Ammo drum MG-34. Painted and bluing ??

[Peter Wiking]

I need to sort one thing out.
The ammo drum for the MG-34 that holds a 50 round belt, is painted in the normal German field colors.
Is it true that there where blued ones (gunbluing) ?

Peter Wiking

[Peter Wiking]

Any ideas ?

Peter Wiking

[WWIIBuff]

50 Round basket colors

I too would like to know the answer to this question. I have seen them in field grey, green (Yugo/Israeli I think) and per one discription currently on a dealer site, "original ordinance tan".

Anybody know what the original color was or was there more than one?

John

[Peter Wiking]

They should be in field-grey shades and later on tan. That i know.

I have seen blued ones, inkluding the two steel drum carrier in blued steel as well.

Question:
Is the blued ones WW 2 era or Jugoslav/Israel ?

Peter Wiking

[stevezz1]

Hi Peter,

Here are some pics of my drum mag.
I am pretty sure that this is the original paint finish.
It is the same colour inside and out.(not much paint left inside though)
Dated '43'
It is a green/grey colour.
Hope this helps.

Steve.

[stevezz1]

MG.34. and drum mag.....
Picture is slightly over exposed......

[Bergflak]

Mg drums

Basically, these were issued in the ordnance colors (bluegrey and tan). I have never seen one in original green. A good tell-tale sign of the paints originality is if the white arrow is still on the inside. Might of course be drums in original color that hasn't got the arrow as well! The Yugo ones are either refurbished German ones with original markings and new paint, or they are manufactured in a way identical to the WW2 ones with or without Yugo markings. The tricky parts is that the refurbished ones have been totally stripped for the original paint (looks like it has been done chemically, as no traces of blast-marks from sandblasting can be found) and repainted in a "sickly" green paint. Maybe some of them were just bathed in gun-blue instead of paint? In my opinion the bluing is post-war, and all WW2 are painted.........
Same goes for the drum carriers. Orginality of paint can be established by looking at the plugs of horsehair on the securing lever. If it has been repainted you should be able to tell by inspecting them !

[Gary Wood]

here is a dig up mg drum, I have seen them dug up in a much lighter green but cannot find the photo's I had of them,

cheers,

Gary

[jabbo]

Here are some pictures showing a pair of ordnance tan drums in a carrier, the stamp on the side of the carrier, and the arrow inside one of the drums.

drum_set.jpg
carrier_stamp.jpg
drum arrow.jpg