What happened to all the WW2 Mosin-Nagant ammo pouches??

[Tula44]

There seems to be an endless supply of surplus Mosin-Nagant pouches from the 1950s-1960s. How come we don't see a surplus of the ones used in WW2? When you visit an antique store, gun shop, gun show, etc there is a good chance you'll run across a post war Mosin pouch, but I have set to see a WW2 one. The photo that is attached is my little collection of them I've accumulated over time. I enjoy these pouches and due to the market being flooded with them the price was always low and they were easy to come by.

[Darryl]

I don't really know but, my guess would be that when all the Mosins were brought back in to the arsenals and refurbished, the pouches were either destroyed, or they never came back in and were destroyed at the end of WWII.

When the rifles were refurbished, a "new" pouch went with them.
This is why you see very few original WWII pouches.
But that is just a guess.

Darryl

[Tula44]

I don't really know but, my guess would be that when all the Mosins were brought back in to the arsenals and refurbished, the pouches were either destroyed, or they never came back in and were destroyed at the end of WWII.

When the rifles were refurbished, a "new" pouch went with them.
This is why you see very few original WWII pouches.
But that is just a guess.

Darryl

That's a good guess. Easier to produce a new pouch than to restore a war torn ammo pouch.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The pouches were cheap and got beat up during use, then likely went home with the returning Red Army soldiers.

[SA1911a1]

Were the WWII pouches leather or the synthetic material?

[ffuries]

Hell 4 months in desert and my gear was nasty, some of it didn't even make it back to the states, and I spent 99% of my time inside the wire.

Couldn't imagine how nasty leather/canvas equipment items would have been after several years of combat. Besides heading home the less equipment weight you have the more loot you can carry.......

[Tula44]

Hell 4 months in desert and my gear was nasty, some of it didn't even make it back to the states, and I spent 99% of my time inside the wire.

Couldn't imagine how nasty leather/canvas equipment items would have been after several years of combat. Besides heading home the less equipment weight you have the more loot you can carry.......

After years of fighting on the Eastern Front and through Europe I can't imagine a canvas pouch lasting very long. The Soviets probably didn't have enough material to produce and equip every soldier with a sufficient supply of ammo pouches. We know they didn't have enough rifles.

[Junk Yard Dog]

They would use leftover couch fabric for the cleaning pouches, the ammo pouches weren't that much more advanced. I have a big sack of them someplace, the ones that came with the refurbs. One dealer kept tossing handfuls of extra cleaning kits and pouches in with every rifle I bought. I remember buying 100 cleaning kits all sealed up in plastic for very little a decade ago, no idea what I did with that lot, probably in the barn someplace.

[ffuries]

Hell 4 months in desert and my gear was nasty, some of it didn't even make it back to the states, and I spent 99% of my time inside the wire.

Couldn't imagine how nasty leather/canvas equipment items would have been after several years of combat. Besides heading home the less equipment weight you have the more loot you can carry.......

After years of fighting on the Eastern Front and through Europe I can't imagine a canvas pouch lasting very long. The Soviets probably didn't have enough material to produce and equip every soldier with a sufficient supply of ammo pouches. We know they didn't have enough rifles.

Well if you ever find the damn things, send a few this way!

[SA1911a1]

There are some for sale on ebay, from Europe, in the $25.00 range plus expensive shipping. Here is a good article on Soviet ammo pouches:

https://sovietarmorer.wordpress.com/201 ... evolution/

[SA1911a1]

double post

[Darryl]

Un issued (new) ammo pouches on ebay. this guy sells them all the time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Soviet-Mosin-N ... SwM4tgBwLM

Darryl

[Tula44]

There are some for sale on ebay, from Europe, in the $25.00 range plus expensive shipping. Here is a good article on Soviet ammo pouches:

https://sovietarmorer.wordpress.com/201 ... evolution/

Cool, thank you!

[steelbuttplate]

Those WW II pouches spent 5 years out in the weather [leather] in hot sun and in - 35 degree winters. Leather don't hold up in conditions like that, it cracks and tears.

[tailgunner67]

Believe it or not but I just found a WW2 pouch in a collection I bought recently.

[tomaustin]

every other soldier got a rifle and limited ammo........the alternates got all ammo...man goes down, now you have a rifle.....

would cut into the numbers of pouches in service......and I would expect that the empties were dropped as used...........

[steelbuttplate]

Believe it or not but I just found a WW2 pouch in a collection I bought recently.

Is that Russian or Finnish?