Okay folks, straight to the problem.
Bought a '37 pattern skeleton carrier and water bottle from Shoot and Scoot, and the bottle doesn't seem to want to fit.
View from the front. It's stuffed in as much as physically possible here, and trust me, it was an absolute bitch to actually get it into the carrier in the first place.
View from the top. This was about as far as the straps would go, and no further.
Now, I'll be honest, I'm not too clued up on British water bottles, so I'm not sure if I've been sent a different patter or whatever. Can anyone shed some light on what's going on with this?
'ABSIT OMEN'
soak the webbing and it will stretch over, i usually wedge some packing in as well under the webbing so that once it dry's it's a looser fit and slides in an out easier.it's a very normal problem.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
That's a relief. Although I feel slightly embarrassed now that I went to the trouble of applying the Blanco before realising this... 
So, am I best soaking in warm water, inserting the water bottle alongside some packing, and then physically stretching the top tabs until secure?
'ABSIT OMEN'
That's a relief. Although I feel slightly embarrassed now that I went to the trouble of applying the Blanco before realising this...
So, am I best soaking in warm water, inserting the water bottle alongside some packing, and then physically stretching the top tabs until secure?
Yup, that's exactly what I did.
Great! Thanks for clearing that up guys. Wish I'd found this out at the start of the week - I've a game tomorrow. 
'ABSIT OMEN'
Great! Thanks for clearing that up guys. Wish I'd found this out at the start of the week - I've a game tomorrow.
Also, I wrapped the bottle and packing in a carrier bag and then blanco'ed it with the bottle still in, as depending on the blanco method you do, you'll need to get it wet again, and it'll shrink back if you're not careful.
Good idea, I'll keep this in mind. Thank ya. 
'ABSIT OMEN'
Most of the time I don't bother fastening them up anyway. They'll never come out.
Dadio's suggestion of packing to make the fit looser is a good one. People often complain that they can't get their bottles in and out.
When I did my last one I used 4 biros stuffed in to stretch it. The result is very nicely loose bottle.
Comparing my SOF repro skeleton carrier with my original one, I decided that they had sewn the crossovers half an inch too low, not leaving enough length on the top straps. So I unpicked the stitching and redid it, now it works fine and no tedious stretching required. I would use the original but the press stud is broken.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
its almost impossible to over stretch them and a nice loose fit is what i'd go for, once popper'ed it wont fall out.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
