Got the aftermarket entrenching tool today.
The handle is WAY too short to play the role.
I briefly resumed my hunt for an M1951 combination entrenching tool when I stumbled across a tidbit I'd missed.
The reason that the M1951 is so darn scarce today is it was only ordered and manufactured on a limited as-needed basis between 1951 and 1953 as the supplies of the M1943 were expended.
If you hit ebay looking for M1943 entrenching tools you're going to find many many MANY with a 1945 date stamp made by the Ames Company, and they made 11 million of the darn things!
So, for Vietnam, you would most likely be issued an M1943 because most of them were still around, and still are today it would appear.
The M1943 entrenching tool soldiered on until 1969! At that point ALL wooden handled entrenching tools were replaced by the now-familiar (1968 developed) tri-fold that is still issued today.
The handle is WAY too short to play the role.
I briefly resumed my hunt for an M1951 combination entrenching tool when I stumbled across a tidbit I'd missed.
The reason that the M1951 is so darn scarce today is it was only ordered and manufactured on a limited as-needed basis between 1951 and 1953 as the supplies of the M1943 were expended.
If you hit ebay looking for M1943 entrenching tools you're going to find many many MANY with a 1945 date stamp made by the Ames Company, and they made 11 million of the darn things!
So, for Vietnam, you would most likely be issued an M1943 because most of them were still around, and still are today it would appear.
The M1943 entrenching tool soldiered on until 1969! At that point ALL wooden handled entrenching tools were replaced by the now-familiar (1968 developed) tri-fold that is still issued today.