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Legbreaker
03-09-2010, 07:07 PM
I had the pleasure of spending an hour or so in the Armour museum at Puckapunyal yesterday and what an amazing place that was! 88 vehicles ranging from WWI through the present day, with about 85% of them having served at some stage in the Australian Armoured Corp.
Also on display are a few small arms, uniforms, etc.

So, I thought, why not spread a bit of the joy I felt while wandering about this amazing place?

Below are three photos of the one display from different angles. Unfortunately I only had the camera on my phone available by that time (I'd run out of film snapping all the other good stuff) so they're a little grainy.

The question is, how many weapons shown can you identify? :D

933

934

935

Matt W
03-09-2010, 07:10 PM
Hmmm.... Well the PIAT and the Boys ATR are easy enough. And presumably that's one of the American gatling guns. But the Light Machine Guns are tricky....

weswood
03-09-2010, 07:12 PM
Don't forget the 5 gallon molotov cocktail :D

I believe that's a Webly revolver

Grimace
03-09-2010, 07:26 PM
Pretty sure you've got an MG-42 there, in addition to the others mentioned.

Legbreaker
03-09-2010, 07:30 PM
I think the most telling detail about Australian soldiers is the pair of BBQ tongs hanging out of the pack.

:p

Raellus
03-09-2010, 07:44 PM
Pretty sure you've got an MG-42 there, in addition to the others mentioned.

There's also an earlier MG-34 next to it, I think. I see a Bren to the right of center and a Webley or S&W revolver.

pmulcahy11b
03-09-2010, 08:15 PM
A Bunch of guns.:p

Legbreaker
03-09-2010, 08:19 PM
Just wait until I post a few of the vehicle pics! They're certainly drool worthy.
I'd never realised just how HUGE the old Vickers Medium is until I saw it yesterday. The damn thing dwarfs modern MBTs even though it had little more than tin plate armour and a pop gun for a weapon. The turret alone looked like it could fit half a dozen men and still have room for more.
They probably required all that space because of the woeful ergonomics of the early AFVs...

sic1701
03-09-2010, 08:28 PM
The Gatling looks much like an M134 Minigun, 7.62mm. It might be the Microgun, though, the 5.56mm version; can't tell.

One of those long machine guns looks suspiciously like what the Imperial Stormtroopers carried around in the first Star Wars movie...

Come to think of it (scratching head), the standard Stormtrooper piece looks a helluva lot like a Sterling L2A3.

Legbreaker
03-09-2010, 08:58 PM
I can confirm the minigun is 7.62N...

StainlessSteelCynic
03-09-2010, 09:11 PM
The Gatling looks much like an M134 Minigun, 7.62mm. It might be the Microgun, though, the 5.56mm version; can't tell.

One of those long machine guns looks suspiciously like what the Imperial Stormtroopers carried around in the first Star Wars movie...

Come to think of it (scratching head), the standard Stormtrooper piece looks a helluva lot like a Sterling L2A3.

That's because the special effects crew of Star Wars used the German MG34 machinegun as the basis for the rifle you're thinking of as well as using the Sterling for the carbine the Stormtroopers used.

So all up we have what looks like a PIAT, MG34 machinegun, MG42 machinegun, Mk1 Jerrycan, .55 Boys AT rifle, .303 Bren Gun, 7.62mm M134 Minigun and likely a .38 S&W revolver. But I did have some help from a friend who is a serious army-head

pmulcahy11b
03-09-2010, 09:21 PM
I think I see a Tommy Gun hanging near the ruck in the background of the second picture, and about a 100-kg bomb further back.

Legbreaker
03-09-2010, 10:23 PM
There's also a couple of Vickers MGs further back but you can't really see them in the pics. From memory there's a Sten and .303 SMLE, not to mention a couple of AK's on the other side of the rack holding the presumed Tommy Gun.

pmulcahy11b
03-09-2010, 10:39 PM
The Minigun looks like it's in a cradle from a Cobra helicopter's chin turret.

pmulcahy11b
03-09-2010, 10:42 PM
There's also a couple of Vickers MGs further back but you can't really see them in the pics. From memory there's a Sten and .303 SMLE, not to mention a couple of AK's on the other side of the rack holding the presumed Tommy Gun.

Looking closer, that Tommy Gun is in the display case behind the near one, and isn't a Tommy Gun -- it looks more like an early version of a G-3, with wood furniture. It's in a rack with a couple of weapons that also look like H&K designs (what, I'm not sure, but they have that shape).

Legbreaker
03-10-2010, 05:47 AM
It's most likely been pulled from a Huey. As far as I can recall, that's the only Australian aircraft that had them mounted.
I heard of an experiment in Vietnam though where one was fitted to an M113 - it was judged to be a failure, not because it didn't do the job, but because it did it too well. It was described as having ten machineguns all firing at the same target - waaaay too much overkill.

Grimace
03-13-2010, 07:17 PM
There's also an earlier MG-34 next to it, I think. I see a Bren to the right of center and a Webley or S&W revolver.

You're right on the MG-34. Actually an MG-34/41...last version of the MG-34 produced.