Vickers Machine Gun Spare Parts Case

Since I was five years old and first watched The Way Ahead I have wanted a Vickers medium machine gun. Sadly this hasn’t happened yet, and with the way prices are going is unlikely to happen this side of a divorce. I have however recently picked up a very nice spare parts case for the hypothetical day I actually own one of the guns. The spare parts case is made of leather and has the official stores designation of CASES, SPARE PARTS AND TOOLS, VICKERS .303-IN. M.G., MK. I**:The main body of the case is a leather box measuring 8 ½” x 5” x 4” and has a hinged lid:This is secured by a leather strap and a roller buckle:The lid and top of the case are reinforced by a metal strip riveted to the leather:This was a later modification of an earlier case that did not have the metal reinforcing; presumably it was not robust enough for service use. The case is suspended from a 66” long shoulder strap, that passes through four leather beckets, two to each side of the case:The length of the shoulder strap is again altered using a roller buckle:The strap has a faint /|\ mark and date of 1944:The main case is dated 1945, has two /|\ marks and a maker’s name of ‘B.H.G.’:This case had large amounts of electrical tape stuck to it when I bought it, hence the odd marks left by the old adhesive. The case itself, in 1951, was supposed to carry the following spares: Balance Spring, Spare Parts Wallet, 2x Extractors, Breech Lock, Combination Tool, Fusee Spring, Clearing plug and Oil Can. The full range of spares for the Vickers Machine Gun was quite extensive, as can be seen in this photograph from 1917:The spare parts case can be seen behind the spare parts wallet, towards the rear of the photograph:So far the only spare I have to put in the case is a lonely balance spring, but this is definitely going to be a back burner project so I am in no rush and I will just add bits as they come up.