Name the weapons

[Legbreaker]

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?

Attachment 933

Attachment 934

Attachment 935

[Matt W]

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]

Don't forget the 5 gallon molotov cocktail

I believe that's a Webly revolver

[Grimace]

Pretty sure you've got an MG-42 there, in addition to the others mentioned.

[Legbreaker]

I think the most telling detail about Australian soldiers is the pair of BBQ tongs hanging out of the pack.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Grimace

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]

A Bunch of guns.

[Legbreaker]

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]

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]

I can confirm the minigun is 7.62N...

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by sic1701

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]

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]

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]

The Minigun looks like it's in a cradle from a Cobra helicopter's chin turret.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Raellus

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.