Want to play the What'sit Game?

[Ithaca Gunner]

Looks an early USMC expert badge with Springfield rifles.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Close...I wish the photo was just a bit sharper.

[Artful]

Looks like it was cast with a right and left bolt gun design?

[rancher1913]

Ready for an easy one?
Attachment 179376Attachment 179377

finally one I know, its a roll crimper for shotgun shells.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

You are correct, rancher1913. And it does a good job!
Attachment 179397

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Answer to Post #100, marksmanship badge:

Again, sorry about the poor quality of the photo. The rifles are Krag rifles. If you were viewing the actual article you could easily see the magazine loading gate on the rifle on the left, and the side plate on the rifle on the right. I thought that perhaps someone might still pick it up from the way the muzzles look.


There's a short story with this item. My interest in it evolved from watching the movie "Rough Riders." I noticed that some of the Spanish-American War era soldiers were wearing marksmanship badges that looked very much like those currently worn by the USMC. Before crying "foul!" I researched it a bit and found that until 1921 the US Army and USMC issued the same marksmanship badges, at which time the Army went to the current pattern and the USMC continued on with a just slightly revised version of the original. Like Ithaca Gunner pointed out, the older USMC version has the 1903 Springfield rifle, so this one is older than older, and may well be an Army issue; but could also be USMC since they issued the same badge, and this one only says "sterling" on the back. The only difference I can tell between the ones bearing the M1903 and this one, other than the older one having the Krag, is ends of the bar are a bit fancier on the older version. This one was another e-bay purchase won only after a long and bitter bidding session! But, a true bit of history I would think.