Cool U.S. Produced MP-40 Manual

[Skip Greenwade]

Just picked this up and thought it worthy of sharing. It's a 21-page, typed manual, written in 1943 by Col. George Burling Jarrett, who was - among other thing - a major force associated with the U.S. Army Ordnance School at Aberdeen Proving Ground. 

The manual is a very informal, typewritten, and appears to have been produced in-house at APG. It is illustrated with 14 well-done line drawings. Of interest to me is that - while the manual mentions "Gun, Submachine, M. P. 40" in the title, the illustrations appear to show an MP-38 with a ribbed receiver tube and flat (not ribbed) magazine housing and magazine. The title also refers to the gun as a "Schmeisser Machine Pistol".

It was bound with two staples. The paper is fairly brittle and the back page had already come completely unattached, while a couple of other pages were on the verge of doing so, so I removed the staples to prevent further damage. That also allowed me make a photocopy that is much more suitable for handling/reading.

There is also a cover letter bearing the address of Ernie Hoxton of Baltimore, whose address stamp also appears on the cover of the manual, along with a stamped note referencing the "Museum of Armed Forces - History". A handwritten note suggests that the manual was mailed to Mr. Hoxton and was received and read by him on 28 July, 1954. 

Here are a few photos:

 

 

 

[Roland the Thompsongunner]

That is really cool never saw this before great find 

[APEXgunparts]

Looks like Colonel Jarrett continued with his tech writing efforts at the US Army Ordnance school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
My Father purchased this document for me from the Ordnance Museum gift shop during a business trip to APG in the 1970's.
I remember as a teen ager being quite excited to get this handout from the ordnance course.
Later my Father took me to APG and let me spend a day exploring the museum and the "mile of tanks" at the gate.
He dropped me off and went to the B&O railway museum in Baltimore where he spent his day.

Richard

 

Edited April 20 by APEXgunparts

[Skip Greenwade]

9 hours ago, APEXgunparts said:

Looks like Colonel Jarrett continued with his tech writing efforts at the US Army Ordnance school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
My Father purchased this document for me from the Ordnance Museum gift shop during a business trip to APG in the 1970's.
I remember as a teen ager being quite excited to get this handout from the ordnance course.
Later my Father took me to APG and let me spend a day exploring the museum and the "mile of tanks" at the gate.
He dropped me off and went to the B&O railway museum in Baltimore where he spent his day.

Richard

 

It seems he was a very passionate collector from an early age!

Here's a link to an article that appeared in the July, 2011 edition of Small Arms Journal:

https://smallarmsreview.com/george-burling-jarrett-1901-1974-an-appreciation-part-i-amassing-a-world-class-collection/

Best,

Skip

 

[APEXgunparts]

Wow, that was an interesting read!
You can bet all that material is no longer stored in New Jersey!

Richard

[Frank I.]

I used to love going to the Aberdeen PG museum, lots of small arms and armor!

From what I can recall they moved all of the weapons and armor to Ft Lee, VA (?), and most of it was still in storage 

https://smallarmsreview.com/us-army-ordnance-museum-aberdeen-proving-ground/