Smle

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Tim Lovelock

I was at the Imperial War Museum in London recently, unfortunately I didn't get to ask a curator this question about their exhibit.

You were probaly right to take their caption with a grain of salt, although in this case they were in fact correct.

There is a large museum in Qld that I won't name (to save them embarassment) that you need to take their exhibit captions with a 25lb bag of salt.

Some howlers include a .310 Martini Cadet with clearly displayed manufacturing date of 1911 on it, with an interpretive panel next to it explaining that these rifles were taken to the Boer War by Australians because the .310 cartridge had better range than the .303 used by the British. And then there is the 1911A1 Colt pistol they have in "38mm Calibre". When I asked a museum volunteer to elaborate on these (and several others!!) interesting points, I was told that there are many interesting facts in military history that are not widely known by the public, and that is why museums such as this one were important. Would I care to leave a donation in the cash box by the door to enable them to continue their important work? My reply: "Would I????"