The Kit Pic Thread

I'd love one, but an ACM BAR is next on the list...just waiting for it to come out...

Nice one!

Is the ACM one coming with a bipod and carry handle?

I think it is yeh, although probably take the carry handle off...

correct me if im wrong on this but are you sure the infantry were issued with bipod's on their bar's? i remember reading in a book on omaha that they were ditched as they were too heavy for what the bar was needed for.

Looks good, I only have doubts over the trousers. What are they?

Give that man a prize!

HBT trousers, the GI wore them over there m37 wool trousers on d-day.

No, close but no cigar, they're the correct colour and a similar fabric but have combat pockets on the side and came from Asda for £8...

Probabaly a five minute job with a stitch unpicker to sort out. I did the same with some modrn 'bdu' splinter pattern trousers to make them look more wwii.

Excellent loadout Alex, defintly looks the biz.

correct me if im wrong on this but are you sure the infantry were issued with bipod's on their bar's? i remember reading in a book on omaha that they were ditched as they were too heavy for what the bar was needed for.

You are right! And not at the same time...troops in general were issued with standard BAR's with the Bipod and carry handle as they were reissued originals (at least at first) The real gun is a beast, it's a heavy encumberance in the first place without any extras. Bipods and carry handles were removed by troops individually before, during or after the invasion. So yes issued, but whether they kept them is another thing entirely!

Probabaly a five minute job with a stitch unpicker to sort out. I did the same with some modrn 'bdu' splinter pattern trousers to make them look more wwii.

Excellent loadout Alex, defintly looks the biz.

Will probably leave them with the pockets on, which although isn't exactly correct will help with all the guff I end up carrying. I'll sure there will be plenty of tutting going on for me leaving them on haha. Especially since there's bugger all in the way of pockets on the M41 Jacket.

as far as i know the carryhandles were only issued in '45. so im not sure about when you say that the GI's were issued carryhandles is entirely correct. but the newer skid footed bipod ( ones that will come with the cheapsoft BAR's ) were adopted by the US army in 1940 and were worked on during 1938-39 so you are most definatly right on that.

but i havn't actually seen a picture of an infantryman using a bar with bipod yet in NW europe.

The skid bottom bipod was developed later on, but earlier models did have them...

I'll let you have that about the carry handle although I guarentee that they binned them as soon as they were given them. Thoroughly useless piece of kit...

But they do make it incredibly easy to carry when running. Remember that the US were fighting just under 2 years before D-Day, so to say "the infantry ditched them" isn't entirely accurate as a general statement. Have a look for the high res pic of the guys at kasserine marching down the road, 2 of the lads at the back have BARs, and both have bipods on. No idea about the carry handle, I would hazzard a guess (as usual) that the Chinese including the folk at VFC have not done their research. For example modelling the gun with the late war bipod and late war carry handle, marushin making their M1 carbines with the Korean era rear sight and bayonet lug. Drives me mad!!

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Will probably leave them with the pockets on, which although isn't exactly correct will help with all the guff I end up carrying. I'll sure there will be plenty of tutting going on for me leaving them on haha. Especially since there's bugger all in the way of pockets on the M41 Jacket.

yea don't keep anything in M41 pockets unless your belt goes over the top of the pocket. It'll end up lost. Keep the cargo pockets on, US army HBTs did have bellowed pockets on the outside leg. Shouldn't look too disimilar.

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if anything alex, they would've kept the carryhandle and not the bipod, considering the bar at that time was used for as an assault rifle, not support or LMG, because, well its not a support weapon or LMG really.

the bipod would only be useful for prone firing and when not in use the bipod would just add unneccisary weight, making the bipod much more useless than the later model with the carryhandle.

and on another note, i havnt seen a picture of a bar issued with one of the rear spikes, although my bar appears to have a fitting for one to be screwed in.

When the US entered the war they reissued their early war troops with 1918A1's, admittedly I can't find any pictures of the earlier variant being used by US troops however here is a pic of polish resistance fighters using a 1918A1 in 1944 which means they must still have been around...

However this is two pictures of BAR's being used during 1945 and later on even during the Korean War,

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=2892

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=8025

Honestly, they would've been dumped immediately, I doubt they would've been put on at all. It's not a practical piece of kit, if you are carrying a rifle, you wouldn't want to get caught carrying it by a bloody silly carry handle, if you were being shot at. That's why I made the comment about it being bloody useless, I can't find one pic of them being attatched in 1944 - 1945...neither can I find any pics of bipods being used...but at least a bipod has a practical use.

When the US entered the war they reissued their early war troops with 1918A1's, admittedly I can't find any pictures of the earlier variant being used by US troops however here is a pic of polish resistance fighters using a 1918A1 in 1944 which means they must still have been around...

That would more likely be a wz.1928 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_wz.1928-, the Polish version that was used in 1939, that was hung on to in the AK weapon stores. Though it could be a 1918 US version, because I know bugger all about guns.

Nope it's not a 1918, you're right, it is the Polish modified BAR Wz 1928 version which has a pistol grip on it...missed that, sorry.

http://90thidpg.us/Equipment/Articles/BARHandle/

A medic armband with an Mp and 2 pistols!!
Quite the one man army?
You should drop the flag off your right sleeve though, not really correct for 101st wearing M42s.

I know I know but it was on it and if I take it off it will always look like there should have been something there.

And while I'm a medic during airsoft games they can shoot at medics so I just have to defend myself.

The BAR Carry Handle Assembly much loved by WWII Reenactors was designed and tested in late 1944 but never saw documented combat usage.

Thanks Joss...

There is a published photo of the carry handle in use by a US Marine on Page 180 of Rock In A Hard Place by James Ballou. The caption reads: "A BAR in action on Okinawa, near Shuri Castle." This is the one and only photo that is known of in the BAR collectors circle and has been published in support of the Carry Handle being used during WWII. To my knowledge as of the time of this writing, there are no other known photographs of the Carry Handle purportedly from WWII published.

You have to admit, it is a bloody useless looking piece of antiquated rubbishery.

That article states that it is believed the photo is incorrectly attributed to WWII and is actually 1950s - so NO photos documenting WWII use!

okay alex, when you get a bar, and you can ask doug to back me up on this, the carry handle is seriously not useless.

but now we've established its a post war item, it doesn't matter.

Yeah I can vouch for the carry handle making it easy to lug around!

Thats the pic I was talking about from Kasserine with the 2 chaps at the back both sporting bipods on their BARs