you just never know what you'll find....

> Hey All,
>
> Had to share this. Some of you know my DH collects firearms.
> Specifically, "curio and relic" type. (that's either antique, or military
> surplus beyond a certain age. Most of his collection is WWII era or
> older.) So there is a HUGE gun show in Tulsa twice a year. This past
> weekend was a show. We all went. It's always an interesting time. And
> you just never know what you will see.
>
> Including the table that had, among several different rifles, two, count 'em
> two Singer Featherweights. Beautiful little babies they were. One must
> have done some traveling with its original owner as she had scratched her
> name on the front of it below the machine bed. Neither of them came home
> with me though. I didn't want to schlep them through the rest of the
> place, and the seller was extremely proud of them. *ahem*
>
> Then there was the guy trying to tell me where cashmere comes from. lol He
> had a table full of scarves marked 100% cashmere. (some of them had a very
> rough hand, so I'm not too sure about that "100%", but whatever.) It was
> pretty amusing.
>
> Just had to share that with y'all. Knew you would get as good a chuckle as
> I did.
>
> Sharon
>
> PS.
>
> The REALLY fun part was watching the crowds part and make way while I was
> carrying one of the rifles DH bought this weekend. Guess the sight of a
> teeny tiny woman carrying a rifle almost as tall as her, with ease, was
> intimidating or something. lol

>
> Including the table that had, among several different rifles, two, count 'em
> two Singer Featherweights. Beautiful little babies they were. One must
> have done some traveling with its original owner as she had scratched her
> name on the front of it below the machine bed. Neither of them came home
> with me though. I didn't want to schlep them through the rest of the
> place, and the seller was extremely proud of them. *ahem*
>

> mamahays@cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Including the table that had, among several different rifles, two, count
>> 'em
>> two Singer Featherweights. Beautiful little babies they were. One must
>> have done some traveling with its original owner as she had scratched her
>> name on the front of it below the machine bed. Neither of them came home
>> with me though. I didn't want to schlep them through the rest of the
>> place, and the seller was extremely proud of them. *ahem*
>>
>
> Not entirely strange:
>
>> U.S., model 1911-Al, semiautomatic, pistol, cal. .45, manufactured by the
>> Singer Manufacturing Company in 1942, S/N range from S800001 to S800500.
>
> http://www.shelfspace.com/~c-r-ffl/sec2-s-w.html
>
>> Inevitably, exports fell again during the Second World War, and the
>> factory was involved once more in the production of munitions such as
>> fuses, landmines, bullets and rifle components. German bombers targeted
>> Singer during the Clydebank Blitz in March 1941 and many buildings were
>> destroyed by fire or bomb blasts, the firm's timber yard was set ablaze
>> and hundreds of workers lost their homes. 390,000 square feet of floor
>> space was destroyed in the raids, but damaged buildings were quickly
>> patched up and production returned to pre-Blitz levels in less than six
>> weeks.
>
> http://www.theclydebankstory.com/story_TCSC01.php
>
>> Having lost so much of its military hardware at Dunkirk, the British
>> government set the Royal Ordinance Factories to churning out Lee-Enfield
>> No. 4 Mk. I rifles as fast as they could. At the same time, they looked
>> to private firms to manufacture bayonets. The No. 4 bayonet was a homely
>> socket bayonet with a short spike for a blade. The first firm to produce
>> No. 4 bayonets was the Singer Manufacturing Company. Singer was world
>> famous for their immensely popular line of sewing machines. Singer was an
>> American company, founded in 1851. Singer opened an assembly shop in
>> Glasgow, Scotland in 1867 and built a massive factory in Clydebank in the
>> early 1880s. Only 75,000 No. 4 Mk. I bayonets were ever produced, with
>> their distinctive cruciform blade. All were made by Singer. Despite being
>> targeted by the Luftwaffe during the blitz, Singer went on to produce
>> another 1,171,782 No. 4 Mk. II bayonets at Clydebank before the war
>> ended.
>
> http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/bayonets3/index.asp

> Pogonip wrote:
>
>> mamahays@cox.net wrote:
>>> Including the table that had, among several different rifles, two, count
>>> 'em
>>> two Singer Featherweights. Beautiful little babies they were. One must
>>> have done some traveling with its original owner as she had scratched her
>>> name on the front of it below the machine bed. Neither of them came home
>>> with me though. I didn't want to schlep them through the rest of the
>>> place, and the seller was extremely proud of them. *ahem*
>> Not entirely strange:
>>> U.S., model 1911-Al, semiautomatic, pistol, cal. .45, manufactured by the
>>> Singer Manufacturing Company in 1942, S/N range from S800001 to S800500.
>> http://www.shelfspace.com/~c-r-ffl/sec2-s-w.html
>>> Inevitably, exports fell again during the Second World War, and the
>>> factory was involved once more in the production of munitions such as
>>> fuses, landmines, bullets and rifle components. German bombers targeted
>>> Singer during the Clydebank Blitz in March 1941 and many buildings were
>>> destroyed by fire or bomb blasts, the firm's timber yard was set ablaze
>>> and hundreds of workers lost their homes. 390,000 square feet of floor
>>> space was destroyed in the raids, but damaged buildings were quickly
>>> patched up and production returned to pre-Blitz levels in less than six
>>> weeks.
>> http://www.theclydebankstory.com/story_TCSC01.php
>>> Having lost so much of its military hardware at Dunkirk, the British
>>> government set the Royal Ordinance Factories to churning out Lee-Enfield
>>> No. 4 Mk. I rifles as fast as they could. At the same time, they looked
>>> to private firms to manufacture bayonets. The No. 4 bayonet was a homely
>>> socket bayonet with a short spike for a blade. The first firm to produce
>>> No. 4 bayonets was the Singer Manufacturing Company. Singer was world
>>> famous for their immensely popular line of sewing machines. Singer was an
>>> American company, founded in 1851. Singer opened an assembly shop in
>>> Glasgow, Scotland in 1867 and built a massive factory in Clydebank in the
>>> early 1880s. Only 75,000 No. 4 Mk. I bayonets were ever produced, with
>>> their distinctive cruciform blade. All were made by Singer. Despite being
>>> targeted by the Luftwaffe during the blitz, Singer went on to produce
>>> another 1,171,782 No. 4 Mk. II bayonets at Clydebank before the war
>>> ended.
>> http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/bayonets3/index.asp
> Husqvarna also made firearms during the WW's. My FIL found one at the show
> and was trying to sound out the name. lol I told him "just read it Viking
> like my sewing machine." heh heh Not entirely an accurate thing to do,
> but it worked. Got a good chuckle out of DH too. ;)
>
> Sharon