Interesting finds

[Milsurp Collector]

I recall a chat with a Vietnam Marine who loved using captured grenades against the VC. But he stopped after the VC got smart and started leaving behind grenades with zero second fuses.

We topped that. During the Vietnam War there was a covert CIA/SOG operation called Eldest Son. Sabotaged ammo and mortar rounds were slipped into the Viet Cong supply chain and caused their rifles and mortars to blow up. It was designed to not only kill the VC who used the ammo but to cause the Viet Cong to lose confidence in the quality of their ammo http://www.jcs-group.com/military/war1964/project.html

[jigenax]

We topped that. During the Vietnam War there was a covert CIA/SOG operation called Eldest Son. Sabotaged ammo and mortar rounds were slipped into the Viet Cong supply chain and caused their rifles and mortars to blow up. It was designed to not only kill the VC who used the ammo but to cause the Viet Cong to lose confidence in the quality of their ammo http://www.jcs-group.com/military/war1964/project.html

And sadly that tactic came back on us. Still bothered by what happened in the summer of '86 when Vietnam era munitions were being used for practice. Jane Fonda wannabees messing with our ammo to do the same thing, lose confidence in our ammo over a decade later.

More details about that here: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...0&postcount=15

[smle-man]

The British would leave 'dropped' bandoleers of extremely high pressure .303 rounds in selected areas of the NW frontier for the Pathans to find and use against them. The rounds would destroy their Khyber pass replica Lee Enfields and injure the user. The idea was to of course take out the Pathan but also to get them to mistrust any found .303 rounds.

[Nodda Duma]

There's tons of stuff littered all over the test ranges here. EOD periodically collects UXO together and detonates it. Probably about once a month.

Oddest was a 30-30 shell which looked decades old, sitting in an area which isn't often frequented. Only thing I could think of was maybe it was used for controlling the burro population on the range. A 30-30 shell is an oddity on a military test range.

-Jason

[Mike A]

I used to troll "boundary trees" in upstate New York forests while scouting pre-season (spring turkey and fall deer). Those are trees that were left standing when they cut the forest back in the 19th century for pasture. The trees marked property lines and also gave the cows some share in the summer. They also served as tree stands for deer hunters. Now the forest has grown back thickly, but you can tell the boundary trees by their size and growth pattern, which is unlike a forest tree of the same species.

Under them was all the crap that had fallen out of tree stands over the years: ctg. cases, pocket knives and change, etc. Found spent shells and unfired, coins, rusted out pocket knives with only the bolsters, scales, and liners left (German silver, bone, and brass parts) and pocket change.

My favorites are an unfired .250-3000 shell made by Savage and with the early headstamp ".25 High Power." Has to be rare. Also a Colt .38 Super Auto, nickeled case with a steel-jacketed bullet (rusty). And a .56-50 Spencer rimfire case (fired, unfortunately). And buckets of .30-30s and .35 Rems that I put in a barrel and sold to a scrap yard.

My favorite pocket change is two silver Deutschmarks dated 1899. What in heck were they doing under a tree in an abandoned farm in Eastern New York state? (Most of this land was seized by the state for taxes after it was abandoned in the 1920s and 1930s. Soil wore out, people left. It's now State Forest and you can hunt on it in season and shoot in the safe spots like gravel pits, unlike CA).

When I was in HS I used to sneak into the back (West) end of Hunter Liggett in the fall and scrounge all I could backpack out. If some of the troops in Vietnam were as careless with their stuff, no wonder the VC had US materials....

[7.62x54R]

Nazi with a M1 Carbine

Thats interesting i always wondered if the Germans used american M1 Garands or Carbines. Could never find any information or pictures on the subject. I knew they used Soviet equipment.

[smle-man]

Apparently not M1 rifles but yes on carbines.

[Eddie1965]

One of my uncles served in the Pacific and he told me that the Japanese could actually shoot our 30-06 out of their rifles, is this true or was he spreading FUD?

BTW, while camping in Angeles National Forest I found a bunch of .223 spent blanks, I guess Hollywood had been up there and didn't pick up their brass.

[jigenax]

One of my uncles served in the Pacific and he told me that the Japanese could actually shoot our 30-06 out of their rifles, is this true or was he spreading FUD?

Not exactly. If it's an unmodified T99, then no it can not fire .30'06 ammo. However, during the Korean War, the US Ordnance did direct and supervise the Tokyo Arsenal to modify 133,000 T99 rifles to use .30'06 ammo. Many ROK soldiers were having problems handling the M1 Garands so the smaller stocked and lighter modified T99 were issued.

Back in 1950s, Parker Ackley conducted a series of pressure tests on various bolt actions from WW2. The T99 and T38 actions were found to be the strongest. The T38 was the only one that did not fail any of the tests. The second strongest was the T99 and when it gave way, the bolt and receiver were still serviceable. All other actions failed at lower pressures and were no longer usable. Of course, he did the tests on prewar or early war actions. Last ditch versions are just wall hangers.