Yes, it is likely the vinyl. They should be in any day now, I'll show a photo of what shows up. Once I see it I'll decide if I am going to re-make one out of canvas, or live with the vinyl. Vinyl didn't really come into play on the military vehicles until the mid 70s, so it's a little bit out of the time period I am trying to capture with this gun.
While the red/white aiming posts add some nice contrast on the trails, they are supposed to be in their case. I can't imagine that they would last long stowed there in a cross country driving situation. The artillery guys I have talked to say they didn't use any of the trail stowage for the cleaning rods, the trail spike, or the aiming posts as none of them were that secure. Also, the two piece wooden cleaning staves have now been replaced with 3 piece aluminum rods which would not fit into the brackets.
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