What color pouches would be most common

[2nd Bat]

As some of you know I am attempting to assemble a costume department for a reasonable sized German OPFOR to support local events. In that effort I need to buy some pouches for MP40s and MP44s as well as some Kar98 pouches. i see listings in a wide variety of colors ranging from tan, light green, olive drab, navy blue and black. i am assuming the tan isan africa corp deal and the navy blue is Fallsimjager. What would be most appropritae for Heer and SS innorthern europe?

cheap but passable is my goal (certainly not perfection). How cheaply sould I be ale to acquire such items and in the adds I look at they typically show a set of two but I am not 100% sure this is how they come. Also were they always worn in sets of two?

my plan thus far is to issue a player a weapon and three spare magazines. limiting ammo is a huge part of my game play strategy to encourage more realistic tactical action. the more I can differentiate my events from typical spray and pray airsoft the more I think I can attract the folks I want to attract.

[LϟϟAH1944]

for 98 pouches, go with black. Some late war used brown, butits not the norm.

For mp40, go with whatever(except blue, which is FJ and LW-FD)

For STG, go with Tan (I need a new pair, mine are copies of postwar jugo.)

[2nd Bat]

So tan, green or black for the MP40 and tan for the Mp44? Thanks. That gives me a lot more flexibity if I find a deal somewhere. Is issuing just one pouch completely wrong? my thinking was one tripple pouch and a bread bag as a dump pouch.

[LϟϟAH1944]

Black? Where did you find black pouches? Never seen those, 99.999% certain theyre FARB as hell. Go 2 pouches, its the norm. Soldiers rarely only had 1 pouch.

[ssgjoe]

I've seen green STG44 pouches. Those should be fine I believe.


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[2nd Bat]

there were some black fabrick ones on a retailer site. i thought that seemed wrong. thanks for the clarity. I was hoping from a financial perspective that one would be okay but sort of knew it wouldn't be . It appears from most of the offerings that they are sold in pairs except of course originals.

[LϟϟAH1944]

Yes, green is fine as well for STG

[LϟϟAH1944]

Actually, leathe rmp40 pouches DID indeed exist, just learned that right now. But still, theyre uncommon as hell. Learn something every day

[ssgjoe]

Oh yes. Leather MP40 pouches. I have seen them for sell, but never in original pictures. Extremely rare.


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[ssgjoe]

I have seen people wear only one kar98 pouch. It shouldn't be terrible to do that with MP40, but I haven't seen it too much. It will probably be inaccurate to have one pouch for every loaner kit, but this is airsoft, not a blank fire reenactment. You could have their bread bag hanging by their right butt cheek, as that's where they usually were, and I usually have my dump pouch there in modern airsoft.


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[2nd Bat]

Maybe do a mix of two pouch set ups and single pouch until I can afford to acquire enough for every set up having two. I know this was discussed elsewhere but the BAR 10 spare mags don't fit in the proper looking Kar 98 pouches. Also in the MP40 pouches in addition to the long mag pouches there appears to be a shorter pouch. What was this for?

[LϟϟAH1944]

Only time I've ever seen unmatching pouches is with G41 or K43, where the soldier was given 1 98k stripper clip pouch and 1 G43/G41 mag pouch. other than that, always 2 pouches.

[shiftsup]

The shorter pouch on the MP44 and MP40 pouches is for mag loading tools and cleaning brushes. IIRC the kurz ammo for the MP44 was packed in 5's on a stripper clip until very late war, the tool was a spooning looking piece of metal to push the ammo into the mag. AFAIK one MP44 pouch is more than ok given how late in the war the 3 cell MP44 pouches were manufactured. And one MP40 pouch is more for a non combat/assault NCO (occupation duty, motor transport, recce). Pioneers and Ski troops can also been seen with one MP40 pouch in period pics.

The leather MP40 pouch. It's just rare, not early war either. Just made by a few manufacturers apparently.

As far as pouch colour goes, by 1944 the supply train was off the rails for the krauts. Also, imagine resupplying a Kampfgruppe made up of Heer, SS, FJ and / or LW-FD so every branch got the correct colour.

Blue, green, tan MP40 pouches are fine for any part of the armed forces and tan and green for the MP44.

[2nd Bat]

Great info everyone. Very helpful. Now it's a case of finding the least expensive ones I can tolerate.

[LϟϟAH1944]

Remember, for pouches, don't just go with the cheapest you find! These involve metal and leather work, so really cheap can literally fall apart by rotting leather, etc.

[2nd Bat]

Good point of course and because they are loaner gear, durability is a real consideration but keep in mind unlike real gear used daily in the field these may be used at most perhaps three events a year. Are there some suppliers that I should absolutely stay away from?

[LϟϟAH1944]

any Chinese supplier other than hikishop

[LϟϟAH1944]

well, not any, but it can be a big hit and miss game

[ssgjoe]

I'll do some looking around for inexpensive mag pouches.


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[Nimlas]

ATF has some nice MP40 pouches as their deal of the day for stupid cheap.

www.atthefrontshop.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=450

[2nd Bat]

That is a good deal. NIMLAS. Nice to see you looking in on us from time to time! Thanks for the tip.

[ssgjoe]

www.ima-usa.com/german-wwii-98k-black-leather-triple-ammunition-pouch.html
And here we got a pair of kar98 pouches for really cheap too


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[LϟϟAH1944]

www.hessenantique.com/MP_38_u_40_Ammo_Pouches_p/s18268100.htm



www.hessenantique.com/MP_43_u_StG_44_Ammo_Pouches_p/s18268200.htm

And, for Bar10 Mags, : www.hessenantique.com/G_43_Canvas_Ammo_Pouch_p/hage068.htm

[insterburger]

Just a few quick observations:

For the most part 98k pouches were issued in brown up into 1940 and as late as '42, but were blacked up by the soldiers themselves. If you look on the back of many original examples you can see that the backs are still brown while the fronts are blacked. Factory black dyed were becoming the norm through 1940 and were the most typical by 1941. Since these pouches were being produced as early as 1933 and were very tough and long-lived pieces of gear, blacked-out brown pouches are every bit as common as factory black. But black would be you go-to color, absolutely, although if you got a great deal on brown ones you could do some period-correct blacking of everything but the back.

As for StG44 pouches, there were apparently plenty of magazines for the guns throughout the war, but for some reason there was a perennial shortage of mag pouches. I don't think you'd go too far wrong issuing single pouches for these, or for that matter having soldiers carry their spares tucked into a belt or stuffed in a bread bag.

[volkssturm]

I just looked at Gunparts corp (aka Numrich). They have some "mauser" ammo pouches, running from $3.55 to $14 depending on condition. Not sure if they're German, the pictures show light brown where they're not completely faded, but they might pass. The bottom price ones look really worn. Look up item numbers 527980, 527900, 527920.

[2nd Bat]

The Hessen offer looks fabulous if shipping is reasonable. Thanks LZZAH! I think I will go that route and while the plan will be to issue out a set for each player knowing I could ( if turnout requires it) give one pouch per player to folks armed with STG 44s may end up happenning. The Kar 98 pouches are rhe spendiest proposition but until a reasonably priced K98 offering comes along probably the rarest weapon in my German arsenal (unfortunately!)

[2nd Bat]

Numrich looks to be the solution I needed for my Kar 98 folks. Even though, obviously not totally correct they will satisfy my purposes. I am a fan of "worn" as frankly , I can dye to enhance the look. Once black and on a uniform at a distance they will look fine. At the low price of the worn ones I can get several sets pretty cheaply. They look a little bigger then the WW2 issue ones so a bonus MIGHT be that the Bar 10 mags will fit?

[ssgjoe]

What you could do is have them carry a speed loader instead of spare clips for the Kar98, and they have to reload a single magazine with that speed loader in an attempt to simulate the speed of loading an actual kar98. This is just what I'd do. And this'll be what I'll do if I get a redfire.


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[2nd Bat]

The speedloader is even longer and like the BAR 10 mags won't fit in the proper Kar 98 pouches. Not a huge deal of course but unfortunate. Though not correct I have ordered six sets of these leather pouches and I will dye them and attach them to my East German pouches. Wrong on top of wrong but suitable for my purposes. The key element here is easy distinguishabilty between sides.

[ssgjoe]

And the 10 ft rule will still apply. It's a great way to get these kids started.


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