Variety of Iraq weapons astounds expert

Stars and Stripes ^ | October 31, 2003 | Jason Chudy

[demlosers]

CAMP THUNDER, Iraq — Sgt. Kurt Smith is spending his time in Iraq as a full-time medic and part-time historian.

Many of the weapons that his unit, the 4th Armored Division’s 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, have confiscated belong in museums rather than their arms room, he said.

There are two 1917 Webley revolvers, World War I-era British Enfield rifles, World War II-era German Mauser rifles, Russian PPKs and British submachine guns.

“I’m a weapons enthusiast,” said Smith. “My dad was a weapons collector and he passed on some weapons to me and my brother.”

For the past few months, Smith has become a expert of sorts on the unit’s collection. Those he doesn’t know about he checks in two reference books: one issued to units explaining what weapons to expect in Iraq and another on World War II weapons.

Some of the weapons are too old for either book.

“There’s stuff that I’ve only seen in museums, in books or on the Internet,” said Sgt. 1st Class Nelson Castro, the 3-16th’s master gunner. “Most of this stuff is in fairly good shape.”

“I was surprised to see the [British] Sterling submachine gun,” Smith said, “plus, similar to the Sterling, the Sten. They were World War II weapons and ... are different than the AKs and other automatic weapons.”

There have been, of course, hundreds of AK-47s collected, a handful of Dragonov sniper rifles, a half-dozen or so rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and even a box of Beretta pistols, which were recently cleaned and oiled.

Many of the modern confiscated weapons, such as the AK-47s, have been issued to Iraqi security or police units.

The older ones, however, will remain in the unit’s arms room for the foreseeable future.

“I hope that they’re not going to be discarded,” Smith said.

Many of the older weapons, though seemingly in good shape, won’t be test fired because of safety concerns.

“Maybe they’ll go into a museum,” he said.

[demlosers]

Jason Chudy / Stars and Stripes

Sgt. Kurt Smith holds up a 1917 Webley Pistol and World War II Russian PPK submachine gun. All the weapons in the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery, arms room were confiscated during raids.

[AngryJawa]

Some guys get all the fun jobs...

[556x45]

Hmmm...looks like a PPSh.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

At last...somewhere to go for that Colt Woodsman.

[templar]

A weapon never becomes obsolete as long as someone is willing to use it.

[Tatze]

They should let this guy keep some of them.

[grobdriver]

A weapon never becomes obsolete as long as someone is willing to use it.

Exactly. If they can find ammunition for it, it's just as deadly as an AKM.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

So what is unusal about these guns. They are all modern so far as the ATF is concerned, none are scarce out in the world.


The ones I want to know about sre the 293,816 Model 95 Winchesters in 7.62 x 54 caliber sold to Russia in WWl. Now there are some collector pieces. If they are sitting well greased in a warehouse somewhere in Russia, they are worth many, many, millions of dollars.

I would pay a thousand bucks for one in good shape in a heart beat, and they are likely worth much more than that. If they don't dump them all at once and flood the market.

[struwwelpeter]

Hmmm...looks like a PPSh.

You are correct, that's a Shpagin sub-machinegun. 7.62 X 25, good luck finding ammo. PPK as far as I know is by Walther, Russian pistols should be PM or TT.

If they got the nomenclature from the GI, sounds like he wasn't quite the expert he thought he was.

[taxcontrol]

Dibs on the Webley.

[The KG9 Kid]

Looks like Iraq has the same gun laws as California.

... No bayonets on the SKS rifles.

[Levante]

"If they got the nomenclature from the GI, sounds like he wasn't quite the expert he thought he was."

He didn't say he was an expert. He said he was an "enthusiast." Big difference.

The Stars and Stripes article headline named him an "expert."

[FreePaul]

They were World War II weapons and ... are different than the AKs and other automatic weapons.”

A statement like that certainly shows that he is a gun expert.

[PoorMuttly]

I hope he realizes that Santa carries a Webley.

As a Firearms Expert, I assume that he does.

Muttly WANT....EVERYTHING !

[MD_Willington_1976]

Just behind his right elbow I also see 2 Yugoslavian SKS's *note grenade launcher on muzzle*,1 SKS variant, 1 Rashid or Albanian SKS & 1 SKS variant. Over his left shoulder is what looks like a long barreled FAL.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Most of those rifles are on the C&R (Curio & Relic) list.

[MD_Willington_1976]

www.ammoman.com

$119-500 rounds

[MD_Willington_1976]

The AK fires the 7.62x39 M43 round.

The SKS was rechambered for the same round during 1943, in 1944 prototype models of the new SKS were shipped to the Byelorussian front for use against the Germans.

After rave reviews of the new Simonov design by soldiers, Simonov's newest carbine is approved and dubbed the "SKS45".

Is not true then that the SKS was a WW2 weapon? The AK 47 was designed during WW2, but did not go into full scale production until after WW2...

[struwwelpeter]

Thanks! I'm going to get some ammo for my CZ from them!

[MD_Willington_1976]

The SKS was originally chambered for 7.62x25 before the intermediate M43 round was designed, the M43 was designed after the Russians 7.62x54, the same round that the Mosin-Nagants, SVT-38, SVT-40, AVT-40, SVT-40 Carbine, & During the vietnam war the SVD (Dragunov) used.

The 7.62x25 has some zip to it and can penetrate body armor even without steel core ammo.