Ammo boots

Right then... Those are AB boots. I have an original 1945 dated pair myself and they're lovely.

He's right that they were issued brown and sometimes dyed black. Though not always and I'm not sure when they were and when they weren't. However it was usual for British officers to have brown boots and OR's black.

See info here:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uni ... t-wear.htm

I have no idea how this relates to NZ usage!

Yeah, annoying thing is there used to be a surplus store in Auckland run by a re-enactor called Dave who just knew everything about NZ kit, but sadly his store went the way of most others, he was the go to man for anything like that.
I'm booking some research time at Auckland Uni library special collections for my dissertation soon, and despite the fact that my research is in no way related to WW2 or even the 20th century, I'm gonna pull as much primary material as possible and hopefully settle a few of these questions to which I can't find easy answers.

Are there any shows you can get to, perhaps ask a few Vets if there are any about?

Yeah, that is an option, I know a guy who recently joined a reenactment group- I think he's trying to get them into airsoft on the sly . Unfortunately vets are getting scarce around here, the old boys in my street are all gone now, many of their mates, too.
Might be time to ask the gf if she'd like to take a trip to Wellington in the holidays .... and stop at the national Army archives and museum in Waiouru on the way.

Are there any shows you can get to, perhaps ask a few Vets if there are any about?

Managed to quiz a vet on this today, Australian boots were issued brown for officers and o.r., NZ boots were black for o.r., and brown for officers, though post war it was black boots for everyone.

Cool... that's interesting to know!

I must sometime get round to doing an aussie impression. I think I have most of the kit.

He mentioned that both NZ and Australian troops filched as much as they could from whoever they were serving with, or fighting against. In Asia, they generally grabbed as much Yank gear as possible, they preferred it, especially the webbing, packs, boots and gaiters. As for weapons, they liked Thompsons and MP40s better than Stens, and loved to get their hands on German MGs in Africa and the Mediterranean.

Exactly... I have plenty of far east US and brit stuff... plus the aussie boots. It's other specific aussie stuff that I don't have.

Awesome. And this guy turns out to have access to a bunch of gear from a store which closed down, so I should be able to get some ammo boots from him rather cheap, which is what my airsoft loadout is currently lacking.

Smashing.