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What happened to the fill plug and chain on the short barrel Argentine


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Something I noticed that is very interesting with these guns, and I'm curious if anyone here has a clue what happened.

 

So the main gun of topic is #9.

 

Currently, it does not have a water fill plug chain. Also, the loop on the water jacket that the fill plug chain attaches to is gone. It looks like it was ground off. Did not think anything of that at all, until I noticed that in Dolf's book, the same gun has a fill plug chain and a loop on the water jacket for the chain to attach to back with Pat Tomlinson owned it. Pictures 1 and 2 attached show Dolf's photos of #9 in his book. The chain and loop are there! Pictures 3 and 4 show the #9 gun now. Chain and loop gone. I guess it was cut and ground off at some point between then and now, but why?

 

This is where is gets weird though....

 

Thinking it was only gun #9, I searched online and found gun number 8. Took a look online of gun #8, and it is also missing the fill plug chain and the loop is ground off as well! What the heck? Pictures 5 and 6 attached show gun #8. No chain and loop.

 

Found some pictures of gun #10 online, and sure enough, the fill plug chain is gone and the loop is ground smooth as well. Pictures 7 and 8 attached show gun #10.

 

Does anyone have a clue what went on here? I'm completely stumped. One gun? ok. All the guns I can find with the same exact small modification? And at least gun #9 had the chain and loop on the water jacket intact when pictures were taken of it for Dolf's book. What????

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Edited by michaelkih
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The flat round brass substitute plug in the one pic of the vickers is misleading because it appears to be the same as the steam tube plug in the front endcap.

The OD of this plug is larger than the standard tapered plug.

The standard chain eye has a threaded shank that is soldered into the jacket. If you want to replace the ground off remains with a correct chain eye, it is fairly simple. FWIW

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The flat round brass substitute plug in the one pic of the vickers is misleading because it appears to be the same as the steam tube plug in the front endcap.

The OD of this plug is larger than the standard tapered plug.

The standard chain eye has a threaded shank that is soldered into the jacket. If you want to replace the ground off remains with a correct chain eye, it is fairly simple. FWIW

 

Thanks. Glad to now that it can be fixed if need be. Just need to find the parts. I'm actually more interested in why it was done to every known (to me) example of this gun.

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