Soviet Light weapons forum

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

As much as I love guns myself, I believe there are many other forums on the web to discuss them.

Alexei

[new world]

On the other thought - we already have Edged Weapons section on this forum, that covers "bayonets, swords, presentation daggers".

Bayonets and swords are not related to the subject of Soviet awards.

I don't see why we can't have a section on weapons, unless Art has space limitations on his web server.

William

[Tal Inbar]

Edged Weapons, and swords, presentation daggers in particular, are indeed not awards per se, but very close to the main subject. Remember, that UNIFORMS are not awards as well, but the need of a uniform section is obvious.

Other points -

* Many collectors are not allowed to own weapons, because of the law in their countries. Others, go and shoot in their AKM, PPSH etc. every afternoon. Could you discuss subjects as accuracy and ease of use, with such VAST difference?

* I still remember an ex-member of this forum (was banned for life) creating havok with the interesting subject like the performance of T-34 vs. Panther. Well, I am a tank commander, and I think some points I made were way over his, but he continued to speculate after reading a book and seeing some pictures of tanks. I will hate to see it all over again, but from light weapons perspective.


That's all for now, from my end of the line...

Tal

[new world]

Tal,

Actually, the very first Soviet awards were weapons, guns in particular.

For quick reference - open Durov's book and you'll see Budenny's Mauser that was awarded to him with special address plate.

Sure, discussion on technical specs of the guns would add little value to this forum, however I would be very interested to see some specific types of guns - the ones that were awarded for some heroic deeds.

William

[DougD]

..... the first soviet awards were banners, the HRRB (Hon.Rev.Red Banner) given to units during the civil war.

But, back to the forum idea. The problem is that you can group daggers, uniforms and medals under real militaria, whereas guns and tanks and such are not really militaria ( at least in the US version of the game) and tend to have their own following. Its a question of how far the foum should go. If we do guns and then vehicles, aircraft, etc. Then we could jump into history, debates, etc. We would then lose the specific soviet militaria forum we now have. I think that would be tragic.

DD

[Art]

Gentlemen,

I didn't see much interest in the weapons forum which is primarily why the idea was nixed. Also, people who were opposed to it have made several good points:

1. Guns are illegal for many and thus really not collectible. What could we talk about after we have posted images for all the soviet/eastern bloc weapons?

2. We ARE limited on website space. Seeing as the main content for the weapons forum would be images, it would be a drain for the entire website.

3. Edged weapons are more closely associated with the regalia of the military and function more as symbols than as operational weapons. While Durov shows firearm presentation weapons, how many of these have actually been sold on the open market to warrant a forum for its discussion?

4. There are excellent Soviet weapons forums already in existence which have amassed mountains of information already. One of the best is within the links section of this website. For those interested:

Kalashnikov AK


Art

[Ed_Haynes]

While I feel that it would be appropriate to discuss weapons (of any sort) which were bestowed as AWARDS (and this could be extended to include pocket watches, banners, long wooly underwear, whatever), I am not sure the purpose of this forum is to discuss weapons as such. Concerns of bandwidth are important, but I'd return us to the simplest question, what does this forum exist; read the title: "The Soviet Military Awards Forum" (though we do legitimately discuss non-military awards).

But, then, we discuss a wide range of other things. Some days I get the sense when I review new postings that we are "all about" uniforms and visor caps. This is not intended to be a general Soviet-era "militaria" (or "civilica"?) forum and is it desirable for it to become that? To what degree are we losing our focus and our purpose here?

My personal interests (and disinterests) aside, maybe we sometimes need to re-remind ourselves of our purpose and refocus?

Ed Haynes

[DougD]

i guess we should hold off on discussing things that don't get the approval of all members. This is clearly a soviet militaria forum and from what I can tell those who post on hats or flags (many of them AWARDS) don't take away from the medals posts ( are people allowed to post on badges?). So, I really don't know what you mean about needing to refocus. Posting about non-medals does not take away from medal posts, its sort of sill to think that it does. I have an idea; if you don't like the non-medal posts, dont read them. Just pretend they are not there.


With people here talking about cloth, some might post about medals too, and you might learn something new (i.e. the purpose of the forum).

DD

[new world]

Originally posted by DougD
..... the first soviet awards were banners, the HRRB (Hon.Rev.Red Banner) given to units during the civil war.

...
DD

Doug,

Actually, the very first Soviet awards were watches (pocket watches with engraved name of the recepient and other details). This tradition continued from the Czarist army.

The first known watch award is dated from the end of 1917, while the Banners were established as awards in the summer of 1918. In addition, it seems that Banners were type of awards given to military units, not to individuals.

I'd be curious to see any pictures of such early watches-awards posted here on the forum.

Also, before the Banners, some odd awards were given - such as Revolutionary Red Pants and other clothing items.

Best regards,
William

[DougD]

true, i actually had a pair of awarded pants in a few years ago; red leather from 1918-1920. I am not sure how official these were, or the watches, etc. Were there ever regulations that these were official statewide awards, standardized, etc. I always went with the idea that the Red Banner was the first "official" nationwide award, though given to units, not individuals. Either way, the term "award" is not limited to medals.

dd