Tuesday, November 19, 2019

OMG, what?? Imagine finding that in some garage or barn!


17 comments:

  1. In the early '70s they were tearing down WWII T buildings at Fort Devens MA. They encountered a padlocked room. they cut off the lock and found a crate of 200 .45s, and a dozen Thompsons.

    I imagine there was a conversation before that fact was reported.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi C.W.,
      I count (10) ea. on one side, so with a "double stack" that's "20!!!"
      Not bad for a "Can of C-RATS!!!"
      skybill

      Delete
    2. In this case then, that would be XX-rats....

      Delete
  2. I wonder if they were packaged for air drop?

    Guy I served with in '61 had worked on tugboats in the Seattle area. He told of towing barges loaded with surplus weapons to the open ocean and dumping them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guy I talked with in the 90s reported finding a crate while diving (on the job). Pried it open and pulled out a 'blob'. Colt 45 in the cosmoline. The rest are probably still, in the Navy yard....

      Delete
  3. Those look to be M3 "Greaseguns" behind the Jellied Cranberry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Man, I didn't even see those. My Uncle played around with a 'Grease Gun' (he was a tanker in the U.S. Army), said they were a lot of fun to shoot. He wanted to take one home, but was not able to figure out a safe way to do that so he left the idea there.

      Delete
  4. That looks like the original can of whup-ass.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How does one find a Can of Colts? I never find any and I scour barns and old houses...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is the standard long-term storage can for 1911's. A similar device was used for rifles.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I found a muslin bag in the potatoe locker on USS Esteem that had 10 .45 colts left by the idiot EOD team we pulled off either Wimbrown 7 or barge Hercules. I also found one hanging on a peg on my door to my stateroom. It's weird how those things seem to vanish from military service. I bought mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was on Hercules on the gunboats. We found all kinds of stuff laying around but nothing like that. They even took my pencil-flares when I got back.

      Delete
  8. At the end of WWII, odd things were used as construction materials for temporary equipment shelters and what not. One airbase I had been at had storage buildings built from aircraft shipping cases. fighter aircraft were pickled, disassembled, and crated for the Pacific theater. Money for base construction being thin, "Unused" crates-stout oak and maple-were stacked for walls and roofed over for parts warehousing when the jets came along. when the base was reduced in scope by clinton, a contractor was hired to tear it all down and contracted to dispose of the materials. I was told by one of the contractor's employees more than one of the very heavy "wall" crates contained some very interesting "materials".
    but then, jeffrey epstein didn't kill himself, either.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Re-seal and mail to General Delivery, Hong Kong.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enough to make you weak at the knees.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Post WW2 Springfield Armory in Springfield Mass, was a point for infantry weapons rebuilds, and experiments in long term storeage of pistols, rifles, and submachine guuns. The weapons were packed in drums with spare mags and manuals and iirc cleaning kits. The drum was sealed with nitrogen inside, and could be opened with a special tool. Springfield Armory has one of the opened .45 cans. I've also heard that there was at least 1 can of sealed M1 Garands returned in teh Philippines Islands returns. Probably for a special auction on the cmp auction site.

    ReplyDelete