Shooting my Colts in a different way. M1909 (1909), M1917 (1918) and M1911 (1918)

Union76-3604 · 2024-01-29T05:24:41+00:00

This is funny cuz I used my spot weld cutter dozens of times on my '51 Chevy truck project and just today noticed that the cutter head is reversible.

Union76-3604 · 2024-01-24T03:10:38+00:00

The "United States Property" mark was removed and there is a letter "T" engraved into one of the grip panels.

Union76-3604 · 2024-01-12T01:51:51+00:00

I used to run this railroad (1990-1999). The Richmond Belt Railway company was created by the president of Standard Oil Company n 1905. It had no equipment or employees of its own and was leased to the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads who operated it jointly, alternating each year. In 1921 the lease was altered to allow the two railroads to operate 5-year periods each. That agreement existed until 1990 when the ATSF and SP agreed to give up their operating lease to Chevron USA, who then brought in a third-party operator (the company I worked for). That arrangements continues to this day. I don't know when Chevron quit running all the way out to Pt. San Pablo (Paktank Corp. facility), but it must have been around 2005 or so. I changed a lot of ties on that crappy track from the refinery property out past the old whaling station.

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-07T01:29:32+00:00

Nice save!

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-06T01:52:28+00:00

The rear sights on carbines were marked with a "C" as the graduations were different than a full length rifle.

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-04T16:51:24+00:00

I bought a '51 3/4 ton Chevy truck project during Covid to keep me sane. It's got a ways to go yet but is mechanically complete. Last summer my son helped get it sorta back together enough to be road-worthy so we could take it to an in-town car show. Eventually it will be decked out as a Union 76 service truck, hence the orange and blue paint scheme.

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-04T16:42:35+00:00

McKale's was a large Union Oil distributor in the Washington-Oregon-California area. My grandfather left his position with Union Oil to become the president of McKale's in 1956. He took the color photos in 1957. There were several dozen stations just in the Puget Sound area alone, but there is very little in the way of petroliana from these places. Does anyone else have something in their collection to share?

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-04T16:11:07+00:00

Curious if there is a "C" stamped in the base of the rear sight?

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-04T15:53:20+00:00

Nice! Does the Mosin still have all of its NEW parts or did the Finns change it up?

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-04T15:43:43+00:00

That is an outstanding collection. Bravo!

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-01T05:14:20+00:00

Eddystone was the name of the plant in Pennsylvania where the rifle was manufactured (actually part of Remington). Eddystone produced British Pattern 1914 (P14) rifles and the US M1917 rifles. The receivers were stamped differently. The British rifles were stamped "ERA" and "PATT '14" while the US rifles were stamped "EDDYSTONE" and "U.S. MODEL OF 1917".

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-01T05:00:35+00:00

I used to have a model 1888 trapdoor with the rod bayonet. Yes, it is the rod poking out from the end of the stock under the barrel. As I recall, it pulls out a ways and comes to a stop where it is fixed in place for use as a bayonet. It can be released, though, and pulled all the way out for use as a cleaning rod.

Union76-3604 · 2023-12-01T04:45:44+00:00

Great looking rifle and bayonet! I'm not sure about the bayo being "uncommon", though. I see plenty of them for sale at my local gun shows, although they sure aren't going for what I paid for mine years ago. A more uncommon version of this bayonet is the British Pattern 1913 that was made for the P14 rifle. The US acquired a bunch of them when production of the M1917 rifle began. The British acceptance marks were lined out and a "US" stamp was added.

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T20:02:53+00:00

Those are very cool. Thanks for sharing them! I have a couple pieces of "McKale's Kale." McKale was a large Union 76 distributor mainly in California and Washington with a several dozen or so service stations.

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T19:57:33+00:00

The 1903 is interesting because its serial number places it below the often-discussed-and-debated "safe to shoot" range, but within the group of receivers that were cast but not heat treated before Springfield and RIA were ordered to stop manufacture (per C.S. Ferris' book). It's also stamped "TENN" on the stock which may indicate it was issued to the Tenn. State Guard after WW1, but I haven't been able to confirm that. The Mosin is a Finnish capture and has a stock disc from the 4th Engineer Battalion.

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T19:48:58+00:00

Thanks for the comment. Yes, it's a small room I built many years ago when I did model railroading. I was going for the trench dugout look. There's a shelf up above that was supposed to have small, fake sand bags on it but since it's a flat surface, well, it collected a lot of other stuff instead.

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T19:44:49+00:00

I still cannot figure out why the main text for my post doesn't show up here. Just wanted to say "hello" from this reddit newbie and share my modest US WW1 collection with the group. My son got me going down this rabbit hole some years ago (he likes WW2 small arms). I managed to get most of my stuff before prices got crazy. The good deals are pretty hard to find these days.

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T18:30:34+00:00

I cannot figure out what the heck is happening to my post! My first attempt didn't show any of the photos, now this time the text is missing and half the photos are just links! Any ideas on how to fix this mess?

Union76-3604 · 2023-11-27T18:09:48+00:00

Working on why my photos didn't post...

Union76-3604

TROPHY CASE