Author Topic: Balkans War rig and mags  (Read 3837 times)

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Offline gregsthe1

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Balkans War rig and mags
« on: December 21, 2016, 03:46:32 PM »
I think this rig was used in a Balkans conflict but am not really sure. The mags however are for sure Balkans vets.

On the left is a rusty Croatian made "double rib" magazine variant with green painted "25". Middle is a Chinese "all-stamp" variant that has a couple bumblebee stickers and a sweet homemade floorplate. The mag on the right is a crudely made Albanian copy of a Chinese "ribbed transitional" variant. It has poor quality spot welds and no witness hole. You can see where the two halves come together on the spine looks very crude. Writing on the rig was done by someone who was only slightly literate. I have been told that it is a hodge-podge of names.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!










Offline running-man

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Re: Balkans War rig and mags
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2016, 06:17:54 PM »
Very cool!  Where'd you get this set, from a retailer or did you buy these pieces from another collector?   

Neat to see this stuff, it's too bad that things which were once so commonplace in the golden age of milsurp imports as to barely draw notice have dried up to the point of being reasonably hard to find.   thumb1
      

Offline gregsthe1

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Re: Balkans War rig and mags
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2016, 08:42:16 PM »
The 3 mags were purchased from fellow collectors. The double rib and all-stamp from one collector and the Alby ribbed transitional from another.

And the rig I found on eBay, seller didn't know anything about it but I could tell it wasn't the run of the mill chest rig.

They all go great together and I'm proud to have them. Not much of my mag collection left, these are a few that remain...

Offline Phosphorus32

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Re: Balkans War rig and mags
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2016, 10:01:02 AM »
With the Arabic lettering on the chest rig, I would think it's more likely that it came out of the Middle East.  I suppose it could be someone that came in from a Middle Eastern country to support the Bosnian Muslims and wrote some Arabic on his rig, but that would be a difficult provenance to verify.  Regardless, that is very cool stuff!  thumb1

Offline firstchoice

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Re: Balkans War rig and mags
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2016, 04:56:48 AM »
Hey Greg,

I have several of what you are referring to as Croatian "double rib" mags. I've posted them on other web sites, such as ak-files.com, and I get comments that they're actually Bosnian mags. Do you have any insight, reference, whatever, that they are Croatian? I'd like to know for sure what I own.







Number and Letter stamped into the lower back of the Croatian Magazine. 3 of the 4 magazines were stamped. The 4th had no stamps.







Thanks for any help on these.

firstchoice