Rifle Bag

[Sean Dunnage]

Looking for an I.D. on this bag. The pocket on the side is upside down in relation to the opening on the end.

Marked J & A.H. 1942 Measures 47" long.









Thanks
Sean

[rob love]

Looks like a typical Lee Enfield bag. Some had the pockets pointing up, some down, and some recent copies have them sideways.

Here is a link to a short thread on them at milsurps.com :http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=43565

[charlie fitton]

and some (ww1 I think) had no pocket.

[Jon Skagfeld]

I have 2 of these and often wondered just what was the purpose of the pocket?

It's too big to accommodate even 2 LE mags (apart from the fact that LEs were to be charger loaded only).

Would it have been for a cloth bandoleer of .303?

[sapper740]

Yes, these are rifle bags for Lee Enfield rifles. There were two lengths produced, 44 1/2" long for the No. 5 and 47" long for the No. 4. with the pocket designed to hold one 50 round bandoleer. These bags were used by troops who were rotated off the Front Line but were still close enough to be subjected to mortar or artillery fire, hence the need to keep dirt and moisture out of the actions. There were larger white canvas bags with slings used during periods of heavy snow. You can see pics and more detailed description of these rifle bags on p. 78 of David Gordon's revised and expanded Weapons of the WWII Tommy.

CHIMO!