Cool Gun Stuff/Militaria you had when young.

[theotherwaldo]

Many years ago I bought an auction lot of drafting equipment at auction. Mixed in with it was a large number of photographs from the Eniwetok nuclear testing, including pictures of the various establishments and recreational facilities.
I still have most of them.

 

[chicharrones]

When I was a teenager in the late 1970s, one of my grandfathers gave me the items below. He was a USAAF C-87 pilot in the CBI theater during WWII.

I had to shrink wrap the Spotters Guide in the 1990s as it was falling apart. These pics are from today.

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To keep it gun related, I still have my Chicom SKS I bought at age 28 back in the early 1990s. Not exactly milsurp, but close.
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[Brutuskend]

My grandpa on my dad's side served in the USMC during the Korean War. Was previously in the Nat'l Guard and when the hostilities began, his gaurd unit was sent to Texas but he was discharged due to poor hearing. Was subsequently drafted into the Corp and told his hearing was good enough for them. (His old Gaurd unit never left the states).
I have his Dress Blues, minus cover.

Since my 10 year old has become interested in collecting old currency, I've added a few WWII era items to his collection. Hawaii & N Africa notes, $1 "short snorter" (had no clue what it meant when I first saw one) some coins, and a local ration book with stamps, and some pay vouchers in fractional amounts.

I sold my dress blues to someone at the local recruiters office sometime back in the late 70's or early 80's I'm sure they used them to lure some poor sap into enlisting.
Kinda wish I still had them, though there's no way in hell I could still fit into them.
I do still have a large part of my other greens and kakies in like new condition. I wore humilities everyday so the other stuff never got much use. Wish I still had at least one of my humility covers, last one I can account for was loaned out for halloween and never found it's way back to me.

BTW : humilities is what we all called our utilities back then. Don't know if that slang is still used, but I doubt it.

 

[theotherwaldo]

Another auction lot included books on aircraft design from the early war years. books on the care and feeding of aircraft turret guns and Japanese warship identification booklets (with several of these ships crossed out).
These are still on my book shelves.

I wish that I had retained some of that pallet load of Navy lifeboat survival packs. The navigation tools and flare projectors sure did sell well, though

 

[tark]

In high school (67) I paid the outrageous sum of $100 for an unissued, brand new 1903A3 Remington. It had a two groove barrel and it was very accurate. It was in mint condition.

Sadly, it was sold after I got out of the Army. (70). Been kicking myself ever since.

 

[Legionnaire]

My dad brought a Japanese officer's dress sword back from Japan at the end of WW2. It was a great show-and-tell piece back in my school days. It was stolen from our home in a burglary in the 1970s.

 

[Brutuskend]

Three things stand out in my childhood memory, and I have no photos of any of them:

1.) My uncle, what had been at Da Nang in 65, gave me a pair of genuine ARVN tiger stripe pants. They even fit me! Wore them for paintball in my high school years. No idea what happened to them.

2.) My neighbor, who was like a surrogate dad to me in those adolescent years when every teen boy's dad is a moron, had served in Vietnam aboard a diesel sub gave me an inflatable life preserver, but it didn't work because it used a non standard size CO2 cartridge (in other words, not the 12 gram Crosman bb gun cartridge) and we could never find the right one. No idea what happened to it.

3.) Same neighbor had an entire officer's mess kitchen kit in a trunk. Service for 8. I used some of the pieces on Boy Scout campouts, but I distinctly recall all of that going to the scrap metal dismantlers as dirty aluminum for 8¢ per pound.

Good memories.

I had a ROK Marines utility jacket for awhile that my brother in law brought back from Nam till one day he asked for it back.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I was one of those weird kids that wore an Ike jacket and a Ridgeway cap all through high school.
I got in the habit of wearing the cap when I had been temporarily blinded a few years before. The stiff brim and hard frame protected my head and face from many impacts while allowing the full use of my hearing.
The Ike jacket I wore initially in memory of my Grandpa Tony, who died just before I started my freshman year.
Then I found out how much STUFF you could carry in it... .

 

[JTHunter]

My Dad got me started shooting the M1 Garand that he got through the National Guard when I was too little to really hold it well. Several years later, he taught me to shoot his N.G. 1911 as well. The problem was that somehow, Wife #2 "disappeared" not only those two guns but several flintlock and percussion cap rifles (originals !) and an exposed hammer/double trigger percussion cap SxS 12 gauge (?) BP shotgun. Also, two short, heavy swords that looked like something a Roman gladiator would have used, and 3-4 cavalry sabers, one of which had a blade over 3 feet long with a huge filigree bell hand guard that was at least 4-5 inches in diameter.
All gone.
They were the only thing I had hoped to inherit from my Dad.

 

[Brutuskend]

SUX!

 

[Rubone]

In high school (67) I paid the outrageous sum of $100 for an unissued, brand new 1903A3 Remington. It had a two groove barrel and it was very accurate. It was in mint condition.

Sadly, it was sold after I got out of the Army. (70). Been kicking myself ever since.

I bought a 1903 in new condition for $50 in about 1971. It was stolen out of my house a couple years later. I still miss it!

 

[Trunk Monkey]

You had a self propelled howitzer as a kid??????? ........

Define "kid"