[smallbuilder]

hey does anyone have figures on what a m1918 pod runs for these days. As i understand there are not very many left with most sent across the pond. I may have a chance to buy one.

 

[theduke]

Toolman "Russ" knows a bit about these.....as do others I'm sure.

Someone should be along shortly.

While rare....they are a pita to use/set-up....I hear.

They were short lived & replaced as I recall.........all I know about em.

 

[Lucky#13]

I have responded privately to smallbuilder. Yes, these tripods are rare, but they pop up now and then. Usually they are not that expensive, because they don't have much service history. They were despised by the gunner crews due to being so slow and complex to set up. I know 6000 went to England on Lend Lease, with a like number of WWI spec 1917s. At least 100 of those pods came back in from what I am told. Some may have gotten out of the system here. Most, it seems were scrapped. They are cool for display, but would be my last choice to take out to the range!

 

[fjruple]

Lucky--

Would you happen to have a copy of the instructions on the use of the Model of 1918 tripod in a pdf format? It has more knobs than the local gas works.:rofl:


Cheers

--fjruple

 

[Lucky#13]

Lucky--

Would you happen to have a copy of the instructions on the use of the Model of 1918 tripod in a pdf format? It has more knobs than the local gas works.:rofl:


Cheers

--fjruple

Yeah, you described it pretty well, lol. I came to the conclusion that the main reason the troops didn't take to it is that they figured most of the gun crew would be shot dead before they got the pod set up and the gun mounted. It looks great on display, just a nightmare to set up. I don't have anything in pdf form, and maybe nothing at all. I believe one of the manuals I have did have some info on the 1918 pod, like a parts list and exploded view or something. Can't recall if it had any useful instructions. Will look to see if I have anything. All I've done is put it up on a table at SAR and curse a lot until I get it set up right.

 

[bmg17a1]

I had a 1918 tripod that I bought from CTS just after they were imported and had one of DLOs 1917s on it, which was about the same as the pic of the one on the table. CTS had put 1917A1 ammo box holders onto the cradles which was an improvement. I used the tripod quite a bit at shoots and found it to be way over-engineered for no real benefit to the user. Way too many joints and the jam nuts didn't hold well so I had to take a rubber hammer to them to keep them tight. If the various adjustments were made for uneven terrain, it didn't take long for the tripod to settle and go way off line of sight. Once this happened, the whole set of angles had to be readjusted again. If the legs had been sandbagged, which I did with this tripod a few times, the sandbags had to be removed to do the adjustment and then replaced on the feet. Say what you want about the 1917A1 tripod, adjustment is quick and easy when the tripod settles. Aside from the general looseness of the cradle parts, and the rather average quality of construction, it is not a very impressive tripod except for profiling with the gun.
They have a place in history, but using one did not impress me and I can easily see why they were abandoned.
FWIW

 

[Lucky#13]

My complaint is specifically related to the double joints in the front legs. Sure, spend enough time messing with it and one would get faster at setting it up. To be fair, my experience is only in setting it up on the table at SAR, as you see my display above. I did not ever take the beast to the range. Have other options for that, so I only drag it out once a year. I found that dual pivot leg to be counter productive and I would imagine it was slow even when well experienced on it, compared to the simpler legs of the 1917 or 1917A1. The uneven terrain advantage might be a good point, but in the fields of France I don't know how much that would have mattered. Only a very few 1917 guns actually saw service, in the last few months of the war, and what pics I have seen all show the 1917 pod. Now I don't know what his sources were, but Dolf Goldsmith wrote that the 1918 pod was unpopular when the 1917s were working just fine. I am taking him at his word on that, as he did the research. They made about as many of these as they did the 1917 pods, and all were probably done within a few months of war's end, just like the 1917 guns themselves. That leads me to think that cost was not a deciding factor between them. There seems no question the 1918s were removed from service except in training, though it is also fair to point out that these never had much opportunity for real combat testing before the A1 pod replaced it all in the mid 30s. Yet the 1917 lowers were the choice to settle on when the redesign was developed, which is why so many of those lowers survived, with the newer cradle adapted. The 1918s mostly got scrapped. Again, I think the 1918s are more common only because we sent thousands to the Brits, where a few were able to come back decades later. Otherwise, these would probably be as rare and valuable as an intact 1917 pod.

The M2 and 1917A1 pods both get adopted right around 1934. The 1917 pod is already simplified by deleting the worm gear traverse mechanism from the drawings in 1927. Seems many of those pods had those parts removed at some point, maybe around the same time. But drawing changes meant nothing, as the pods were all made years before that. In practice, that turned out an unsuccessful complication that someone added, to Browning's original design, that proved not to serve well. The Germans like to make everything complicated, and I can't say whether the complex mounts they used gave them any real advantage over what we issued. Not qualified to venture on that. But I tend to like simple, myself. I'm just a college drop out, after all!

 

[toolmanm203]

Sorry I am late to the party smallbuilder I have been doing 18 hour days for the past two weeks so I have little time these days but it looks like you are in good hands. I have one and like lucky13 it is more for display I will probably never shoot off of it. I would say grab it if you can and the price is good as they are a cool piece of history and all original tripods are only going up. Let us know how you do and don't forget pictures. Russ