Ladies and Gentlemen,
I present to you a challenge, one that has stumped many a so called weapons expert here in Kabul Afghanistan. Can anyone identify this machine gun mount and give an idea to what type of weapon would mate to it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62689092@N07/5707899048/in/photostream[View:http://www.flickr.com/photos/62689092@N07/5707899048/in/photostream:550:0]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62689092@N07/5707301039/sizes/l/in/photostream/
A PKM machine gun will not fit into it, at least in without additional parts. It’s certainly had better days and is missing more than a few pieces and parts, but we have not been able to definitively identify this mount.
There is a serial number of sorts on the top: 12511?7. The second to last number is difficult to make out in person as well as in the photos.
Our first guess was that this mount was Russian in origin, but we have not been able to find anything similar currently in use. Same with Chinese. Could it be British???
Overall finish seems to be a greenish color where the paint still remains. It was found in Kabul Afghanistan on a coalition base, but it had been hidden or discarded for quite some time underneath a Connex container and not accessible in a timely fashion.
I bring it to this forum simply because more often than not, modelers pick out and know the tiny details better than those of us who take in the big picture at face value. Kinda like watching a WWII war movie and being able to spot the late model production variant when the scene occurred years before its production.
Any thoughts, tips, or guidelines are greatly appreciated!
Scott