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Great information, archy. Those boys "invented" khaki too, I heard...because all their clothing was washed out, and blended in with the countryside. Any truth here...?

They found the well-scrubbed and bright British uniforms a great help in target identification and acquisition and the Brits were smart enough to copy a good idea after they learned the lesson the hard way.

But it was not just in suid-afrika that the Brits learned that lesson, but also in the Afghanistani and other South-West African campaigns of Queen Victoria and Kipling's day. The word *khaki* is said to be derived from the Pushtu word *khaq* for dust, and the Brits had no shortage of tea with which to dye white tropical uniforms and white mess dress to a nicely camoflagued sandy-tan shade.

Leftenant Winston Churchill with C96 Mauser pistol, 21st Lancers, Omdurman, Sudan, 1898

-archy-/-

What significant contributions you make to the Muttly Archive, archy. I am very grateful to you.

BTW...I knew a Jewish fellow who was a kid in the Resistance, and when I showed him my P35 I was carrying...(and he reminded me that the willingness to use it is the most important thing...) he told me a couple of interesting stories.

First...he needed a useable rifle...but they gave him some "long, WWI rifle" which was MUCH taller than he was...so he sawed it down, and his superior thought he had ruined it...until he shot it at a 2x4, and the bullet, evidently being unstable, sawed it in half !

Second...relating to the painting...he said he was too small and weak to rack the slide on a High Power, but snapping a stripper clip into his Broomhandle Mauser was very comforting, in the middle of the night.

Muttly like stripper clips, and has a shoebox full of them for his 8x57 98K's.

Oh yes, I've been meaning to ask you...what is your opinion of the .30 Luger...and getting a barrel/slide for one of my "always with me" HP's, for general ranch chores, small game...perhaps coyote terminating at longer range than my 124's may reach with authority. I had read it penetrated really, really well, shot flat..but was a miserable manstopper. Your thoughts ?