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Post by picardowoods on Dec 13, 2009 9:49:45 GMT -8
Hi All I though I had better start a thread so I dug out this pic of an unusual Mills belt circa 1905, the are no ink stamps just the Mills patent stamp on each end. Any ideas on origin or use? as you can see from the pic it holds a .303 Charger perfectly. The use of non US snaps suggests UK manufacture? Carl Attachments:
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johnt
New Member
Posts: 16
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Post by johnt on Dec 14, 2009 12:52:00 GMT -8
Carl,
Does each pocket hold only one charger? The striped webbing looks very American, but I've got pics of a similar belt taken from a c. 1905 catalogue from the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co. of London. The text mentions that these belts were available in 60, 90, and 120 round versions (as I remember). I'll try to find the pics and reproduce the photo tonight.
John
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Post by picardowoods on Dec 16, 2009 7:54:35 GMT -8
Hi John
Yes it only takes one charger per pocket, so it's only a 40 round belt, Cadet possibly?
Carl
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Post by Jerry Lee on Dec 17, 2009 17:21:44 GMT -8
This might have been an early descendant Mills's first attempt at a belt for ammunition in chargers (or was the Remington-Lee Navy belt made for chargers?). The company was trying desperately to overcome the bad reputation acquired during the Boer War, when flimsy Mills ammo bandoliers, meant to be disposable, were retained by the troops as LBE until they fell apart. The belt above has puckered pocket bottoms, an early improvement for pointy bullets, so it would seem to be later than the earliest Mills belts for US M1903 Springfields.
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Post by steved409 on Dec 18, 2009 7:10:51 GMT -8
Not very well known, but ALL Mills made M1903 belts for the '03 had the puckered pockets, something the other manufacturer(s) of this belt didn't due until 1907ish.
If anyone has an '03 belt (Mills) that DOESN'T have puckered pockets I would like to know about it.
SteveD
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