Weapon Fat

[Beap52 809]

I have had this pouch of items for several years.  Today I opened it up and tried to figure out what it is.  After internet search, I have  decided it was for greasing and maintaining guns.  The two little canisters have three languages on them and I believe German is one, the second I cannot identify (graisse pour  urmes) and Italian being the third. 

 

German:

waffenfatt

diese mischung diens sowohl ais schmiermittel fur die bewegilchen waifenteile wie auch ais schmiemittel gegen ros schutzmit uberhaupt zur instand haulting dersamtlichen eisen und stahiteile welche damit bloss feicht anzufetten sind am besten mittelst eines flaneti lappens

 

 

The directions translated into English:  (thanks to Google translate)

weapon fat

this mixture serves both as a lubricant for the moving parts of the gun and as a lubricant against corrosion with general maintenance of all iron and steel parts which are only lightly greased, best using a flannel rag.

 

I don't know when this "weapon fat" kit was made or used.   This kit's pouch was designed to be worn in a belt.  It contains the small rope with brass ends and an abrasive metal in the center.  There seems to be an abrasive pistol type object and a small mirror.

 

You all are the most knowledgeable of all so what you think?

[Rick3478 428]

2 hours ago, Beap52 said:

I have had this pouch of items for several years.  Today I opened it up and tried to figure out what it is.  After internet search, I have  decided it was for greasing and maintaining guns.  The two little canisters have three languages on them and I believe German is one, the second I cannot identify (graisse pour  urmes) and Italian being the third. 

 

German:

waffenfatt

diese mischung diens sowohl ais schmiermittel fur die bewegilchen waifenteile wie auch ais schmiemittel gegen ros schutzmit uberhaupt zur instand haulting dersamtlichen eisen und stahiteile welche damit bloss feicht anzufetten sind am besten mittelst eines flaneti lappens

 

 

The directions translated into English:  (thanks to Google translate)

weapon fat

this mixture serves both as a lubricant for the moving parts of the gun and as a lubricant against corrosion with general maintenance of all iron and steel parts which are only lightly greased, best using a flannel rag.

 

I don't know when this "weapon fat" kit was made or used.   This kit's pouch was designed to be worn in a belt.  It contains the small rope with brass ends and an abrasive metal in the center.  There seems to be an abrasive pistol type object and a small mirror.

 

You all are the most knowledgeable of all so what you think?

It seems that about anything can show up on this forum, and I'm a sucker for whatizzits.  So okay, from my limited knowledge of middle european language, I think fatt or fett might be better translated as "grease" or "greaser" for this application.  Early rifle cartridges using black powder or cordite propellants were quite corrosive, and the rifles needed to be cleaned and greased pretty faithfully to prevent rapid onset of rust.  The long cord would pull the cleaning tool back and forth through the bore.  You might be able to get a good guess of the rifle caliber by measuring the thing in the middle of the cord.  Possibly 7mm or 8mm?  And I'm guessing the other thing was to clean the chamber.  And of course a little mirror to reflect light through the bore to inspect your work.  This was a kit designed to pack up compact for field use, less cumbersome than the usual cleaning rod.  Never seen one before.

 

[peter lena 8,608]

@Beap52  another  era another time , when people regularly maintained /  kept in touch with their  mechanicals . still have some of my fathers stuff,  waxed / oil soaked canvas , pouches /  bags , wraps . he only used hand driven tools , was terrified of  electricaly driven tools , many of his friends had  lost fingers , and slashed body areas , but he regularly touched up cutting edges and oil wiped down his wooden collection . time traveler , pete

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

10 hours ago, Rick3478 said:

graisse pour  urmes

 

i'm going with french:

 

graisse pour armes

 

grease for weapons

 

Very cool kit!

[oliver2-44 9,731]

Seeing the screen printed label on the metal canister makes me think World War One.  

Later than true black powder, but still a need to maintain firearms in wet trench warefare, etc.

[formariz 11,987]

Not familiar with firearms or their maintenance but I am familiar with tools and their maintenance. When I was rather young in Europe there were not available all the lubricants and concussions that we take for granted today. There was no hardware store in which one could buy anything really. What I remember my grandfather and father using was lard and sometimes olive oil. Lard was always available in abundance since everyone kept and slaughtered hogs for consumption. Besides using it for cooking, under the workbench there was a little swiveling cup containing lard which was used to lubricate screws, the bottom of planes and was abundantly smeared on metal surfaces that would rust. When heated it will melt into a very workable thick liquid that was also used in things like wood handles in outside tools . It was also used to lubricate the oxen cart wood axles that ran on wood “bearings”. Of course the oxen’s horns also got a dose of it so they looked nice and shiny when going to the fair. 
 I grew up with it and still use it today at the bench. It’s very effective and totally natural with no chemicals. And we did refer to it as fat. 

[Sailman 1,291]

22 hours ago, Rick3478 said:

It seems that about anything can show up on this forum, and I'm a sucker for whatizzits.  So okay, from my limited knowledge of middle european language, I think fatt or fett might be better translated as "grease" or "greaser" for this application.  Early rifle cartridges using black powder or cordite propellants were quite corrosive, and the rifles needed to be cleaned and greased pretty faithfully to prevent rapid onset of rust.  The long cord would pull the cleaning tool back and forth through the bore.  You might be able to get a good guess of the rifle caliber by measuring the thing in the middle of the cord.  Possibly 7mm or 8mm?  And I'm guessing the other thing was to clean the chamber.  And of course a little mirror to reflect light through the bore to inspect your work.  This was a kit designed to pack up compact for field use, less cumbersome than the usual cleaning rod.  Never seen one before.

 

 

[Beap52 809]

Thanks to all who helped identify the mysterious gun cleaning kit. With your comments, and with google's help, I found a one of the kits exactly like the one I have that had been for sale (and sold for $30.00) and had the following description;

 

Designed for use with the Schmidt Rubin service rifles. The canvas pouch stores all parts, there is the weighted pull thru with the "Swiss Cross Stamp" and with a "sieve" attached and has an opening in the middle for your patches, chamber scrubbing tool with the "Swiss Cross Stamp", bore inspection mirror with the "Maker Stamp they differ", and "2 tins" of the "waffenfett" weapons grease. The tin is 3 inches tall and you can see the grease in each. The labels are printed in French, Italian and German. "Good Luck Finding the tin oiler, and with any amount of grease left in them"

 

As best I can tell, these kits were for guns produced from early 1930's until 1958 with a few up to 1970.

 

Our local museum has a whole room dedicated to veterans from our county and I'm going to see if they want this to add to the display.