good bet it was naval property. It would be a good bit heavy and expensive for an infantry used tripod made out of all that brass , but naval seems appropriate.

[Bill Grist]

Colt 1895 Machine gun

This is for the Colt 1895 Machine Gun or the Marlin Machine gun copy of the Colt M-1895.. Commonly refered to as the 'Potato Digger'..... BILL

[michael leone]

machine gun tripod

thank you all for your input, you have cleared up my questions with your responses. it is quite heavy and does look to be all brass, some areas being painted over. too bad there are probably no guns of that vintage around these days! it would make a great display item.

[Gary Cain]

There are a few of those guns around and I am sure the owners would be very happy to pick up that tripod!


Gary

thank you all for your input, you have cleared up my questions with your responses. it is quite heavy and does look to be all brass, some areas being painted over. too bad there are probably no guns of that vintage around these days! it would make a great display item.