Recovering a War Trophy in Iraq - 12.7mms of Faded Glory

I reek of CLP!

Published on April 9, 2005 By greywar In Gadgets & Electronics

Buried under the shifting sands deep in Iraq lay a relic of a forgotten war... A relic harkening from The Great War... Waiting for an explorer to plumb the Stygian depths of it's slumpering sepulcher... Waiting for... Indiana Colangelo and the Raiders of the Lost Milvan!

14 foot S&M bullwhip coiled at his side Colangelo and his troop of gullible naive guides defeated the ancient guardian of the reliquary (a rusty 2500 series padlock) and emerged with their age-encrusted prize... a 12.7 mm DSHK 38/46 Heavy Machine Gun... umm... of Doom!

Summoning the sagelike resources of his trusted collegial colleague (me) we began the delicate rites of resurrection and restoration..

The tools at our disposal were quite primitive :

We pressed on undaunted... (note the schematic I downloaded from the net) finally freeing the gas return tube from the bottom of the barrel:

The oddment you see at the top of the frame is the weapons unusual rotary cylinder feed mechanism (spins like the cylinder of a revolver only with massive bullets) :

A second view...

I spy some ancient glyphs etched into the surface of the corrupted eldritch metal...This was a weapon forged in order to beat back the Hun!

The engineering behind this artfact was clearly beyond the capability of the locals, this was made evident by the gorgeous simplicity of the bolt mechanism...

We noted the meticulous labeling of each individual part which I have rendered here for you in inverted color so you may gaze upon it's orderly glory more easily...

The robustness of the firing pin alone suggested a cyclopean theory of mechanical engineering!

The trigger a magnum opus of the smith's craft...

Weary but filled with excitement at the prospect of giving life to this magnificent beast we moved it's entirety to the sanctity of our workshop to begin the long road back to functionality...

If anyone cares (and even if you don't) I will post post restoration pictures later...

Comments (Page 2)

pseudosoldier

on Apr 12, 2005

The Soviets stamped it right into the metal

The Russkies were like that with a lot of things, yeah? Are the tank names (T-74, T-72) their doing or ours?

pseudosoldier checks with house Russian expert

Okay, it's their doing. They named their tanks T-72, etc. after the year they were designed (1972, in this particular case). I think that's pretty utilitarian of them.

Damn, wait. Do we stamp the fracking dates in the metal, too? (It's been like a year and a half since I touched my rifle...)

Eastern Diamondback

on Apr 12, 2005

Okay, it's their doing. They named their tanks T-72, etc. after the year they were designed (1972, in this particular case). I think that's pretty utilitarian of them.

Well, I have an M-1903 which is a .30-'06 . A few people I know have M-1911's.

But I guess we've gotten away from that practice.

pseudosoldier

on Apr 12, 2005

ED - Nyet, Tovarisch. I was referring to the Soviets' method of nomenclature. When we refer to (some of?) their gear, we just call it what they call it (T-72s, AK-47, etc.).

Eastern Diamondback

on Apr 12, 2005

ED - Nyet, Tovarisch. I was referring to the Soviets' method of nomenclature. When we refer to (some of?) their gear, we just call it what they call it (T-72s, AK-47, etc.).

I know. I'm just saying we used to name some of our gear based on the year of its design production too, but it looks like we don't do that anymore.

greywar

on Apr 13, 2005

Do we stamp the fracking dates in the metal, too?

not for the M-16's, M249's, M203's, or M240's anyways...

As for the utilitarianism... man you should hold this thing! Everything about it is genius en simplisme... We have been spinning a fantasy yarn about this gun which I will likely use in the fully restored article. Colangelo has been slaving over this thing for 4 days now and it looks pretty sweet...

kingbee

on Apr 13, 2005

The Soviets stamped it right into the metal... 5th picture (extreme close up) In point of fact our running theory is that the weapon may have been scavenged together from other weapons and reserialized as CA 974. This is supported by numerous hand chisel strike throughs (also seen in pic 5) of other serials on the components...

i was confused by your remark about the huns (figuring the 1923 musta been a typo or something unless the it belonged to the lost brigade or perhaps the prescient brigade). thanks

pseudosoldier

on Apr 13, 2005

I'm just saying we used to name some of our gear based on the year of its design production too

My mistake, then. I assume the M-16 is one of our later attempts, yes? (And the M-1 Abrams, etc.) I suppose it never struck me (although I should've known the M1911, at least, so obvious), as I'm too "new Army".

Spc Nobody Special

on Apr 13, 2005

I assume the M-16 is one of our later attempts, yes?

It's older than you'd think, almost fifty years. It goes back to the AR-15 developed from the more interesting (.762)AR-10, in the fifties to fire those damned .223 squirrel bullets. Add a forward assist, and voila, the 1962 M-16 P.O.S. is born.

No year in the name anymore though, unless you consider my ETS date whenever I'm cussing the damned M-16 out to be part of a nickname. U.S. Army issue weapons blow (with the exception of the M-2 and maybe the M-240). Give me a Mossberg 12 gauge for up close, a 30.06 for distance, and a tactical nuke for anything I can't see, and/or better armored than a breadbox, and I'm a very happy guy.......

greywar

on Apr 14, 2005

i was confused by your remark about the huns

I confess to using the Hun reference for the sake of poesy over strictest accuracy....

pseudosoldier

on Apr 14, 2005

It's older than you'd think, almost fifty years.

Were you saying it's almost fifty years old, or fifty years older than I'd think? I'm aware it was in use in Viet Nam.

razza frazzin armorers

Eastern Diamondback

on Apr 14, 2005

Stoner's design has been around for a while. Spc Nobody Special is right. The Stoner AR design is about 50 years old. The last American piece of equipment I can think of offhand that derives its model name from its year of production is the M-1941 Johnson.<-Try the link.

I like my AR-10A4 (<-link). Mine is all black and without a scope. I see, Spc. Nobody Special, you're also not a big fan of the pea-shooter 5.56 round.

Eastern Diamondback

on Apr 14, 2005

No year in the name anymore though, unless you consider my ETS date whenever I'm cussing the damned M-16 out to be part of a nickname. U.S. Army issue weapons blow (with the exception of the M-2 and maybe the M-240). Give me a Mossberg 12 gauge for up close, a 30.06 for distance, and a tactical nuke for anything I can't see, and/or better armored than a breadbox, and I'm a very happy guy.......

You'd probably be right at home with Kim du Toit, except that he prefers the shorter 7.62x51 NATO round (as the .30-06 is, as you probably already know, 7.62x63) to be his ideal round.

Unfairman

on Apr 14, 2005

greywar-
I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Kirbati (ki-de-bis). Ever heard of the WWII Battle of Tarawa? Tarawa is the capital island of Kiribati. In the town of Betio (Bay-SO) there are quite a few old war relics. There are two Japanese anti-aircraft/ship guns. One of them suffered a direct hit in the barrel by one of the boats on the reef -- good shooting by the U.S. Navy. There are also 2 or 3 American boats still hung up on the reef. A brief history of the battle: Japanese occupied the peaceful island of Tarawa. American Forces landed on Tarawa, but due to a misjudging of the tides the boats were caught on the reef. American soldiers had to run about 200 unprotected yard under heavy fire to reach the shore. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the War, with something like 3,000 Americans and 5,000 Japanese killed in 3 days (I forget the exact figures). There's a war memorial plaque that stands near one of the big guns on Red Beach One -- it's one of the only things in the town that has not become the victim of graffitti.
It's nice to be in a place where the only real American influence has been liberating and/or helping oriented.
Maybe someday I'll send you pictures of the relics.

greywar

on Apr 15, 2005

'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Kirbati (ki-de-bis). Ever heard of the WWII Battle of Tarawa? Tarawa is the capital island of Kiribati.

I actually looked it up back when you posted your more recent blog updates

Maybe someday I'll send you pictures of the relics.

Love to see em...

Hazylunarrain

on Apr 25, 2005

Cool, I wanna see more of the newly restored gun

When you get it done that is... Think we can get a shot or two of what it looks like when one of it's shells hits something?

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