As the warm Spring of 1910 melted away the cold winter in the Mid-Atlantic states, the Pittsburgh Pirates were preparing to defend their position as the World Champions of professional baseball, President William Howard Taft was vigorously continuing the legislative reforms begun by his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, while from Mexico, a Hearst journalist named J. F. Albert was sending back reports of revolution from that wild land: “Díaz government officials are denying reports of a popular uprising being led by a rebel named Zapata in support of Francisco Madero, the reform candidate for the presidency. The revolt is said to be in the state of Morelos, to the south of Mexico City.”

Zapata never formally ruled Mexico and his army never outnumbered that of his ally, the bandit Pancho Villa. Unlike other greedy and ambitious revolutionaries, Zapata had a single goal: land reform for the common citizen.

While Mexico’s national forces and police had arsenals of modern firearms and open channels of mass supply, revolutionaries did not. Their arms suppliers, financing and methods were as blurry as the borders they illegally crossed to supply the freedom fighters.

For example, late in 1910, an innocent looking wagon entered Zapata’s small village in Southern Mexico, loaded with hay. Beneath the hay rested 60 Winchester Model 1886 and 1894 rifles, 30 Colt revolvers, and 2,800 rounds of ammunition. The Zapata peasants had their start-up arsenal of vintage American frontier weapons to fight the federal troops armed mostly with new model Mauser bolt action rifles.

History placed Emiliano Zapata into the eye of this revolutionary storm, curling its deadly cyclones around the corrupt establishment. Indeed, today there are more statues of, and other tributes to, Emiliano Zapata throughout Mexico than of any other revolutionary figure.

President Diaz’s top general, Victoriano Huerta and his troops chased the small band of loyal Zapatistas across the mountains of Morelos. Yet, the rebel army grew in size through autumn of 1911, fed by the people’s hatred for the murderous Huerta. One Mexican leader said of Zapata, “Emiliano Zapata is no longer just a man; he is a symbol for other men.”

With success, more arms and material came his way. As the Hearst journalist William Jenkins wrote: “Instead of the battered, old handed down guns and captured rifles, crates of new Winchesters and even some Mausers were showing up in Morelos. We are told they have been bought by friends to help Zapata’s armies in their battle in the South. Clearly, they come from the North. How far north is anyone’s guess to make…. Ammunition, too, as I saw crates of it. Before, these soldiers had to beg for even a few cartridges. Some loaded their own powder and ball. Today, they have modern factory ammunition and a good supply of it… it keeps coming here in the same type of plain wagons… sometimes by train.”

“Matters will change when we get some artillery and some more of these modern Mauser rifles,” Zapata informed one of his agents who was dealing with Texas gunrunners. “We need Mausers and the automatic machine guns… Can we obtain the American Springfield and ammunition for all the guns?”

Zapata didn’t place firearms in the planned obsolescence category that industrialized military societies do to market new technology even before their old creations are worn out. As long as a gun fired, Zapatistas used it. Firearms authority E. Dixon Larson writes, “There is no question that those (old firearms) that have seen service in Mexico will easily outrank all others in a use and abuse exhibit of grueling wear and unorthodox modification.”

According to most historical accounts, the majority of weapons used came from the United States, with Europe a distant second. Colt and Winchester models outpaced all of the others by 30 to 1. But, getting modern military guns in the United States proved impossible as the American government gave military equipment to the “rightful and orderly” Mexican government, but denied weapons to “any rebel group.”

Obviously, blockades, like prohibitions of any sort, are made to be broken. Lives and fortunes were both won and lost on the Texas and Arizona border with Mexico and along both the Gulf and Pacific coasts, as dozens of gunrunners sought to sell modern weapons. The U.S. and Mexican governments attempted to stop weapons coming in for rebel forces. But, when smugglers are into serious profit, a few dollars or a few pesos change hands, heads are turned and the goods go through.

According to contemporary reports, observers saw some machine guns with the Zapata forces, usually old Colt potato diggers, a few Gatling guns, but at least ten newer Maxim guns. By 1916, Zapata had a dozen or so Lewis guns, some stolen from U.S. units, others “donated” by friends of the Revolution.

Naturally, a helter-skelter ordnance system created logistical supply headaches, e.g. matching ammunition caliber with differing rifle calibers, obtaining a machine gun without vital parts, etc. In addition to the smuggled weapons, Zapata’s forces had homemade guns, plus weapons stolen from the established military and police. Sometimes, new weapons would come in with the wrong caliber ammunition, or no ammunition would show up for any weapon. Many of the peasants brought their own rifles from home, for which no modern ammunition existed.

The basic rifle of the federal soldier during the Zapata period was the Mexican Mauser Model of 1902 in 7mm; an excellent, hard-hitting, accurate rifle. Zapata told a reporter from Literary Digest, “The old Winchester saddle rifles our boys have are no distance match against the army’s new Mausers.”

The Mexican government also purchased numbers of the Mauser Model 1912, a rifle very much like the German Model 98 rifles. The only major difference is that the Mexican model has a tangent-type rear sight and a longer hand guard than the German rifle.

The Mexican military also bought quantities of the 7mm Arisaka rifle from Japan. This five-shot weapon is very much like the standard Japanese model of 1899, and was used through the 1920s.

A very unusual weapon that found some common favor among the rurales of Porfirio Diáz was the Pieper-Nagant, a nine-shot, 8mm rifle with a revolving cylinder. Made in Belgium, the weapon’s barrel is completely enclosed in the wooden fore end. The cylinder closes with the barrel to make a gas-tight, leak-proof seal.

The Mondragón rifle, known officially in Mexico as the Fusil Porfirio Diáz Systema Mondragón, Modelo 1908, was conceived by General Manuel Mondragón in the late 1890s, but he did not perfect and patent his design until 1907. He was forced to have his semiautomatic rifle manufactured by SIG in Switzerland, as there were no suitable production facilities in Mexico. Although the Mondragón is best known for its use by several European countries, the Mexican Federal Army imported a number of them in 7mm, adopting the weapon in 1911. The Mexican models were fitted with a box magazine into which an 8-round clip was loaded. In addition, a few of these pioneer auto-loading rifles were produced in 5mm.

In those days, Mexico was often called a machine gun seller’s paradise, and the Revolutionary era government used a variety of the automatic weapons, mostly the 1896 Hotchkiss gun in 7mm, later, the 7mm Browning model 1919, the 7mm Colt Automatic Gun “Potato Digger” of 1895, plus the Model 1911 Madsen machine gun.

Anyone who has examined the thousands of pages of text, reports, interviews, as well as several thousand period photos, can safely conclude that just about every type of period firearm from homemade hand cannon to machine gun was used in the Mexican revolutionary decade.

“If it shoots, it’s welcome in the Revolution,” Emiliano Zapata told an old man who offered a crude, homemade shotgun to the Chief in 1913. As reported by Literary Digest in 1912, “Zapata creates a faithful follower by handing him a rifle and shells. And to the average Mexican, a rifle means everything.”

A Zapata aide, General de la O, recalled, “We were always happy to see deserters from the federal troops bring along their Mauser rifles. Emiliano wanted very much for his boys to have the best. We were a very raggedly armed bunch, some men had muzzle loaders nearly 100 years old. There are never enough brave men who risk death to bring us modern weapons.”

In August of 1914, knowing that a majority of his men were armed with antiquated Winchesters that had already seen rough service on the North American frontier, handed down family antiques and 40 year old French rifles, Zapata decided he would have to raid more federal arsenals and trains. It worked.

Zapata’s men came into Mexico City on November 24, 1914, acting more like peasants lost in a big city than conquering soldiers. Pancho Villa’s Villistas joined the Zapatistas in the capital on November 28. The historic personal meeting between Villa and Zapata took place December 4, 1914, in Xochimilco, a small town outside of the city. Villa offered Zapata modern arms and ammunition, while Zapata offered men and silver. On December 6, 1914, the two chiefs led their armies into the capital in a peaceful joint occupation.

The peace soon ended in the South. By July 30, 1915, the army of General Pablo González was pushing through Mexico City toward Cuernavaca. Aroused, the Zapatistas took to war again. Zapata celebrated his 36th birthday by driving González and his soldiers back to Mexico City, telling him to stay out of Morelos; then he tried to retire to peace once more.

“Instead of fighting all the time, why can’t we simple people be left alone in peace to enjoy what we fought for?” he asked his friend and advisor Antonio Diáz Soto y Gama. He probably never learned the answer to that question, even though the next three years were somewhat less warlike.

Money and politics had largely replaced bullets as the major weapon. Indeed, in the spring of 1919, the increasingly repressive government, now headed by President Venustiano Carranza, invited Zapata to a luncheon to discus land reform.

As April 10, 1919 dawned, Zapata and nearly 150 of his men rode into a hacienda, about 35 miles south of Villa de Ayala, without suspicion. Shortly after 2 p.m., he rode his horse back inside the hacienda walls for a luncheon of beer and tacos, as a guest of Col. Jesus Gujardo, an aide to Pres Carranza, who had made the invitation to this peaceful sit-down for both sides. Privately, Guajardo had hinted he was ready to defect to Zapata’s side of the political revolution, which was what drew Zapata out of his home district that day.

Guajardo had a small honor guard lined up inside, supposedly to receive Zapata. Three times the bugle sounded the honor call, then as the last note died, the honor guard, made up entirely of government officers dressed as enlisted men, suddenly raised their Mausers and fired point-blank at Zapata and the handful of men who rode behind their chief. Two volleys were fired. Zapata was killed instantly, assassinated at age 39 by a turncoat. A young Zapata aide who survived, Reyes Avilés, wrote of the murder: The surprise was terrible.

The soldiers of the traitor Guajardo were firing on us… resistance was useless. On one side, we were a fistful of men thrown into consternation by the loss of our loved Chief; and on the other side a thousand of the enemy… This is how the tragedy was.

On orders, Guajardo’s troops grabbed the dead rebel leader as his body fell from the horse. A dead Zapata would be powerful propaganda, so immediately, the body was taken to Gen. González’s headquarters and placed on public display in the city of Cuautla. His supporters all over Mexico brought back his famous quote, “We die again. But, this time, to truly live.”

One old veteran of the Revolution said, “Emiliano now rides with the wind. But he is here and he will always ride with us. You can see him too if you look on the right hill at the right time. Zapata is forever.”

Many new emigrants to Australia and many sons of British emigrants enlisted in the Australian Army because they felt the pull of ‘home’ and wanted to fight to assist the British. The Australian Army, comprising mostly volunteers not conscripts, entered France in the summer of 1916.

So it was that the very first battle involving the 5th Australian Division took place in Northern France between Bethuné and Lille near Fromelles, where they fought alongside British troops of the 61st Division.

The battle plan was to attack a 4,000 yard section of the German front line that was, unfortunately, masterminded by General Sir Richard Haking (known as Butcher Haking, whose battle plans tended to fail and leave thousands of bodies in their wake). It was virtually the same as the one he had set in motion a year before. That failed then, leaving 11,600 casualties.

Meanwhile, the Germans had had a whole year to dig themselves in and build defences made of concrete, making their front line formidable, especially around a point called the Sugar Loaf.

That month, the Battle of the Somme was proving disastrous for the British, with massive casualties and for the French at Verdun with even greater numbers of dead. This battle of Fromelles was a diversion, to make the Germans think the Allies were launching a new front and it was hoped the Germans would send men and machinery from the Somme and thus weaken that area to allow the Allies through.

The 5th Australian Division were new to France and to warfare – these were not battle hardened troops. Plans were made in haste and were muddled and did not allow for the fortifications made by the Germans. Even after several days of artillery bombardment the German defences were barely damaged. When the bombardment intensified, the Germans merely responded with equal ferocity, shelling the waiting Allied troops in their trenches.

At 5.30 pm on 19th July 1916, the British made their move into No Man’s Land and were promptly blasted by machine gun fire. At 6 pm the main thrust began and was met by blasts from artillery and bullets of every description. The bodies piled up. Some inroads were made on the flanks, but these men were unable to hold the ground since there were no others to help them because the men who fought in the middle at Sugar Loaf, were annihilated. By morning the tragedy was clear and 5,533 Australians and 1,547 British men were killed, missing or wounded.

Another failed Butcher Haking plan with thousands dead but him alive and able to pompously blame the men, who in his opinion were “not sufficiently imbued with the offensive spirit to go in like one man at the appointed time.” Adding insult to injury he said, “I think that the attack, though it failed, has done both divisions a great deal of good…” Tell that to the crippled, the widows and orphans.

Among other errors made, an officer had taken orders with him into battle that fell into the Germans hands. From these orders it was clear to the Germans that this was not a true attempt to start a new front, but a feint to get them to send troops from the Somme. No German troops were diverted, so the carnage there also continued.

A ‘Friend of the 15th Australian Brigade,’ Mr Lambis Englezos AM, always wondered what had happened to so many missing soldiers. Many bodies would naturally disappear after a battle, being blasted to nothing by artillery, etc., but following the war, the burial parties were only able to locate a relatively small number of bodies at Fromelles. There were too many ‘missing.’ So it was that Mr Englezos personally paid for aerial photographs to be taken and lo and behold, evidence of 5 rectangular plots where earth had been moved showed up.

This information was given to a British historian, Peter Barton, who travelled to Germany and searched archives there and eventually found evidence that the Germans had needed to dispose of the many Allied bodies which were festering in the July heat, so they had used a light railway to transport many of the bodies to these newly dug mass graves. And so they remained for decades, undisturbed, whereabouts unknown.

The find resulted in many relatives of the missing coming forward, and by using DNA and artefacts found at the site, many soldiers were identified. The excavation of the bodies took place by archaeologists during May – September 2009. Painstaking work was involved, not just to recover the bodies, but as many of their belongings as possible to aid identification. The remains of 250 soldiers were recovered.

A new cemetery was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on land given them by the French Government and so the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery came into being. Every soldier was reburied with full military honours involving British and Australian troops and Chaplains. New white headstones marked each grave and because of the DNA, many bear a soldiers name.

Of the 250 soldiers found, 94 Australian soldiers now have names. 3 British and 111 Australian bodies have been identified as belonging to each Army, but 42 soldiers remain unidentified by name or nationality. 3,000 DNA samples were taken from various relatives and work will continue to try to identify the men for a further 4 years. Many poignant items were found with the bodies, the saddest perhaps being a return ticket from Freemantle to Perth.

All three Governments involved (Britain, France and Australia) co-operated to arrange a fitting ceremony that would take place 94 years after that battle on Monday, 19th July, 2010 to recognise the service these men had rendered and one ‘Unknown Warrior’ would be buried at this service.

As the Honourable Secretary of the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades’ Association (MGC/OCA), I was honoured to be invited to represent the Machine Gun Corps, along with Committee Member Graham Sacker. (Seven of our MGC men went missing that day and have never been identified.) Lt Col Edward Waite Roberts and Major John Butler of the Logistics Corps (and also MGC/OCA members) played a significant part in the preparations for the service, including providing the gun carriage that carried the Unknown Warrior to his final resting place. Major Butler’s work in personally doing much of the restoration of the gun carriage (and indeed personally paying for many of the parts, with Lt Col Roberts chipping in too), meant he spent several weekends working on repairs. These soldiers and others were in France some days prior to the ceremony rehearsing so that all would be perfect on the day.

The service was due to commence at mid-day and we had to take our places in the stands by 11.30 am. With the sun high in the sky and not a cloud to be seen, the heat was intense. With no shelter, those attending were soon bathed in sweat and showing signs of sunburn. I could only wonder had the troops also been under such an unforgiving sun while they waited, packed into their trenches, laden with equipment. Water was passed around but even so, guests were being helped to get first aid to deal with burns and dehydration.

Many dignitaries from all three countries were in attendance, including HRH The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, HRH The Duke of Kent, HE The Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia and the French Minister for State for Defence and Veterans. HRH Prince of Wales accompanied the Unknown Warrior through the village into the cemetery.

A film was shown depicting details of the battle of Fromelles and about the wonderful work done by the archaeologists and scientists. Hymns and prayers followed and then the Unknown Warrior was buried. During the service, family members of the men read letters sent home by the men, which proved to be extremely emotional, and I felt, the most moving and significant part of the service.

Hundreds of Australian family members had travelled thousands of miles to witness the service and to pay homage to their dead. There were many families of several generations and children in attendance.

Following the service, I laid a wreath on behalf of the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrade’s Association and signed the Book of Remembrance. We, who were there, were proud to represent the Corps and just sad that none of our missing seven Machine Gun Corps soldiers had been identified (so far).

The cemetery is on the edge of the village of Fromelles and like all CWGC cemeteries, has a beauty which seems at odds with a graveyard. But while millions were sent to their deaths by bungling Generals and home coming soldiers found a changed society, the ones left behind were treated with great care and reverence in beautiful ‘cities’ of the dead, with the perfume of roses in the air.

May those brave men who died on that tragic day now rest in perpetual peace at Pheasant Wood.

One of the most spectacular military museums found in America is the gigantic military museum that goes by the mouthful of a name of: American Armoured Foundation, Inc., Tank and Ordnance War Memorial Museum: also just known as The Tank Museum.

Nestled away in the peaceful farm country area of Danville, Virginia, the A.A.F. Tank Museum rests on the Virginia/North Carolina border. The city of Greensboro, North Carolina is just 1 hour south, and Roanoke and/or Lynchburg, Virginia, are only about 1 hour north of the museum; all being a pleasant drive through the country to get there. But once there, you may be startled by the sheer magnitude of this tucked away treasure. The sprawling museum facility and yard stretches on and on for almost a quarter mile. That’s because this once shuttered mill is an amazing 1/3 of a million square feet inside, with the building and parking lots taking up over 20 acres of the total 90 acre site.

Visitors will be greeted by a beautiful U.S. Army M-75 Armored Personnel Carrier named “Colorado,” which stands sentinel as a front lawn ornament. Walking up the walkway, the visitor will pass a genuine WWII period U.S. Army observation tower that has been restored to resemble the exact tower seen on the POW/MIA memorial flag. The tower is thoughtfully dedicated as such to our oft forgotten soldiers. The visitor will then walk past a pristine WWII period U.S. Army M-5 3-inch anti-tank gun.

Inside the Tank Museum, the facility is so enormous that each visitor is given a “road map” of the inside of the museum so that the visitor will not get lost. Being a renovated old factory, this museum is the quintessential maze if ever there was one. The museum staff is continually assisting its visitors in navigating through its endless hallways. There is a limitation however, to this immense size, and that is that most visitors do not leave nearly enough time needed to see the entire museum. Most visitors spend about 3 to 4 hours viewing the thousands of artifacts before their feet give out, leaving much more un-reconnoitered.

Focusing for now on our mission of what the readers of this magazine will probably find closest to their hearts is the enormous and wide ranging display of automatic weapons in the collection. If the reader of this article is interested in military uniforms, headgear, medals, patches, photographs, and just about everything else Tank and Cavalry related, then you will just have to visit the museum to view and appreciate this world class collection. Do remember that the focus of the Tank Museum is on anything related to international armor, with the Tank and Cavalry branches being most prominent. Other armored organizations such as Mechanized Infantry, Armored Field Artillery, and the Air Cavalry, etc. are also duly represented.

The spectacular “Weapons Room” exhibit displays over 150 international machine guns, and similar sized weapons. The smaller sized arms room collection is in addition to the above mentioned room, and is entrenched in its own separate bivouac area, as are the dozens of mortars, cannons, field artillery pieces, etc. In the Weapons Room, which has a spectacular 25-foot long mural of 2 GIs manning an M1917-A1 machine gun on Bataan, there are live weapons from most nations deployed throughout the display. Classics such as all of the Thompson series of submachine guns will be found in pristine condition as well as a mint BAR and a .30-06 Lewis gun. There is a like new Model 1895 Colt Automatic Gun (Potato Digger) nearby. There is a very unusual U.S. Army, National Match marked, phenolic stocked, M14 rifle on display, which was donated by the Department of Defense. For a few of the many types of German guns in residence, there are the usual garden variety of MP44, MP40, Erma’s, MG34s, and the like. For a high point in the room, there is a beautifully restored, amnesty registered, Normandy beach captured, MG42 (it had not one trace of finish left on it when brought home by a G.I.). For the Japanese aficionados, there are many types on display in that part of the collection including a gorgeous Type 92 “Woodpecker” on its tripod. Most are nice originals, or fully restored guns. The museum’s UDM-42 Marlin SMG is “exercised” once a year along with the venerable, but ugly M3 Grease Gun, and many others, at the annual “Extravaganza” in April where many weapons are fired for the museum’s visitors.

The museum’s Weapons Room has all kinds of other different, rare and odd weapons often missed in many advanced collections. Such weapons range between a French Mle 1931 Chatellerault with the odd side mounted drum, an XM-129 40mm grenade launcher for a Cobra Attack Helicopter and the really rare, pneumatic, U.S. Army “Bishop” Artillery Trainer that can still fire its 1-inch diameter ball bearing style projectiles. Besides many rocket and spigot launchers, there are plenty of other weapons that include several fully operational flame throwers such as the very early M1, and the even much rarer Tank Flame Thrower. Of course there is also the standard, M2A1-7 Flame Thrower, along with its later Vietnam conflict counterpart. In the really Light Artillery category there is one of the only two reportedly known, iron, 1768 dated, David King Howitzers with it’s rather odd 2 5/8 inch bore size. This thing is only about 1 foot long and the museum staff loves to jokingly tell it’s visitors that it is a “Pocket Howitzer” made to fit in a holster.

The mission of the Tank museum is to collect, restore, preserve, and exhibit, a significant part of military tank and cavalry artifacts from all time periods and nations as is possible, and to educate present and future generations to the service and sacrifices given by the men and women of the armed services.

The Tank Museum has the most extensive collection of International Tank and Cavalry artifacts in the world. The Museum collection is exhibited in a 330,000 sq. foot facility and just a small sampling of their collection includes:

• 117 tanks and artillery pieces
• 150 machine guns, mortars, flame throwers, recoilless rifles, rocket launchers, etc.
• Over 65 small arms
• 300 international tank and cavalry General’s uniforms
• Over 700 hats and helmets
• 100s of tank and artillery optical instruments
• 1,000s of pennants, banners, flags, pins, patches, medals and presentation pieces
  Museum Hours: Monday-Saturday – 10:00 to 17:00 hours. Opened weekly Monday through Saturday; closed Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day Only. Admission cost: Adults $10 – under 12 & over 60 $9.50. Note: Starting January 1st, 2011 thru March 12th, 2011 they will ONLY BE OPEN ON SATURDAYS. During these listed dates the museum will be closed Sunday thru Friday.
  
  A.A.F. Tank Museum
  3401 U.S. Highway 29B
  Danville, VA 14540
  Phone: (434) 836-5323
  Fax: (434) 836-3532
  Website: www.aaftankmuseum.com
  Email: aaftank@gamewood.net
  *Donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated.

At the end of World War II, the French Army was equipped with various weapons made by the National arms factories, but were in small quantities or out-of-date. There were also a variety of American, English or German material in inventory.

Handguns were primarily represented by the Models 1935 S and 1935 A, whose production could be restarted and the Colt M1911A1 provided by our Allies, a few P 08 and P 38s manufactured in 1945 and 1946 by the Mauser factory in Oberndorf. Assitionally, several commercial models, such as the MAB D, Browning M1910/22, Mauser Hsc or Mauser 1914 and the inevitable Ruby, which encumbered regimental arms stores until the 1960s.

For the purposes of modernization and standardization, the French general staff published on October 30, 1946, the specifications for a new automatic pistol.

• Maximum weight 650 grams (1.43 lbs) without magazine.
• Barrel length between 10 and 12 cm (3.93 and 4.72 inches).
• Cartridge muzzle energy higher than 40 kgm (289 ft/lbs).
• Blow back or locked breech operation.
• Magazine capacity nine shots or more.
• The slide must remain open after the last shot.
• The empty magazine must fall freely from the pistol when the magazine catch is depressed.
• Trigger movement around 3 mm (0.11 inch).
• The trigger pull between 2 and 4 kgf (4.4 to 8.8. lbs).
• The pistol must have an external hammer and a firing pin.
• A loading indicator must be present.
• There must be a manual safety.
• Magazine safety.
• Sights will comprise an open U notch and a front sight.
• The angle of the grip will facilitate the natural movement of the pointing.
• Field disassembly must be easy and complete disassembly can be made by a private. (Heretofore, privates were considered cretins, and were not permitted to complete disassembly a weapon.)

Except the weight, which was underestimated, the characteristics of the future weapon were clearly defined. Its developers were directed towards the system Colt-Browning and the 9mm Luger cartridge.

Four experimental weapons were delivered to the Section Technique de l’Armée, which now replaced the old Versailles Proving Ground in 1950:

• two pistols made by MAS, developed from the Model 35 S M1,
• one model made by the S.A.C.M., developped from the pistol M 1935 A,
• a Swiss SIG SP 47/8, serial number 6557, bought in the trade in Switzerland.

Some others made by MAT and MGD (Merlin-Gérin) were tested before but not retained.

The best results were obtained with the SIG pistol where only 0.48% of malfunctions occurred. But the Swiss gun was eliminated because it did not correspond exactly with the program of 1946, which is not a surprise because the tests proceeded without the knowledge of the manufacturer.

The pistols developed by MAS were not the best where 6.52% of malfunctions were observed. They disappeared after the replacement of some parts, but after 2,500 rounds, cracks appeared on the slide. Another prototype with horizontal serrations for finger grips was also tested: it had 2% of malfuncctions, but cracks appeared after 1,800 rounds and the gun was destroyed after 2,232 rounds. Despite these failures, the pistol developed by MAS was retained and adopted on August 16, 1950.

Development continued during the years that followed and three other guns were tested in March 1951 under strenuous conditions. Only a few malfunctions appeared and after 8,500 rounds only two firing pins had to be replaced.

Production

The pistol was first made by the Châtellerault National Small Arms Factory, which produced 221,900 guns from March 1953 to June 1963.

From 1961, the Saint-Etienne National Small Arms Factory gradually took over production of the pistol. The first frames were delivered in October and the final transfer of manufacture took place between 1962 and 1964. This production ceased in 1978, after 120,000 guns were provided. Total production of the M 1950 pistol was 341,900 pistols.

Serial numbers

Pistols made by MAC are numbered in series of 10,000. The first pistol manufactured was numbered A 0001 and the last W 1900. MAS used series of 100,000 for their pistols. The first of them received FG prefix letters and was built between November 1963 and August 1976. Another series of 20,000 pistols with FH prefix letters was made between August 1976 and April 1978. The serial number is on the right side of the frame.

Marks

The left side of the slide and the left side of the lock work receives a MAC or MAS mark. Also, on the right side of the slide can be read the model designation and caliber: MODELE 1950 Cal. 9 m/m

Service

The pistol Modèle 1950 entirely equipped the French armed services (Army, Air Force, Navy, gendarmerie) as well as the C.R.S. (police reserve). It is still used by the Army, except those engaged in Afghanistan. After 1990 it was replaced by:

• MAS G 1 (Beretta 92) built under license from Beretta, for the gendarmerie and the Air Force,
• SIG-Sauer SP 2022, for the C.R.S. from 2002. This new pistol is also now used by the gendarmerie, custom office and prison guards.
• HK USP Compact by the Navy.

The pistol Model 1950 is still used by the Army except for troops in Afghanistan or Africa who receives more modern guns (Glock 17 or Glock 19, MAS G 1 or HK USP).

This pistol is also used by former French colonies, such as : Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Centrafrican Republic, Comores, Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Ivory Cost, Laos, Liban, Maroc, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Viet-Nam.

Description

The Pistol Model 1950 has a long grip in order to contain the nine-round magazine. It is retained by a catch located at the rear of the trigger guard on the left side. The grip is furnished with black plastic plates striated horizontally and attached by two screws each. The trigger and the tigger guard remain on the frame and the lock work is a removable unit. The base of the grip has a slot and a pin for attaching a lanyard.

The slide is provided with an ejection port on the right side and a loading indicator on the top. Its side faces comprise oblique grasping grooves. The rear part of the slide receives the rear sight and the safety, as on the pistol Model. 35 S M 1. The sights are an open U notch milled in the safety housing and a fixed front sight with an anti-reflecting rear suface. The slide is locked to the barrel by two tenons. This barrel has a link which swings on the slide stop. Its calibre is 9mm and it has four left grooves instead of six on the prototypes. The Model 1950 pistol has an automatic slide lock which latches the slide open after shooting the last cartridge. It is combined with the disasembly axis. The weapon also has a magazine safety. All the metallic parts are parkerized except the barrel, which is blued.

Disassembly/Reassembly

The disassembly of the Model 1950 pistol is carried out in the following way:

• Put the weapon on safe.
• Remove the magazine.
• Open the slide to check for a cartridge in the barrel.
• Bring the slide back until its notch is opposite the slide stop.
• The slide stop is driven out from right to left, which makes it possible to separate the slide from the frame.
• The barrel and the spring can then be separated while the lock work is extracted from the frame.

Reassembly is carried out in the inverse order.

Characteristics Model 1950
Caliber: 9mm
Ammunition: 9mm Luger
Overall length: 195 mm (7.67 inches)
Barrel length: 112 mm (4.40 inches)
Height: 142 mm (5.59 inches)
Weight: 950 g (2.09 lbs)
Magazine capacity: 9 rounds

Variations

Some Model 1950 pistols were chrome plated or engraved.

It might seem strange that a series of articles about such a quintessentially patriotic American should be written by a Canadian, and there are two points I would like to make in mitigation.

First, I well remember the thrill of excitement I felt when I first discovered the series of paperbacks published in 1958 by the U.S. Army Ordnance School at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The Preface to Submachine Guns Volume I reads as follows: This text has been prepared with a twofold purpose in mind. It is to serve as a historical document and as a reference for use at the U.S. Army Ordnance School and in the field. It was compiled with the advice and assistance of Mr. G. B. Jarrett, Chief of the Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen Proving Ground.

As a young man in an era when an early edition of Small Arms of the World was just about the height of specialization in the field of arms literature, I knew immediately that this was a document of great value. Opening the yellow-covered Volume I to the Table of Contents, I had to read no farther than “Section I: German Special Rifles” to know I had to have this book.

Colonel Jarrett, his work and the publications with which he was associated have always occupied an important niche for me, and although I never met him, I have long considered him a mentor in my working life as a writer, editor and publisher. Therefore, when I heard from Dan Shea that some research material about Colonel Jarrett had come to light, I asked to be allowed to write this series of articles.

Second, as will immediately become apparent below, I have done very little of the actual writing as others far better qualified than I – mostly friends and military colleagues who knew, worked with and admired Colonel Jarrett – have already done it, and it has simply been my enviable task to put their material together. In this regard I must record a note of heartfelt thanks: first to James Alley Jr., Ph.D., who among his many fine tomes and folios has preserved a treasure-trove of Jarrett material, which he in turn acquired from another writer, editor and long-time Jarrett friend, the late Charles E. Yust. Second, to Thomas B. Nelson, who worked in Ordnance Technical Intelligence while in the service and regards Col. Jarrett as his mentor, and who has supplied some very interesting material from his personal collection. This accumulation of original documents from various sources, some written by Jarrett himself, has kindly been made available to me, and my main contribution has been to chart a circuitous, chronological meander through these yellowing papers to form the body of what follows.

Introduction

The tone, one of respect and admiration for Colonel Jarrett’s accomplishments, tempered by the veiled acknowledgement that he was not always the recipient of everyone’s wholehearted support, is set right off the bat by the following introduction to an article in the Ordnance Journal by Robert J. Icks, a fellow retired Ordnance colonel, which was published shortly before Colonel Jarrett’s death in 1974: There probably is not a single individual, military or civilian, who is interested in matters concerning guns, ammunition and other items of ordnance equipment or a single military or historical museum curator who does not know the name of Colonel G. B. Jarrett… he is representative of those unassuming but dynamic citizen soldiers whose attainments represent a degree of professionalism not exceeded and seldom equalled by professional soldiers in the same fields.

Early Days – Accumulating “Burling’s Junk”

According to his obituary, published in the Harford Democrat on July 3, 1974, George Burling Jarrett was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey, on October 14, 1901, the son of Joseph Roberts and Laura Burling Jarrett.

Col. Icks’s article, begun above, continues as follows: As a boy, young Burling grew up among Civil War guns and trophies belonging to his grandfather, an officer in the Union army. His father was an understanding man who permitted him to find out for himself how everything worked.

A more colorful embellishment of the exploits of the young Jarrett (who incidentally was known to his friends and family as “Burling” rather than “George”), is found in an initial excerpt from a lengthy and very well-researched article written by an Arch Whitehouse titled The Junkman Who Stopped Rommel, published in the December, 1957 issue of Cavalier magazine: For George (the collector’s mania) had burst into full bloom one Fourth of July when he was five years old. To celebrate the holiday properly, his grandfather had fetched out his Civil War rifle, choked with rust and cobwebs, and fired a blast that nearly rattled the old gentleman apart. Not to be outdone, George’s father brought out his Colt .31 cap-and-ball revolver and nearly blew off his hand when he used more powder than caution. George was delighted. These were just the kind of lethal toys to delight his mind, and when he begged for a chance to restore the relics to perfect working condition, the senior Jarretts raised no objection. They thought the weapons were beyond repair, and not until they caught their five-year-old heir gunning for woodchucks with both toys in prime condition and loaded for bear did they lay down the law. By that time it was too late. George had the bug.

Except for mathematics and military history, school brushed lightly over George. He lived mainly for his collection, using such funds as other kids squandered on jaw-breakers and all-day suckers for adding to his collection of arrow heads, bullets and rusty cannonballs from Civil War battlefields.

An article published in Popular Science in May, 1944 continues the story and immediately dispels any suspicions that Jarrett’s collecting mania was underwritten by a bottomless parental purse: The quiet old Quaker town of Haddonfield, N.J. was inclined to look askance at young Jarrett’s passion for the instruments of death. It was not long before his trophies filled every available inch on the walls of the young collector’s bedroom. But the older Jarretts took alarm when “Burling’s junk” filled the attic and began to spill over into the basement.

The Jarretts were not wealthy, and they were of no mind to advance hard-earned cash for such a useless-seeming enterprise as young Burling’s. But he easily hurdled that obstacle. Summers he worked as a helper on a delivery truck. So single-purposed was he that he never learned to smoke cigarettes. Every spare bit of cash was saved for investment in the growing collection of “Burling’s junk.”

The First of Many World War Acquisitions

An initial excerpt from the draft of an article written and typed out by Jarrett himself, dated May, 1971, provides an early inkling of the purposeful nature of his seemingly random collecting interests:

The effort to gather curios of a military nature can require fascinating and exhaustive study as well as gradually to acquire a collection worthy of note. While the art itself has personal rewards for the individual there are times when such an endeavor might be of great technical value to one’s country.

For many years I have been interested and fascinated by weaponry, starting with the story of the Civil War. From childhood, when my grandfather’s relics from that war hung on our staircase wall, they had intrigued me. Gradually as I grew older, I added other pieces of that era and the whole war became apparent to me.

In the 1914-15 period I experienced the details of the new war then at hand, and with avid interest I followed all the printed news and photos then available. Early in the war a young man from my home town of Haddonfield, New Jersey left for France and to serve as an American ambulance driver. He wrote to me several times and in 1915 sent me two buttons, one from a French and the other from a German uniform. That started me on World War I collecting.

Coming of Age During the World War

The December, 1957 Cavalier article continues the saga of Jarrett’s young manhood as follows: At 16, with an after-school job to augment his income, he moved to bigger things by haunting John Kreider’s old gun shop at Second and Walnut in Philadelphia. His first purchase was a .69 caliber musket used at the Battle of Bull Run. The price was enough to exhaust his income for a month, but not his collector’s mania. As his gaze rove through the shop, he saw item after item he simply had to have, and the thought that some other customer might buy them first was too antagonizing to contemplate.

“Save them for me,” he pleaded. “I’ll be back.” And he always was, though at one time the amount of stuff marked “Hold for Jarrett” threatened to devastate his salary for the rest of his foreseeable career.

World War I caught Jarrett short by a couple of years, a frustrating circumstance he partially relieved by commissioning all his older friends to bring back all the souvenirs they could get their hands on. Fortunately, by 1918 he was big enough, if not old enough, to get a job with the New York Shipbuilding Co. By spending his days at the yards, and his evenings at nearby Camp Dix, he was able to buy up hundreds of trophies brought back from the front by returning soldiers that included machine guns, belts of cartridges, Mauser rifles, helmets, trench mortars, Mills bombs.

An initial excerpt from an article in the July, 1937 issue of the periodical Flying Aces, written by “Lt. G. B. Jarrett, Curator and Owner of the Jarrett Museum of World War History”, reads as follows: Two small military buttons picked up back in the stormy days of 1915 started me off in the World War relic game. To the buttons, I gradually added other odd pieces, and it wasn’t long before my bedroom was resembling Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

Col. Icks’s article continues to describe how Jarrett ever more purposefully continued to amass World War collectibles: During World War I, older friends sent him buttons, badges and shell fuses. The fuses naturally were disassembled, examined, the component parts sketched and instructions recorded on the sequence of reassembly. He finished prep school in 1920 and during summer vacations worked at the New York Shipbuilding Company yards because they were near Camp Dix, New Jersey, and Camp Dix had war curios for sale after World War I.

Jarrett Visits the Battlefields of Europe

Jarrett’s own July, 1937 article in Flying Aces continues as follows: The summer of 1922 found me wandering with a watchful eye through the battlefields of the Western front. In order to get better acquainted with the shell-hammered sectors and to come closer to their spirit, I rented a bicycle, and pedaled about the country. My entire equipment – mainly a toilet kit and a blanket – was carried on the “wheel”. I often spent nights with peasants of the section in crude shacks they had built from leftover military supplies – sheet iron, ammunition boxes, and the like. And curios of every kind were mine for the taking, as they lay in indescribable confusion on the deserted battlefields. In the early fall of the year of my battlefield tour, I returned to America and to school.

Col. Icks adds his own comment on Jarrett’s 1922 trip to the European battlefields: Since this was only four years after the war was over, much of the wreckage of war and the appearance of the terrain was unchanged. Jarrett collected guns, shells, ammunition, maps, uniforms and a host of other materials and found means to get them shipped home.

The well-done Cavalier article embellishes this part of the Jarrett story, beginning in 1918, the year the World War ended, as follows: All he could think about for the next four years was that war-torn Europe was one vast museum of military equipment, all falling apart for lack of a Jarrett to give it protective ownership and in 1922 he wangled a job in Antwerp with a New York importing firm. It is doubtful that he earned his salary. Most of the time he was off on a bicycle touring the battlefields and keeping the shipping companies happy with crates full of his acquisitions. As an example of his methods, at the famous Ypres battlefield he roomed for a week with two elderly sisters who were eking out a gentle living making lace. “That’s nonsense,” he told them. “Why don’t you just collect a few bombs and things like that for me? I’ll buy all you can send me.”

For eight years the lavender-and-lace Haellert sisters made an incongruous team as they minced around the shell-pocked battlefields, but they shipped Jarrett thousands of items, and wealthy spinsters they were when they retired. Elsewhere Jarrett had a score of other “agents”, but none to compare with the frail lace makers. “To see them disarm a mine,” he said admiringly, “why, you’d think it was as safe as threading a needle. For them I guess it was.”

Jarrett’s 1970 article contains the following tongue-in-cheek recollection: I had all this displayed in my home bedroom and the cellar. When I moved to Atlantic City (in 1930) it is possible that my mother welcomed my exit.

Jarrett’s July, 1937 Flying Aces article continues: I took my first definite inventory in 1926, (and) I had more than two thousand pieces! Most of these later acquisitions I gained through barter.

Col. Icks confirms this, as follows: During this period, many Army and Navy surplus stores came into existence. (Jarrett) became well acquainted with these merchants between 1926 and 1928 and not only purchased many items but in return for identifying items, he even worked out trades.

Jarrett himself continues the story, from his July, 1937 Flying Aces article: In 1928 I took my collection on tour through many of the eastern states on behalf of some of the veterans’ organizations. Returning, and adding accumulated items to the whole, I found that the collection weighed more than four tons.

By now, I realized that my two-button collection was well out of the “just-a-hobby” class, and was, in fact, a small museum.

Already it was about driving me out of the house – for bedroom, third story, cellar and “all way stations” were full to overflowing with these valuable, often cumbersome, War trophies.

The Jarrett Collection Moves to the Steel Pier in Atlantic City

Arch Whitehouse’s excellent article in the December, 1957 issue of Cavalier picks up the thread as follows: By 1930 Jarrett was back in the United States, the proud owner of more workable items than could be found in any other military collection in the world. Other ordnance experts might know more about their highly select fields, but as the man who had restored Russian, German, French, Italian, British and American equipment to working order, he knew more about ordnance in general than did all the experts of Krupp, Woolwich Arsenal, and the Aberdeen Proving Ground combined.

His timing was perfect, and a fortunate thing that was for his exhausted bank account. Ten years earlier the veterans of World War I wouldn’t have paid a nickel to tour a military museum, and the major part of them had sworn, in fact, never to look at a gun again. But by 1930 nostalgia had set in, and with wives and children to impress, they came in increasing numbers.

The original typescript Foreword to Jarrett’s memoir West of Alamein, published in 1971, begins as follows: From 1915 to 1930 I had managed to gather a large curio collection and to keep it in an ordinary dwelling such as my home in Haddonfield, N.J. In 1930 I had at least 3,000 items, which weighed between three and four tons.

I met a grand and thoughtful man in Mr. Frank Gravatt who at the time operated the world famous Steel Pier at Atlantic City, N.J. To him I said I had the Museum with no roof over it, and that he had the roof and no Museum to put in it. So we joined hands and I moved onto the Pier lock, stock and barrel in the spring of 1930.

The Steel Pier provided me with an annual cash turnover, and for once I was funded to acquire spectacular and heavy items and move them onto the Pier.

Col. Icks augments Jarrett’s recollection, as follows: By 1930, Jarrett had become completely familiar with all kinds of ordnance used by both sides during World War I and had collected more war material than most museums. He contracted with the Pier authorities to set up on the Steel Pier at Atlantic City “The Jarrett Museum of World War History”. The collection began with some 3 1/2 tons of curios.

A typescript draft for a later article by Jarrett dated May, 1970 confirms and consolidates the above regarding the important milestone of establishing the Steel Pier Museum as follows: During the 30s I joined hands with a Mr. Frank Gravatt who then operated the Steel Pier, an amusement center in Atlantic City, New Jersey and known the world over. He had several sections of the Pier which had space adaptable to static displays of an educational nature. He gave me a home for my Museum collections, which at that time numbered more than 3,000 pieces and weighed over 3 tons. I displayed the Museum on the Pier from 1930 to 1939.

In the typescript Foreword to West of Alamein, Jarrett mentions another event from 1930 that had great personal importance: I almost forgot I got married on the strength of my move onto the Pier, and (our marriage) has held together despite the collection of curios and all the ramifications that it can provide.

“The Jarrett Museum of World War History”

Several flyers and brochures among the documents collected by Charles Yust were handouts and catalogs procured over the years during visits to “The Jarrett Museum of World War History, Steel Pier, Atlantic City, N.J.” One such is a double-sided orange card and the reverse reads as follows: This Museum is the effort of G. Burling Jarrett, O.R.C., who has spent more than fifteen years assembling it. The collection from the Great War numbers over 6,300 pieces with a total weight of over sixteen tons.

The Museum is divided into nationality groups and specimens are exhibited from all branches of the various services. In this exhibit are several airplanes, most prominent of which are a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker triplane.

Numerous artillery and heavy ordnance pieces, and one of the original 1914 Paris taxicabs are also to be seen.

In addition there is a remarkable assortment of small arms, uniforms on figures, equipment, ammunition and hundreds of wartime authentic photos.

A number of scenes have been constructed to enable one to visualize wartime trench life and to show certain relics in an historically true setting.

It is without a question a Historical Museum and not a collection of curios that incite and recall old hatreds. All ex-servicemen as well as others should see this display. The co-operation of the Steel Pier has made this museum possible and placed it before the public.

Running Out of Room Again – Moving to the Farm

As the typescript draft of Jarrett’s May, 1970 article continues: Since I then began to get financial help by way of the contract with the Pier, I sought some really spectacular pieces and at once began to display aircraft, artillery and automotive pieces with a WWI record. The Pier as early as 1935 could not allow me more space and I had moved a vast amount of my heavy items to my farther-in-law’s farm near Moorestown, New Jersey. During those last years of the 30s I displayed the Museum both at the farm and on the Pier. More than 9,000,000 people visited the Museum during that time.

Col. Icks confirms the need for more space: The space on the Steel Pier was insufficient to house everything he was collecting, so his father-in-law gave him space for storage at his large farm at Moorestown, New Jersey. Here, Jarrett restored his planes to working order. Jarrett not only collected planes during this period, but also larger pieces of ordnance including heavy artillery pieces, all of which were stored at the farm. The Ordnance Department gave him a 6-ton tank which, according to regulations, had been made unserviceable but, together with his brother-in-law, he put it back in running order.

“Reviving the World War in New Jersey”

Along with the freedom and scope of outdoor display space came the happy thought of inviting various groups and interested parties to come and inspect the collection and perhaps witness some actual maneuvers. The first of several annual “field days” was held in October, 1934.

A foldout flyer from the “Research and Curio Center, Moorestown, N.J.” records one of Jarrett’s famous purchases: an “original German Pfalz D12 (biplane), imported to Hollywood for Warner Brothers Dawn Patrol in 1928 and seen since in many other movies; brought from Hollywood to the Museum in 1937 and restored to wartime appearance and condition.”

This story is confirmed by a faded Bill of Lading from the Shepard Steamship Co. of Los Angeles, dated October 15, 1937, which documents the shipment of the Pfalz biplane, described pessimistically by the shipper as “1 uncrated old 2nd-hand German airplane in one bundle – wings collapsed to side and roped. Fabric torn. Tires flat. On Deck – Owner’s risk. Vessel not responsible for damage.” The freight charge was $79.75.

Despite the obvious risks involved, notes pencilled in Jarrett’s handwriting confirm that the aircraft “Came thru OK. Arrived at Museum Nov. 6, 1937.”

The 1937 Field Day at “Little Aberdeen”

A now-crumbling page torn from the June, 1940 issue of a large-format colored newsmagazine records that “Lieutenant G. Burling Jarrett, (by then an) instructor at the Ordnance School Aberdeen, recently conducted his class in south Jersey, where he has a collection of arms from the World War. Here he staged a small war of his own by showing how the Germans and Allies operated about 25 years ago.

“One of the spectacular demonstrations presented by Lieutenant Jarrett was one showing the effects of land mines on an American light tank. The tank’s ability to drive over barriers was also demonstrated.”

Lieutenant Jarrett wrote an article titled Little Aberdeen, describing his 1937 field day on the farm which was published in the October, 1937 issue of Army Ordnance, excerpted as follows: The fourth annual field day of the Jarrett Museum of World War History was held May 8, 1937. This year the faculty of the Bordentown Military Institute of Bordentown, N.J. joined the writer along with over 700 spectators to witness the exhibition, which was held on the Workman Dairy Farm, Moorestown, N.J.

As a collector of curios, I long had toyed with the dream of some day having both the material and a suitable space to imitate the Ordnance shows held at Aberdeen Proving Ground, if only on a tiny scale.

Regarding this museum, let me say that a “den” collection is one thing, but when one starts shipping home artillery, warplanes, automotive pieces, etc., it is another. A serious housing problem soon presents itself. For years I have been cramped for space, and only in the past twelve months have I moved the entire museum – little by little – to one address – the 88-acre farm at Moorestown where the museum section is known as Artillery Park. It takes two acres to store the museum and five to display it! Realistic settings are easily obtained, and the best feature of all is that maneuvers can be held and certain types of firings or demonstrations attempted with safety.

Recalling Some Famous Donations

Jarrett’s 1940 Little Aberdeen article continues: The museum has, after some twenty-two years of collecting, reached more or less elaborate proportions. The Italian Government, during the past two years, has donated some very valuable sets of equipment, together with a complete library of twenty-one volumes on its activities during the World War, an album of photographs, and a hand-carved desk. The British War Office furnished several valued books for the research library, which has reached large proportions of late. The Crown Prince of Germany presented one of his caps worn at Verdun, and Col. Armand Pinsard of the French Flying Corps presented a cap that he used during the war.

The machine gun section of the museum is worth passing mention, as it contains sixty-five specimens. I have, perhaps, been especially interested in these guns, and a discussion of them is a story all by itself. Light and heavy ground types, tank, aircraft and antiaircraft types form the group, with but two or three patterns missing from all such designs made up to 1919.

Paramount Films the Last Show at “Little Aberdeen”

As World War II loomed ever closer, Jarrett’s original Foreword to West of Alamein records the last field day at “Little Aberdeen” and the closure of both the farm and Steel Pier exhibits: In 1939 Paramount Studios, who produced each month a short film called “Unusual Occupations”, asked me to run a show for them that they might film it. This I worked on and in July of ’39 they came and filmed it. This film was shown all over the USA and also abroad, I got hundreds of letters. In August I ran one of my regular “Little Aberdeen” shows since I had arranged all the pieces for Paramount. This was as the war clouds were beginning to gather over Europe. This was my last show, and in the fall I closed down operations on the Steel Pier and at the farm.

Col. Icks describes the collection as it then existed on the Steel Pier:i By 1939 (the Steel Pier collection) had grown to 75 tons, and over nine million persons had seen the exhibit…

Fort Nelson was built in the 1860s, as part of chain of fortifications protecting the great naval harbor of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, and its Royal Dockyard from a feared French invasion. Covering nearly 19 acres and now fully restored, Fort Nelson sit majestically atop Portsdown Hill, with amazing views of the Solent and Meon Valley. The Fort stands today as a monument to the skills and ingenuity of Victorian engineering and architecture. Opened in 1995 as home to the Royal Armouries collection of artillery, Fort Nelson, named after Lord Nelson, hero of the battle of Trafalgar, has over 350 big guns and historic cannon on display.

Before Fort Nelson was built, Portsmouth’s defense relied upon smoothbore guns positioned close to the shore. Portsmouth Harbor is a large, natural port in the south of England. To protect Portsmouth from newer, larger and more potent guns, it was necessary to redesign all of the fortifications around Portsmouth. In the 1850s the English government decided to update the forts on the Isle of Wight, the mainland and the Solent and they also built four sea forts across the eastern approach. It was feared that the French might try to come and attack over land so a line of forts were built along the Portsdown Hill – one of which was Fort Nelson.

Fort Nelson was built between 1862 and 1871 and the guns of the fort faced inland, not out towards the sea. The guns were manned by a garrison of 200 volunteers and the forts along Portsdown Hill were never attacked. High walls and towers were easy to knock down by siege guns so Fort Nelson was built low with earth slopes facing the attacker, with slopes hiding the guns and musketry positions.

In 1902, the garrison was stood down and the armaments removed although it did still continue as a military depot. It was used as a transit camp for soldiers going to France between 1914 and 1918 in World War I. Although the fort never saw action against the French, it did against the Germans. Prior to World War II, Fort Nelson became an important anti-aircraft magazine supplying ammunition (40mm Bofors and 3.7-inch rounds) throughout the South Coast with an adjoining anti-aircraft battery that was one of the important batteries preventing enemy aircraft from flying inland from the Channel. On the night of January 9, 1941, the fort was bombed by enemy aircraft. They were commended for supplying a further 1,220 rounds of ammunition to the AA batteries’ guns despite being under heavy fire. As it was being used as an ammunition base, its own anti-aircraft guns were placed outside its walls. The fort continued to serve as a naval depot until the 1950s. It was then restored before being leased to the Royal Armouries in 1988 and opened to the public.

Fort Nelson is a historic monument, restored to how it would have been in the 1890s. Visitors can access most areas of the fortification and see how the fort would have worked. The aims of the displays around the fort are to give an idea of how the fort would have been used and lived in, based on an 1890s date as by then most of the physical changes to the fort had taken place; to enable key examples of the fort’s armament to be demonstrated by dedicated volunteers, and to interpret the changes to the fort as the result of a major change of use from 1938 when it was used to supply anti-aircraft ammunition to batteries in the large area of Southern England.

The Tower of London used to house all of the arms and armor, including artillery, since medieval times and contained historic examples from throughout England’s history. Ultimately, the collection grew to the point where the Tower of London was no longer able to properly display a representative collection of artillery. However, the Royal Armouries discovered that Fort Nelson, which had been bought for restoration by the Hampshire County Council in 1977, was a perfect location to move the artillery collection. They leased the Fort and in 1995 Fort Nelson became a fully established artillery museum and historic monument.

Within the barracks are displays of historic cannon and artillery pieces; many of which were captured during their reign as an Empire, with many exhibiting ornate artwork as part of the gun’s decorations. A large structure located between the two surviving World War II magazines contain large exhibits that are too large to be displayed in the barracks. These exhibits follow artillery development from the earliest times to the later 20th century. The chronological layout is divided into specific kinds of artillery. Naval guns, field artillery from smoothbore to quick firing, anti-aircraft, with examples of the infamous German 88 and the dependable British 3.7-inch, anti-tank. There is also a rare German Gerlich “squeeze-bore”; recoiless; and self-propelled guns in the form of the British “Sexton 25 pounder. There are pieces from the First Gulf War, including a captured GH-N 45, the long gun-howitzer designed by Gerald Bull. Confronting the visitor upon entry are the Great Turkish Bombard and Bull’s Iraqi “Supergun” tubes of 1,000mm and 350mm calibers.

Fort Nelson is currently undergoing a £3.5M development of its galleries and fortifications and is scheduled for completion in 2011. Fort Nelson is located just a short distance from the town of Fareham and Portsmouth. Admission is free. Operating times in the summer (April-October) is daily from 10 am to 5 pm except Wednesday 11 am to 5 pm and in the winter (November-March) daily from 10:30 am to 4 pm except Wednesday 11:30 am to 4 pm. Fort Nelson is closed December 24-26 inclusive. Further information can be found at www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/fort-nelson.

Among the more interesting idioms that have passed from the vernacular is the straight pull rifle. The Ross and the Mannlicher are well known but perhaps the best of the breed is the Schmidt Rubin K 31. The rifle was more expensive to procure than most rifles of comparable quality, such as the Mauser 98, but the performance of the K 31 was excellent. In both performance and in quality of manufacture the Schmidt Rubin fit the Swiss rifleman’s ethic. Heralded as a nation of riflemen, the pragmatic Swiss realize that quality may make up for quantity. The Swiss maintain one of the best armed and equipped armies in Europe and their marksmanship training is legendary. All men from ages eighteen to sixty five are either reservists or in the Army. Weapons are secured in the home. This instant readiness and dedication are relied upon to keep the enemy away from the gate and marksmanship is stressed by the government.

The history of the straight pull Schmidt Rubin rifles began with Colonel Eduard Rubin and Colonel Rudolph Schmidt. Rubin directed a state munitions factory while Schmidt was a weapons officer. In conjunction with Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG), Schmidt and Rubin began developing a rifle designed to give Swiss troops every advantage. A new service cartridge was developed around 1883 and initial designs for the rifle were submitted in 1885. The straight pull made perfect sense as the potential for speed was greater than the bolt action rifles developed by most of the other European nations and quality manufacture, reliability and accuracy would be equal to any other type.

The Swiss straight pull apparently borrows nothing from the contemporary Mannlicher straight pull. The Schmidt Rubin rifle uses a bolt handle attached to an actuating rod. The actuating rod is the enabling feature of the design. There is a helical groove in the bolt sleeve that rotates to unlock opposing twin lugs from a recess in the receiver in the original design. To unlock the rifle the bolt is simply pulled to the rear. As the bolt is pulled to the rear, the empty cartridge case is ejected and the bolt is pressed forward to load a fresh case. Like most designs, the straight pull action of the Schmidt Rubin has certain trade offs. Initial extraction power was poor compared to the bolt action Mauser and the receiver had to be long to accommodate the straight pull action. On the other side of the coin, the receiver was practically debris proof. The introduction of smokeless powder and the fantastic advancement afforded by smokeless powder technology altered the development of the rifle. The 1889 modification of the rifle included the new smokeless 7.5×53.5mm cartridge. The resulting rifle was quite interesting although gawky in appearance by modern standards. The cartridge was loaded to typical ballistics of the day, with a heavy for the caliber 210 grain bullet propelled to about 1,970 fps. The powder combination used is best described as an early variant of smokeless powder referred to as semi-smokeless. The rifle went through progressive improvements, with the improvement centered primarily upon the locking lugs though the cocking ring in the rear of the action remained constant. This ring was pulled to the rear and turned to engage as a safety. Alternately, with care, the ring could be lowered to decock the rifle by pressing the trigger as the ring is lowered. For recreational shooters today the only sensible choice is to carry the rifle chamber empty and load it at the range. A modern feature of the rifle is a detachable box magazine that was retained throughout all modifications. Like most European armies, the Swiss adopted a carbine version and also a Kadet version for training.

The greatest news came in ammunition development. A 190 grain load at 2,050 fps was developed but was replaced with a more modern 174 grain Spitzer load clocking in at 2,640 fps. Realizing this new load was too powerful for older rifles, the Swiss changed the cartridge by creating the 7.5x55mm Swiss. The 1911 Schmidt Rubin was among the first of the truly modern Schmidt Rubin rifles and this rifle adopted the six shot magazine as a design feature. This slim-line magazine gave the rifle a more streamlined appearance. The Swiss carefully considered the service rifle and found it larger and heavier than needed. This was probably true of most service rifles immediately after World War One. The modified short rifle adopted by the Swiss was the K 31 carbine. A vital change came with the relocation of the locking lugs to the bolt head. The result of this arrangement is that the locking lugs butt into the receiver ring and this combination allows a more compact receiver. The Karbiner 31 is not only a more modern rifle than most military bolt actions, it is a very good looking rifle. Even though the rifle features a 25.7 inch long barrel it is scarcely longer than the previous carbine. The rifle is fairly heavy at almost nine pounds. Partly as a result of this weight the rifle is regarded as a light kicker although ballistically, the cartridge is comparable to the .308 Winchester. The rest of the story is history.

The Karbiner 31 was very successful and the rifle was the standard issue of the Swiss army until 1958. The K 31 has proven quite accurate due partly to the target grade bedding system. The raceway below the barrel is routed out for greater accuracy. Be certain all band screws are tight and that the tang screw is fully seated, for best accuracy. The bedding is rivaled perhaps only by the Mosin Nagant, another accurate rifle.

During the course of manufacture there were both target and competition versions as well as sniper versions. The rifle illustrated is a joy to handle and fire. The rifle is a later model K 31 with a walnut stock, while many were of less expensive wood. The rifle is very smooth in operation. Everything about the rifle impresses.

A firing test of the rifle was held up for a want of ammunition. During a protracted ammunition drought, all ammunition was short in supply and 7.5 Swiss was not a priority among dealers. We were able to obtain a few rounds of European ammunition that were recreational grade at best, reliable but not exhibiting the accuracy potential of the rifle. Thankfully, Graf and Sons has partnered with Hornady ammunition to offer custom grade loads at an affordable price. When bench resting the rifle, the fixed iron sights proved to be excellent examples of the breed with a clear-cut sight picture. This author has never found a clearer sight picture than this one. Working with the full metal jacketed loads on several occasions, printing three shot, three-inch 100 yard groups were easily obtainable. The bolt proved easily manipulated and ejection was positive. After a few magazines of these loads we let the rifle’s barrel cool and addressed the Hornady loads. The first group was fired with the 165 grain Boat Tail Soft Point and was rewarded with a singular 1.5 inch three shot group. Following that, the 168 grain A Max load was used firing three shot groups, relaxing between shots and allowing the barrel to cool for a few seconds with the bolt open. While one group went into a pleasing 1.25 inch group, the average for the three groups was 1.65 inches. The sights were good and the trigger action aided in accuracy, breaking at a very clean 3 pounds even.

This author’s observations conclude that this is an accurate rifle. It is easy to carry as the balance is in the receiver and tang. While the receiver design may be resistant to dirt and debris, some of the exposed mechanism would be another matter. The 7.5mm cartridge is on a par with the .308 Winchester or 7.62mm NATO, accurate, mild to fire and effective. Overall, the Schmidt Rubin is an impressive rifle that is a welcome addition to any collection.

Although the name John Foote may be unfamiliar to most today, he is a very talented engineer and firearms designer. Mr. Foote, like most designers, had a lot of ideas, was awarded a number of patents, and built a number of prototype weapons. However, most of John Foote’s prototypes looked like production firearms, with fine finishes, beautiful wood stocks and foregrips, all done by him.

John P. Foote was born on 23 August 1937 in Lovell, Wyoming. His father designed natural gas plants and after each job was completed John’s family moved. At fourteen years of age, young John and his family were living in Texas where he became interested in firearms and built his first rifle. The stay in Texas only lasted three years before the family moved to Ohio where John graduated from high school. After high school John returned to Texas where he attended Texas A&I University, completing two years of basic engineering studies. He then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1962.

After graduation one of John’s first jobs was with Pratt and Whitney as a test engineer on the J-58 hybrid engines that were used to power Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird, a long range, Mach-3 reconnaissance aircraft.

Having more interest in firearms than jet engines, John moved onto a job at AVCO Ordnance in Richmond, Indiana. AVCO was developing rocket-powered arms similar to the short-lived Gyrojet pistols. Mr. Foote worked on several designs including a 40mm shoulder-fired weapon fed from a drum magazine and a 16mm pistol.

In 1966 John went to work for TRW in Ohio. While there he met and worked with Gene Stoner on the 25mm Bushmaster project, and a 35mm Oerlikon-Buhrle cannon design. Another project, on which Foote worked with Stoner at TRW, was a twin barrel externally powered armor machine gun. A scale model was built in chambered for the 7.62 NATO cartridge. After leaving TRW, John went to work at Colt where he briefly worked on the M16 successor program before being lured back to TRW where he worked until the plant closed in 1970. A true firearms enthusiast, Mr. Foote designed and built many prototype rifles at home in his spare time.

The MP61 Submachine Gun

One of John Foote’s early prototype weapons was a simple .45 caliber full-automatic only submachine gun built in 1961. The MP61 was designed as a rudimentary low-cost weapon. The receiver was fabricated from the steering column of an old Plymouth. The MP61 had a cyclic rate of approximately 500 rounds per minute, and was fed by standard M3 “Grease Gun” 30-round magazines. The weapon had an 8-inch barrel; overall length with stock folded was 15-inches, and a loaded weight of 8.25 lbs. The prototype MP61 was marked: MP 61, EX-003, No. 20. There was only one prototype MP61 built; the weapon was never put into production.

MP63 Submachine Gun

The .45 caliber MP63 submachine gun was designed by John P. Foote and produced in prototype form in 1963. The unique feature of the weapon was its long hollow “forearm” that ran the entire length of the weapon. The trigger and sear linkage were contained inside of the forearm of the MP63 and the sear was located at the rear of the receiver. The gun featured a top-mounted cocking handle that was convenient for left-handed operators of the weapon. The cartridge ejector was permanently fixed to the receiver. The U.S. M3 submachine gun magazine was utilized to feed the weapon. Barrel length was 9 inches and the overall length was 16 inches. Markings on the receiver were MP 63, No. 25 Escondido Arms MFG.

MP32 Submachine Gun

The Foote MP32 closely resembled the Thompson submachine gun, but had an inexpensive seamless steel tubular receiver and barrel. The weapon was chambered for the .32 caliber pistol cartridge. The weapon was meant to be an inexpensive, and very controllable, variation of the Thompson. There was not enough interest generated to justify a production run of the MP32.

MG69 Light Machine Gun

The Foote prototype MG69 light machine gun was primarily constructed of sheet metal components. The belt-fed weapon used a unique side-mounted hinged cover that held a long semi-hemispherical cylinder that was activated by the movement of the breech bolt to feed the ammunition belt into the receiver. The weapon also featured a fixed, folding bipod and folding rear sight.

MP970 Submachine Gun

Mr. Foote’s next effort was the MP970 submachine gun. The 9 designates 9mm, the number 70 the year the weapon was built. The MP970 featured a rectangular steel receiver with a number of cooling slots around the enclosed barrel. The receiver was fabricated from flat steel plates that were spot welded together. The blowback operated, open bolt MP970 used a telescoping style bolt to keep the overall length of the receiver to a minimum and a detachable wooden buttstock was also planned. The weapon fired full-automatic only, feeding from a German MP40 machine pistol magazine. Barrel length was 8 inches and overall length was 15 inches. There were no markings on the receiver of the prototype.

The Foote Hinged Submachine Gun

This unique Foote weapon had a square sheet metal receiver that was hinged in three separate places. The top plate was hinged at the front and rear. The bottom receiver plate, containing the trigger group, was attached to the rear plate by a third hinge. The weapon was disassembled by manipulating the magazine catch that would first release the bottom receiver plate; that would be followed by the rear plate and then finally the top cover in a clockwise fashion. When unfolded, the three hinged plates remained attached to the gun and allowed for fast and complete access the bolt, barrel and trigger housing group for maintenance or cleaning. Only one prototype was built.

The R-68 5.56mm Rifle

The Foote R-68 (Rifle, 1968) was an experimental assault weapon. The basic goal was to design a simple, easy to manufacture, low-cost weapon. The design was simple having only 68 parts. The receiver was made from uncomplicated steel stampings. For reliability, the proven long-stroke, adjustable gas system was used where the gas piston was attached to the bolt carrier. The same system used in the Soviet AK-47 design. The rotating bolt design was locked using an interrupted buttress thread. The charging handle was centrally located on top of the barrel for accessibility by both right and left hand shooters. The safety lever was located inside the trigger guard for easy operation while keeping the shooter’s finger close to the trigger.

FAC 70 Assault Carbine

The FAC 70 Carbine (Foote Auto Carbine) was a 5.56mm weapon that was a product improved version of the R-68 Rifle, which was considered to be too heavy. The FAC 70 was lighter and easier to manufacture than the R-68. Sterling Armament of England was very interested in the FAC 70 Carbine and the carbine was shipped to England for test and evaluation.

Military Armament Corporation

During 1970, John interviewed for job at the Military Armament Corporation in Marietta, Georgia. He was hired as an assistant to Gordon Ingram in the Research and Development Department of MAC. Later, Mr. Foote was promoted to Head of Engineering, Head of Quality Control and Vice President; holding all three positions at the same time. MAC demonstrated many of John Foote’s designs to potential customers. His FAC 70 Carbine was offered to Sterling Armament of England. Sterling showed considerable interest in the rifle, but a deal could not be made. Mr. Foote left MAC about the same time period they began to experience irreversible financial difficulties.

Foote-Ingram Pistol

After the demise of the Military Armament Corporation, John Foote designed an improved version of the basic Ingram design he designated the M10A2. Simplified for mass production, one of Mr. Foote’s innovations was a modular trigger group. The Foote-Ingram M11A2 was a .380 caliber pistol that was 20-percent smaller in size than the production MAC M11. The barrel threads were much finer than those on production MACs to prevent the suppressor from loosening during firing.

U.S. Armament Corporation

After leaving MAC, Mr. Foote became part owner and President of a new company: the U.S. Armament Corporation. John Foote had designed and built a .22 caliber conversion kit for the AR-15 and M16 rifle. His design competed with many others for adoption by the U.S. Army, including the version designed by MAC co-worker and friend Max Atchisson. After the usual extensive testing and government red tape, Mr. Foote’s conversion unit won the competition and was adopted by the Army as the .22 Caliber Adapter, M261.

The first production run was subcontracted out to Okay Industries, of New Britain, Connecticut. A second contract was awarded to Maremont of Saco, Maine. Mr. Foote eventually sold his U.S. Armament Company and all the patent rights to the M16 .22 caliber conversion kit.

After leaving MAC, John contacted Sterling Armament on his own in another attempt to sell his FAC 70 Carbine. Again, there was considerable interest in the rifle, but even when offered on a royalty basis, well under the $100,000 MAC had proposed, no deal could be made. Sterling felt that too much work remained on the project. The company wanted production drawings and tooling, but since the prototype was hand-made in Foote’s shop, none were available.

Foote-Sterling

The Foote/Sterling was first produced in 1982 as a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol. The weapon was an accurate 3/4 scale copy of the British Sterling submachine gun. There were two variations offered. One was the standard model and the other had a slightly shorter barrel and receiver. There were approximately one hundred standard models, and only ten of the short version produced. The Foote pistols are treasured collector’s items today. A third select-fire model was planned but never went into production.

Encom Pistols and Carbines

In the mid-1980s, military-type semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 were becoming very popular. During this period Mr. Foote designed and manufactured a line of assault carbines and pistols known as the Encom line that included the 9mm Encom MP-9 and .45 caliber MP-45. There were approximately 5,000 firearms manufactured before production ceased. The weapons were sold under the name Encom, Enfield America and Component Metal Products or CMP.

The Terminator

John Foote’s next project was an inexpensive, blow-back operated, single-shot 12 gauge assault style shotgun designed for Wayne Daniel’s SWD company. The shotgun was named the Terminator and a total of 1,452 were manufactured.

The J.P. Foote Company

At the J.P. Foote Company and sister company Progressive Engineered Products, both located in Marietta, Georgia, John Foote designed and manufactured many non-firearm related products. One of the most successful was the Hydraulic Rail Lubricator, a patented device used for lubrication of the inside of railroad track rails. The J.P. Foote Company also manufactured specialized parts for industrial and medical equipment.

(Special thanks to John Foote and Don Thomas for providing information and photographs for this article.)

The Germans have a habit of combining two or more (often many more) existing words to make a new word when they feel it necessary to describe something. A fairly recent addition to the German lexicon is “Ostalgie,” which combines “Ost” (East) and “Nostalgie” (Nostalgia) to describe the feeling of nostalgia for day-to-day life in the former DDR/East Germany. It tends to excuse, as it must, the totalitarian nature of the regime.

That having been said, the biggest “Ostalgie Fest” in Germany has to be the annual 3 day gathering of The International East Bloc Vehicle Association, which takes place on a former Soviet Naval Aviation base near Putnitz. It is deserted except for the Technology Association of Putnitz Museum which hosts the event and has its collection housed in two of the old aircraft hangers on the site. The base is huge, with dozens of now overgrown concrete aircraft bunkers positioned around the various runways, decaying barracks buildings, and what used to be a memorial to various Hero’s of the Soviet Union. This author, having been stationed in West Berlin and West Germany during the Cold War, it was really quite an experience just to be there.

Over 10,000 people, including whole families, show up to camp out for the weekend and remember “the good old days.” Many more attend the event but don’t camp out. With them they bring hundreds of vehicles (a somewhat bewildering variety actually) from a ZSU-23/4 tracked anti-aircraft unit, BMPs, trucks, and GAZ jeeps to fire engines, Volkspolizei cars and dozens of sidecar equipped Russian copies of the WWII era German Army BMW motorcycle, now all privately owned. (One can wonder if the irony was appreciated…) There was a daily organized parade of these vehicles around the site, with much “cruising” of the area by individual owners on an ongoing basis. One older gentleman dressed up as a General was constantly being driven around in a small staff car with speakers blaring Communist propaganda songs while he stood at attention in front of the passenger seat, holding a salute as if reviewing the troops. It was amusing the first day; by the third day not so much.

Rides were available to the public in BMP Armored Fighting Vehicles as well as an Antonov biplane and two-seat primary trainer aircraft. Food is available on site as well, as the town of Putnitz is actually a short drive away.

Various participants of the “fest” take the occasion to dress up in East German or Russian uniforms, although great license is taken with authenticity. Nicolas Von Nollendorf, an authority on uniforms/decorations of all nations and a Berlin militaria dealer/film consultant with whom I attended the event was on more than one occasion seen with an amused expression on his face. He pointed out one individual that had insignia elements of infantry, armor and the air force, with a mix of officer and enlisted, all combined into what he was wearing. Being in the spirit of the event was pretty much the primary consideration.

There was however, one retired officer of the DDR Grenztruppen (Border Guards) who was present in full uniform, complete with his dagger by his side, who was undoubtedly what he claimed to have been. He stated proudly that he had retired after almost 30 years of service. I was introduced by Nico as having served in the U.S. Army’s Berlin Brigade. There was definitely a feeling of former adversaries meeting in good spirits, and I couldn’t bring myself to spoil the moment by telling him that I had helped 14 people escape from the DDR as a member of what the STASI (Ministry for State Security/Secret Police) referred to as a “Kriminalmenschenhandelbande” (criminal people moving organization).

These people are “Ossie’s” (Easterner’s) and proud of it. That’s really what this event is about; trying to relive the old days, to remember the way of life and preserve their memories, and in that sense it is “living history.” One customer browsing through the selection of items for sale at our table heard me speaking English and asked Nico, “Who’s that guy?” Nico replied that I had served in Berlin, to which the customer replied stiffly, “Not on OUR side.”

I was struck by the realization that this half of Germany had never been “de-Nazified” in the sense that the people had gone from one totalitarian society directly into another with no frame of reference for anything else until less than 20 years ago. There is a difference between knowing this, as everyone familiar with the history does, and actually feeling it. That’s what attending this gathering allowed me to experience. It’s a unique event, and if you have the opportunity to be anywhere near the Rostock/Putnitz area in the first week of July, I recommend it highly. Come for the vehicles and militaria and stay for the window into a bygone culture and meet people who lived it.

International East Bloc Vehicle Association
http://reutershagen.de/ostblock/

Technical Association Putnitz
www.technikverein-puetnitz.de/

For many there is no debate over choosing a personal defense handgun. Any discussions of preferred weapons start and stop with John Browning’s .45 ACP 1911. A few years ago SIG Sauer made the decision to enter the ever burgeoning and fertile U.S. 1911 pistol market by introducing various models of 1911 style handguns. A less well known SIG decision made circa 2006 prior to the SIG 1911 offering was an effort to offer an alternate single-action handgun choice to shooters in lieu of the 1911. SIG Sauer chose to configure its well respected P220 .45 ACP with a single-action only (SAO) trigger and thumb safety. Various P220 SAO models are available with characteristics such as extended beavertail signified with an “Elite” designation along with 5 inch barreled P220 models with adjustable target sights labeled the P220 Super Match. SIG realized that a more compact P220 design would help them attract even more consumers, especially considering the expanding concealed carry laws spreading across the majority of U.S. states. The specific P220 SAO model reviewed herein is the P220 Carry SAO that reflects this virtue by featuring a shorter barrel/slide. SIG is often more associated with their respected line-up of double/single action handguns rather than the quintessentially American 1911 or single-action only P220. Ironically, it seems the SIG 1911s enjoy more widespread popularity than the longer tenured P220 SAO models. Gun culture members are by nature conservative and view new offerings skeptically until proven via use. The SIG 220 Carry SAO has found its initial reception somewhat cool in the US market with many shooters unaware it exists as an option.

The P220’s history and track record of proven performance on the battlefield and street grant the P220 Carry SAO instant credibility. The P220 Carry’s profile wrapped around the potent .45 ACP cartridge makes it ideal for concealed carry, especially with inside-the-waistband carry techniques. Someone who is a practitioner of concealed carry quickly realizes that length, grip size, overall weight, and width of a pistol are the key defining parameters for discrete carry handguns. However, many have not had much success with finding a compact concealed carry 1911 that is reliable. Numerous test attempts involving sub-4inch barrels (or smaller) 1911’s have left many disappointed in terms of reliability and most users resort back to carrying full size 5-inch barreled 1911s. SIG’s P220 Carry SAO may give many the impetuous for another attempt to find a single-action only .45 ACP for concealed carry.

The aluminum frame and 3.9 inch barrel of the P220 Carry SAO translates into it weighing only 30 ounces making it very do able for inside-the-waistband carry if a user desires. Full size 1911s often weigh several ounces more than this and no one will contend this weight prohibits consideration for everyday carry if a person wishes. The P220 Carry SAO’s low profile design of the ambidextrous safety and slide lock levers minimize the chance of inadvertently engaging the levers when drawing the weapon or shooting under pressure. While the safety lever is located within natural thumb swipe distance, the slide lock sits further toward the rear of the frame compared to other weapons. This all but eliminates the chance of unintentionally engaging the slide lock during strings of fire as can happen when shooters rest their thumb on the lever with other designs. The slide lock should not be primary means of sending the slide forward after reloads anyway; a better method is to release the slide by pulling it back by hand and releasing after a fresh magazine is inserted. This simplifies reloading and malfunction drill manipulations. Another nod in the P220’s more modern design is the SIG P220 Carry safety’s ability to stay engaged while manipulating the slide. The P220 Carry SAO’s does not have full-fledged beavertail grip which further aids in providing concealed carry qualities by reducing the overall length of the weapon. The SIG Sauer P220 Carry SAO comes standard with two 8-round magazines. However, 10-round magazines are readily available. SIG magazines are an often overlooked key component of SIG’s legendary reputation for functioning in any imaginable environment.

The P220 Carry’s shorter barrel/slide is more compact than standard P220s which makes it easier to carry IWB while still maintaining an effective sight radius for accurate fire. The P220 Carry SAO can be equated to a Commander-length slide and provides the optimum mix of sight radius, concealment, balance, and reliability. The P220 Carry SAO measures 7.1 inches long, 5.5 inches high, and weighs 30 ounces. SIGLITE night sights compliment the P220 Carry’s intended role as a concealed carry weapon. The gun’s 3.9 inch cold hammer forged barrel and short reset single-action trigger combined with near perfect lock-up in the stainless steel slide insure maximum reliability and performance. The slide is finished in a durable Nitron finish and the aluminum frame is hard-coat anodized featuring a Picatinny rail dust cover for tactical versatility in the way of lights and laser target designators. SIG P220s are distinctive in appearance with slab sided slides fitted to the frame along full length rails ensuring smooth reliable operation.

The SIG’s single-action trigger pull measured 5 lbs. No weapon’s reliability should be blindly trusted without confirming functioning, especially if used for personal defense. An assortment of both premium and target ammunition were fired thru the P220 Carry SAO to verify reliability. Hornady TAP-FPD +P 230gr, Federal Premium 230gr Hydra Shok and 185gr FMJ Semi-Wadcutter Match, Winchester 230gr PDX1 and 230gr FMJ, and Black Hills 230gr JHP and FMJ were tested. Firing was at a relatively steady pace with different shooters running the P220 Carry thru its paces on plate racks, dueling trees, and other drills. The P220 Carry SAO impressively handled all brands, bullet types, and weights with equal aplomb with one significant caveat.

An interesting development discovered was the inability of P220 magazines accepting steel cased ammunition. This was inadvertently revealed when someone at the range offered a box of steel case .45 ACP ammunition for use. While it was possible to start loading a couple of steel case .45 ACP into a P220 magazine, inevitably the magazine’s follower would hang up not allowing for the magazine to be fully loaded. This was a situation proofed with several 8-round and 10-round magazines on hand for this T&E. A discussion with a SIG Sauer representative shed no light as to the reasoning behind this. Prior, relatively extensive, experiences with other .45 ACP caliber weapons using steel case .45 ACP – Glock and/or various 1911 magazines – have never exhibited this problem. It is the opinion of this author that the increased frictional properties derived by the steel case .45 ACP compared to brass case .45 ACP, combined with the tight tolerances of the P220 magazines, prevented the steel case cartridges from stacking/traveling properly in P220 magazine bodies. It is not only friction between cartridges, but also with the steel cases contacting the P220 magazine’s metal body; the resistance encountered proved too much for effective function of the P220 follower. As a side note, the few steel cased .45 ACPs that could be loaded into a P220 magazine fired and ejected with no issues as long as cartridges exhibited no abnormal characteristics while resting in the magazine. Some may find the exhibited inability to use steel case .45 ACP with the SIG P220 SAO as tested herein problematic; others will find this trivial and take comfort that brass cased .45 ACP functioned flawlessly no matter bullet profile or weight. Ultimately, this will be an individual decision.

The P220 Carry’s ergonomics and handling characteristics are quickly appreciated and make a user understand why the P220 as a whole is well thought of. Even under the induced stress of drawing against a timer and engaging multiple targets, the manual safety was always positively disengaged. The full size grip frame and overall balance of the P220 Carry SAO made recoil no more of a factor versus a full size P220 and was in no way unmanageable. The reduced length and weight is far more beneficial for concealed carry. Significantly, no malfunctions were experienced while test firing over 700 rounds during range visits. It is not normal protocol to bench test handguns for accuracy due to reliability and quick engagement of targets being more paramount in a self defense handgun. A weapon like the P220 Carry SAO should be fired as it is designed to be used – standing without support and while moving to get off the X. This is the true measure of accuracy combining trigger pull, grip, and sights. However, it could not be resisted with the P220 Carry SAO due to the SIG reputation for accuracy and quality control. The SIG did not disappoint regularly producing 2-3 inch groups at 25 yards. This rivals full-size Match 1911s.

As mentioned earlier, positive experiences in terms of reliability with compact 1911 designs over the years have been lacking. The P220 Carry SAO attributes for accuracy and reliability due to SIG Sauer quality and similarity to a Commander-length slide make it an attractive alternative to any single-action 1911 connoisseur. The comparison to the classic 1911 is inevitable with the P220 Carry with its SAO trigger, similar size, and .45 ACP chambering. The single-action only trigger is a key component in this equation as it aids in rapid target engagement with a trigger pull just less than 5 pounds with minimal trigger reset. The slide/barrel combination contributes more mass, aiding in increased muzzle control for double taps or longer strings of fire. The ergonomics combined with the slide’s track along the entire length of the frame during recoil and manageable .45 ACP muzzle signature allows for a very stable sight picture no matter how many or how rapid rounds are fired. The slight rearward frame protrusion guides one’s hand to the optimum grip position during the draw stroke and aids in recoil management. It is not hard to fathom why some may consider the P220 Carry applicable to personal defense/tactical work.

T&E was conducted at Echo Valley Training Center, a private range located near Winchester, VA, where many local and federal law enforcement tactical team members train. It is difficult to convey how many shooters at the range perked up when first exposed to the SIG Sauer P220 Carry SAO. Many confessed ignorance that SIG even offered a single action only variant in the 220 series. Every time one of them got to handle and shoot the P220 Carry SOA, a convert was obtained. Their duty weapons span the gamut, including custom tuned 1911 pistols, but all appreciate what the P220 Carry SAO offers in terms of accuracy, reliability, handling, and lethality. Considering the SIG P220 Carry SAO primary role as a defensive handgun it was decided to evaluate it using several drills experienced in Roger Phillip’s Suarez International Point Shooting Progressions course. To clarify, point shooting is not random, mindless firing from the hip substituting mass of fire for accuracy. Point shooting is “aimed” by means other than your sights. Other indexes are used such as the slide orientation below your line of sight, shoulder alignment, wrist cant, and forearm positions are all used as aiming references. Hand-eye coordination is a premium when using point shooting techniques. The natural point-ability of the SIG P220 Carry SAO comes into its own in this realm. A flash sight picture was used in a couple of drills before the handgun was brought even lower from the line of sight eventually ending up with elbow anchored in hip socket.

The gun disassembles quickly typical of SIGs via locking the slide open and rotating the takedown lever downward on the frame freeing the slide from the frame. The quality of fit and finish speaks volumes as to how the P220 Carry SAO obtains such levels of accuracy without having to resort to full blown hand tuning custom work. There are no tool marks evident and no lateral play in the slide’s fit to the frame or barrel to slide. The barrel locks up tight when in battery. The P220 operates via Browning’s locked breech short-recoil method. SIG slightly modifies Browning’s design by moving the locking recess from the barrel; instead utilizing a single locking lug milled above the barrel’s chamber using the slide’s large overhead ejection port as its locking recess. The front contour of the barrel lug cam slot has been cut square to direct counter-recoiling forces up and forward into the barrel itself to reduce stress on the lug.

The fixed sights are typical three-dot type featuring tritium inserts providing a solid sight picture if in a hurry reacting to an adversary. This stems from more and more data showing defensive engagements happen in low-light conditions where the tritium sights are more conducive to accurate shot placement. The slide seemed to reciprocate on ball bearings it moved so smoothly with the sights tracking smoothly in between shots fired. Subsequent range visits have only reinforced these initial impressions.

One could argue the single-action only P220 product line is the natural evolution of the 1911 design and this gun is an obvious alternative to the 1911. The P220 Carry SAO is at a price point many custom tuned 1911 users can appreciate. 1911s capable of 2 inches at 25 yards accuracy combined with reliable functioning are available, but usually only after custom tweaking and price tags well over $2,000. P220 Carry’s ergonomics make it natural to shoot accurately and instantly instills confidence with how it stacks hits on targets that result in jagged holes. The SIG Sauer P220 Carry had no issues performing straight out of the box. No 500-round “break-in” period was needed. The first range session consisted of over 300 rounds without cleaning or any extra lubricate.

The P220 Carry was tested in various holster designs from DeSantis and Galco. Flexibility is the key to effective carry practices with Inside-the-Waistband (IWB), belt slide, Side-of-Back, and shoulder holsters all a part of a concealed carry practitioners repertoire. The SIG P220 Carry SAO rode comfortably in a Galco Quick Slide or DeSantis Mini-Slide belt holster. Quality holsters, magazine carriers, and gun belts are not to be underestimated in importance either. Single stack SIG 8-round and 10-roundd magazines ride close to the body in Galco dual magazine carrier mounted on a Galco leather belt. Single stack magazines are much easier to conceal than their thicker double column brethren. The SIG did not feel out of place or uncomfortable in a DeSantis Scorpion or Galco Royal Guard IWB holsters when carried for lengthy stretches of time while going about daily business. The DeSantis Patriot shoulder holster is another carry option based on user preference and concealment parameters.

The P220 Carry easily fits the concealed carry, personal defense, and tactical roles. For example, the P220 Carry equipped with an Insight Technology M6 LED Light on its forward rail is as good a “nightstand” handgun as there is. The oversized trigger guard and reasonable 5 pound trigger pull make the P220 Carry SAO conducive to use as a defensive handgun. Size comparison of the P220 Carry SAO to the Commander-sized 1911 should quell any malcontent concerns in this matter thinking the SIG is too large. The SIG Sauer P220 Carry SAO is ideal for anyone wanting to capitalize on the SIG Sauer reputation for out of the box reliability and accuracy combined with single action trigger for utmost trigger control for precise shot placement.

SITES OF INTEREST

DeSantis Holster and Leather Goods
431 Bayview Ave
Amityville, NY 11701
800-424-1236
www.desantisholster.com

Galco International
2019 West Quail Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85027
800-874-2526
www.usgalco.com

Insight Technology
9 Akira Way
Londonderry, NH 03053
866-509-2040
www.InsightTechnology.com

SIG Sauer, Inc.
18 Industrial Drive
Exeter, NH 03833
603-772-2302
www.sigsauer.com