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Aging Repro MP-40 Ammo Pouches


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Just for grins and giggles, I made my first effort at aging and weathering repro field equipment, a set of MP-40 "tropical" ammo pouches from At The Front. I used the video linked below as a guide, though I didn't use Vaseline as I was not going for an oil soaked look. I did add a hot bath in strong black tea after the detergent soaking and through drying. This evens the colors nicely and turns the stitching from white to gray. Blot the tea with paper towels and allow to completely dry, but do not rinse.

 

Aging turned out to be surprisingly easy to do, and the results are really excellent. ATF's pouches are of very high quality. They did not shrink, and didn't suffer any damage at all from the process. Notice the markings at the top rear of each pouch. These faded slightly, and look just right. The two soakings open the weave of the canvas so that it doesn't look new anymore. Be careful not to overdo any one element as it's the subtlety of each technique combined with the others that gives the effect you want.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/URsC6at0TNQ

 

Before and after shots:

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MVC-136S.JPG

MVC-139S.JPG

Edited by TSMGguy
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Great job i like it. However in 20 years nobody will know or care anymore....That is all done for us now. heck under age 30 they want vid games and a Lez girlfriend so they can fit in....but for us who still Care good Job the place In Kentucky does well with all that stuff. RON K.

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Great job i like it. However in 20 years nobody will know or care anymore....That is all done for us now. heck under age 30 they want vid games and a Lez girlfriend so they can fit in....but for us who still Care good Job the place In Kentucky does well with all that stuff. RON K.

I generally agree, but my 8 year old Grandson loves WW2, Korea and Vietnam era weapons. He knows about Thompsons, MP40, MP44, Grease Guns, M2 carbines, M16A1 rifles, etc. He loves my gun collection and points out all the weapons and can name them. He does play a lot of video games, but some of them are WW2 based, tanks and weapons. So don't give up hope, we will have younger folks that want to purchase/inherit our collections as we all get older and pass.

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Just for grins and giggles, I made my first effort at aging and weathering repro field equipment, a set of MP-40 "tropical" ammo pouches from At The Front. I used the video linked below as a guide, though I didn't use Vaseline as I was not going for an oil soaked look. I did add a hot bath in strong black tea after the detergent soaking and through drying. This evens the colors nicely and turns the stitching from white to gray. Blot the tea with paper towels and allow to completely dry, but do not rinse.

 

Aging turned out to be surprisingly easy to do, and the results are really excellent. ATF's pouches are of very high quality. They did not shrink, and didn't suffer any damage at all from the process. Notice the markings at the top rear of each pouch. These faded slightly, and look just right. The two soakings open the weave of the canvas so that it doesn't look new anymore. Be careful not to overdo any one element as it's the subtlety of each technique combined with the others that gives the effect you want.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/URsC6at0TNQ

 

Before and after shots:

Looks great by the way, I might try that with mine and appreciate the info/linky you posted.

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Great job i like it. However in 20 years nobody will know or care anymore....That is all done for us now. heck under age 30 they want vid games and a Lez girlfriend so they can fit in....but for us who still Care good Job the place In Kentucky does well with all that stuff. RON K.

I generally agree, but my 8 year old Grandson loves WW2, Korea and Vietnam era weapons. He knows about Thompsons, MP40, MP44, Grease Guns, M2 carbines, M16A1 rifles, etc. He loves my gun collection and points out all the weapons and can name them. He does play a lot of video games, but some of them are WW2 based, tanks and weapons. So don't give up hope, we will have younger folks that want to purchase/inherit our collections as we all get older and pass.

It's getting almost impossible to interest young people in history for many reasons ... The main reason however is that schools no longer teach it as it happened. As a youth I absorbed every bit of history that I could .. I was a voracious reader, and loved to visit historic sites. Having my father, uncles, and second cousin all serve in WWII added to it ... I listened with great interest in their stories of war, from my cousin being on the USS Ticonderoga when it was hit by a Kamikaze to my dad's one day of war serving on USMC AA battery number 3 at the Battle of Midway. (He then spent the rest of the war in the backwash, never seeing action again.)

 

After my stint in the army. my love of history continued and I became a cavalry reenactor, doing impressions from the Civil War to WWI .. Here's a shot of me back in the 70's (I'm the guy on the right on the blaze face sorrel) I met my wife reenacting, and had a son who grew up to serve two tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd ABN ... Proof that history still effects our lives today.

 

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Yes 8 10 or 11 wait till in school. they will find other interested lets see Gender studies. art. the who can use what Bathroom. and yes what was that History somebody spoke of. Only at home not in any school today.

 

All that was when we grew up the the 40's 50's and 60's..talk to a average 20 to 25 year old today and make a Judgment at that time.So keep the grandson close at hand... you will only have so many years to form his mind.

 

I have always said we are the last.

And anything that arrives after. Is a burnt out cinder of a glorious Flame of freedom Liberty and History.

 

To those that think Nope its not over Have never followed what has been going on the past 20 or so years.And is in full rampant destruct mode over the last 12 years. And into 2021.they might ban the pouch....as not for a all inclusive Gender neutral loving free society camp..

 

RON K.

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Yes 8 10 or 11 wait till in school. they will find other interested lets see Gender studies. art. the who can use what Bathroom. and yes what was that History somebody spoke of. Only at home not in any school today.

 

All that was when we grew up the the 40's 50's and 60's..talk to a average 20 to 25 year old today and make a Judgment at that time.So keep the grandson close at hand... you will only have so many years to form his mind.

 

I have always said we are the last.

And anything that arrives after. Is a burnt out cinder of a glorious Flame of freedom Liberty and History.

 

To those that think Nope its not over Have never followed what has been going on the past 20 or so years.And is in full rampant destruct mode over the last 12 years. And into 2021.they might ban the pouch....as not for a all inclusive Gender neutral loving free society camp..

 

RON K.

I don't disagree with your assessment of our younger generations, however out of 360 million Americans, we only need about 175k to buy our machine guns. I think we can find that many. However as you indicated, we most likely will have our gun rights revoked even if it is state by state. Oregon is on life support right now. Super majority house and senate, Gov and sec of state....all Demoncrats. Our current gun laws in Oregon do not align with the Californians and east cost jerks who have invaded and ruined my state. I am 5th Generation Oregonian-family came in 1852. My Mom's side of the family came to North America in the late 1600's, fought in the revolutionary war against the British and Hessians, and every war since then. I am so worried about our country right now.

Edited by NFA amnesty
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Yes it is sad it turned so fast in the last ten years. It was a slow creep. and now they want to do it like a runaway freight train We just have to blow the tracks and derail before it hits the station..

 

Still might be enough freedom lovers and vets to do it. If it starts soon,Or instead of Half tracks we will be riding wheel chairs.

 

More should have worried about that instead of the rising Thompson values. The lefto crats only honor and desire Power and ways to get and keep it. RON K.

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Edited by colt21a
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They remind me of some really good czech copies i saw around 10 years ago. and some looked like they got dragged behind a truck. i guess if you get the real beat worn look more WILL BELEIVE. And they had been fairly pricy well over $200 bucks. But hey if he threw them in the deal you are way ahead in the game. Just like the MP-44 pouches some made in India and Taiwan and others in Europe. even some made in Ukraine.. so many have a lot of research to do to check them all out.

 

And i would never take one persons word on all original. Unless they have seen them all and all makers.I have seen some great ones and found out made in 46 47 for Austrian army. And many did end up in Yeman and Greece. RON K.

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These are a very nice complement to a combat carried bnz 41 MP-40. Original pouches in nice shape have become too valuable to use.

MVC-138S.JPG

Edited by TSMGguy
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Hope you all don't mind but I got a set of MP40 pouches when I got my MP40 and I think they are real but I got a mixture of repo and original stuff from the seller. Can anybody tell me if these are real or repos ?

 

I tried to copy these photos and post them where some real experts could see them and weigh in. Looks like this forum has anti-copying software in place so I cold not do it. I suggest you post these photos in the WWII German Machine Guns section of the forums linked below. Personally, I'm not sure about your pouches one way or the other, but others will know better. They look really good. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

The K98k Forum

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  • 3 months later...

As far as interest in history goes, I'd point to the example of the US Civil War. The surviving participants, North and South, just wanted to forget it. Strong interest, along with histories, novels, and later, movies, came considerably later.

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