8 replies to this topic

[bfryar44]

A friend of mine from Belgium posted this at another board and is needing some help identifying the four cell pouch on the right. It looks to be US WW2 manufacture, but not sure if it is for a Thompson 20 round mags.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

"Attached are images of a TSMG 5-cell pouch and a similar 4-cell pouch....Who knows what the 4-cell pouch is for??? It is identical in manufacture to the 5-cell TSMG pouch, except it has only room for 4 magazines.... It has no markings at all....
Someone has told me it could be for the United Defense M42 SMG.....
It must be rare, I have never seen another one....."

[leid]

It looks like an early 4 cell pouch with individual flaps. Mills or Rusco markings are found under the flap. If it is an early 4 cell TSMG pouch, it was probably made many years prior to WW2 (1920s). The first version of the 4 cell pouch had a single flap.
Carey

[dalbert]

Here is a picture of the early 4-cell pouch you mentioned with the single flap from the 1923 Auto-Ordnance catalog. I have never seen a 4-cell pouch like the one in the other picture.



David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[gijive]

QUOTE (leid @ Apr 10 2005, 04:27 PM)

It looks like an early 4 cell pouch with individual flaps. Mills or Rusco markings are found under the flap. If it is an early 4 cell TSMG pouch, it was probably made many years prior to WW2 (1920s).

The early Rusco or Mills pouches would have been a straw colored yellow canvas. The pouch shown appears to clearly be the same shade as the five cell WWII made pouch which would be Olive Drab Shade # 3 sometimes reffered to as khaki. That is a very interesting pouch, I have never seen one like it in that shade. Have your friend check for manufacturer's markings or dates. It may be a very early or pre-WWII variation copied after the original four cell pouches.

[Johan Willaert]

Hi,

I'm the owner of the pouch and friend of Bryan's.....
There are NO markings at all on the pouch and its construction is exactly like the 5 cell pouch....


Johan

[leid]

Hi Johan,
If you have access to "Thompson: The American Legend" by Hill, you can find a picture of a Rusco marked 4 cell pouch with the individual flaps on p 352. Very nice piece of canvas even if it is unmarked.
Carey

[TD.]

Hi Johan Willaert,
Welcome to the Thompson Message Board.

You have one interesting magazine pouch. Can you tell us anything about the history of this pouch, such as when and where you obtained it. Do you have source for these pouches that you would share with the rest of the board? If it is a reproduction, I would think the market would be flooded with them. And if it is an original Colt or WWII era pouch, I would think one like it would have surfaced by now. This is a mystery. Thanks for sharing.

[Johan Willaert]

I don't know the history of the pouch.
I bought it at a local militaria shop about 10 years ago, because I hadn't seen one before and I figured it was a rarity. I paid about the same amount as for a regular 5 cell pouch.
Shortly after, a French collector told me he thought the pouch was for the United Defense M42 SMG magazines. These SMG's were droppped for the Resistance and the pouch would have been used by them.
Although it makes sense (the M42 magazines are about the same dimensions as TSMG magazines) I have yet to see evidence of the use of the pouches.....
There are no markings on the pouch and there's a couple of rust stains on the inside of the flaps, so the pouch was used with magazines...)
I put it up for sale once, but nobody liked it and I'm glad now I kept it.....


Thanks,

Johan

[Norm]

Johan,

Nice website!

Norm