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A Baby Navy Mag Pouch?

4K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  prairiedogpat 
#1 ·
#4 ·
I have seen a few of these pouches and currently own one. As Joël has pointed out, the holster is '06 Portuguese Navy and the mag pouch that I have came with that type of holster. At least two of the other mag pouches of that type I have known also came with Portuguese Navy holsters. I have corresponded with a couple of folks about this pouch and am still at a loss to identify what magazines will fit. It is almost the identical size for a Borchardt magazine except it is fractionally too narrow in width. Could be leather shrinkage, but I don't think so, and the leather is too old to attempt to stretch it.
Ron
 

Attachments

#7 ·
The attachment sleeve on this pouch is almost stitch for stitch identical to that found on Imperial Navy Type 1 pouches (one less stitch of offset), which means it was designed to be carried on a shoulder strap. I would think that would mean that it's almost certainly military and not commercial.
Norm
 
#11 ·
I think it's possible whoever imported the holsters married them to some pouches he imported. I've seen a number of these since they appeared a couple of years ago, most with the short pouches, some without a pouch, and at least one that had a lovely German navy pouch.
 
#12 ·
This is my guess; All the examples shown appear to be old but show very little use. At some point, after the war, someone decided to make magazine pouches. They used a leather pattern, which had shrank with age. to make these..
Pat
 
#15 ·
They are way too small for leather shrinkage to be the reason. Either someone married them to mags for a smaller pistol, or the holster itself isn't a Luger holster.
 
#16 ·
Well, it may look like a Luger holster, but a P.08 isn't even close to actually fitting into mine.

(If you are concerned that a Navy collector has a P.08, don't worry. It's actually one of the rare Navy Contract P.08s from 1913)
 
#17 ·
You might be right, Mike. I just don't believe with the situation in Germany, after the war, they would have wasted time, material and effort making magazine pouches for a pistol that had such a limited production run that no one seems to know what it was. Even with a limited run, there should be a few examples.
Pat
 
#29 ·
Sorry to be obtuse in my comment above. When received, it was obviously not for Borchardt magazines. "Baby Luger?" is a suggested possibility that I thought given the simi-circular cuts for the Luger mag bottom ears. But with this thread I now learn there are multiple examples in collections. I am not aware of multiple examples of Baby Lugers.

I detected "No shrinkage." in my analysis. The latching stud is not ball shaped but flattened or elliptical in shape. And it appears still in proportion to the latching strap indicating no shrinkage to me.
 
#21 ·
Jerry,

When I say shrinkage, I'm talking a bout the pattern that was used to blank the individual pieces of the pouch., before it is sown together. These patterns would probably have been stored somewhere. Maybe they got wet or were subjected heat from a fire. If these patterns were made of leather and shrank, then all of the blanks would be smaller.
Some times I feel like I'm talking to a bounce of scholars about light bulbs, here.:rolleyes:
Pat
 
#22 ·
Pat, i was referencing roy 66 in post #19. I understood what YOU were saying but it's highly unlikely the patterns shrank. I believe the German Sattlers of the period might have used wooden patterns. The patterning they employed used what might have been nail points on the pattern to indicate where loops, straps and other important placements were for sewing. You will see this on many or most holsters. They look like sewing holes in odd places but they don't completely penetrate the leather. They are in fact indicators. I cannot prove this but if I were in charge of exactly patterning hundreds if not thousands of pieces to build holster a wooden pattern would be my choice.
The other method would be a pattern cutter on a press. This method would not likely be employed except in a very large concern and we know many holster makers were somewhat on the small shop side.
I use some paper patterns here but my output for building whole holsters doesn't warrant anything else.
 
#24 ·
Pat,
My grandfather used to make shoes for his family, particularly the kids. He had several sizes of wooden shoe forms he called laths. I found several of them in a old wooden chest in his grainery on the farm, along with a hundred or so short square oak pegs he used to fasten the soles to the shoes and some tools. The laths were eaten up by termites but I rescued one that was reasonably intact and I have his cobblers hammer and awl.
Ron
 
#25 ·
I think you boys might be thinking of "lasts" Laths were used before sheetrock became available as in plaster & lath walls?

Google says..A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts typically come in pairs and have been made from various materials, including hardwoods, cast iron, and high-density plastics.
 
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