tpelle
Member
Here is a picture of General George Patton wearing his famous ivory-stocked Colt SAA:
And here is a pic of entire rig as it is displayed in a museum:
Note that in the color photo the belt itself is an old-fashioned Army leather belt with a spoon and wreath buckle. Odd that it's in brown, but maybe that was issue during Pershing's Mexican punitive expedition. But in the b/w photo it appears that he switched the belt for a canvas Army-issue web pistol belt.
My question has to do with the item threaded on to the belt next to the buckle. In both pictures you can make out that it appears to be a percussion cap pouch. It appears particularly clear on the b/w pic of the General himself, although it's on the opposite side of the buckle than in the color photo.
Now when the U.S. Army first began to issue the 1873 Colt revolver, they re-tasked Civil War era percussion pouches to carry loose ammunition for the revolver. They simply removed the sheep's wool lining from the pouch.
But it appears that Patton didn't use it for that. Notice that there are two rectangular objects threaded on to the belt. One of them, on the SAA side, is a set of cartridge loops for the .45 Colt rounds. I've seen it in other photos. I believe that the rectangular item on the other side might be a similar set of cartridge loops for .357 Magnum for the S&W. So that leaves the cap pouch.
What in the world do you guys think he carried in there? (Maybe a tin of Copenhagen?)
And here is a pic of entire rig as it is displayed in a museum:
Note that in the color photo the belt itself is an old-fashioned Army leather belt with a spoon and wreath buckle. Odd that it's in brown, but maybe that was issue during Pershing's Mexican punitive expedition. But in the b/w photo it appears that he switched the belt for a canvas Army-issue web pistol belt.
My question has to do with the item threaded on to the belt next to the buckle. In both pictures you can make out that it appears to be a percussion cap pouch. It appears particularly clear on the b/w pic of the General himself, although it's on the opposite side of the buckle than in the color photo.
Now when the U.S. Army first began to issue the 1873 Colt revolver, they re-tasked Civil War era percussion pouches to carry loose ammunition for the revolver. They simply removed the sheep's wool lining from the pouch.
But it appears that Patton didn't use it for that. Notice that there are two rectangular objects threaded on to the belt. One of them, on the SAA side, is a set of cartridge loops for the .45 Colt rounds. I've seen it in other photos. I believe that the rectangular item on the other side might be a similar set of cartridge loops for .357 Magnum for the S&W. So that leaves the cap pouch.
What in the world do you guys think he carried in there? (Maybe a tin of Copenhagen?)