Cleaning kit question

W

WillJ

Junior Member
Hello all,
I have what I believe is a pre / early war rg34 cleaning kit (brass latches, no markings). Instead of an oiler brush (fat brush) it has a brass or bronze bore brush. The brush has a hook on the end for the pull-through and the hook matches the one on the standard bore brush (fat on the ends, skinny in the middle) in the kit. The kit also contains an early type oiler and chain, neither with any marks. I cannot find any reference to these kits containing a brass / bronze bore brush in place of the oiler brush. Any ideas on why the different brush? Thanks in advance for the help.

Now with photo (please see two posts down)
 
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I have one or two early kits and everything was marked, the oiler, the spoon, the chain, and the can. It is always helpful to take pictures of everything.
 
Photo

Here is a photo of the kit. The brush in question is closest to the case. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
 

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Looks like some other type bore brush kits also have a larger chamber brush also here is one from a early Appel kit 2nd photo I am missing the actual bore brush as yours in one of my kits. timothy
 

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Amberg,
I think you may be on to something. I checked google for images of the Portuguese kit and it looks very similar. Next question, did they use the brass brush? Thanks to all of you for the help.

Regards,
Will
 
I have one of those heavy-duty bore brushes which came in a German issue RG34. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so put the brush in my spares box. IMHO this looks like the kind of brush which might have been used in one of the heavy MG cleaning/spares kits like MG 34, 42, or PzB39. The first kit pictured is a typical export pattern. Key is the brass-swivel attached with a domed pin, which is not ground flush like in German issue kits (which never used the brass swivel link). I believe most of these were sold to Portugal. My suspicion is these RG34s were originally like early Appel pattern, but over time the Portuguese refurbished many or all the kits. They may have replaced the steel swivel link with a brass one, re-machined the steel oilers, and made replacement spoons as well. I have seen a number of completely original German issue RG34s that were imported by Paragon Sales back in the early 1990s. Most were WW2 issue in excellent condition with original paint on the tins. The only issue was every kit had a newly manufactured chain pull-thru, which also had a brass swivel link (but it was a bit cruder and not exactly identical to the Portuguese ones). Whomever reutilized these kits after the war decided to scrap all the different chains and reissue the kits with a new, standard chain in each.
 
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I found a cmr44 RG34 kit with most of its original paint at a yard sale for $10 last week. It's only missing a floorplate tool but it may have never had one. Gotta love yard sales!
 
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