Originally Posted by
Ballistics in Scotland
Alpaca, alpacca or alpaka probably originated as a trade name in Germany, and refers to the alloy known elsewhere as German silver. In 1993 I was looking around some of the old Iraqi beach emplacements in Kuwait City, where you could see the debris the Iraqis left behind. I was reflecting that as many of the Kuwaiti officers I knew had told me, plenty of Iraqis lived there in misery clutching a short straw in their hands. Then I found an enameled souvenir spoon from Cologne, stamped "alpaca", and realized that they had looted the Kuwaiti houses nearby. I also found quite a few civilian cartridge cases which had been unloaded, most likely to start fires. They included one .460 Weatherby, and I often wonder where that gun is now, and whether the Kuwaiti owner saw the elephant.