Besa or MG37(t) ?

[sturgis]

I have this nice can which is a mystery to me..
The links inside appear to be from the MG37(t) or the BESA derivative.
Can appears to be a British 'brown' on the outside but a bit brighter on the inside.
Maker stamp appears to be eastern European.?
I thought British BESA at first, as it it has a clear 7.92 marking on the lid to clearly identify against the standard .303 in service at the time. (the 7.92 BESA was used in British tanks during WW2).
What do you think ?
Richard

[sturgis]

more

[sturgis]

and more

[pitfighter]

Israel - could feasibly have used either Besa or MG37
This one is in Tel Aviv - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...y-haosef-3.jpg

[sturgis]

Yes its Hebrew. Still investigating.....

[me6_130]

That makes it clear, then. I was wondering what it was. Thanks for the info.

Carles

[bmg17a1]

Just to further the inquiry, BESA belts are very different, using canvas as the main belt part with two piece steel clamshell links held together with tabs to hold the rounds. The will work in a 37 as well.
Ammo box is typical for the 37s and is a derivation of the German boxes.

Bob Naess

[sturgis]

I understand from reading that the BESA started out with the all metal belts and the canvas derivative was developed later on. ?
Richard

[bmg17a1]

>I understand from reading that the BESA started out with the all metal belts and the canvas derivative was developed later on. ?<

If I recall, the BESA was put into service in 1940 by the Brits and during development probably used the standard ZB53 all steel continuous belts. I would assume they lost their sources for metal belts and so were forced to design and make their own and the design probably was less expensive and used less strategic materials than the ZB style. The production numbers of BESA guns was very high so a domestic source of belts was imperative.
The ZB loader is interesting in that it loads two cartridges at a time and is extremely well built and efficient, which is a great benefit for shooting the gun. I have not tried to load a BESA belt in the standard ZB loader, but will give it a try just to see if it works. I have never come across a belt loader specifically made for the BESA belts and question how these belts were loaded by tank crews in the field. Maybe someone else will comment about this.

Bob Naess