M1895 ammo pouches

Today for Gus’ Gear I have a pair of M1895 ammo pouches, these were superceded by the M1909 three pocket pouches. These were designed to hold 9 Mannlicher clips for the Gew1888 and worked just as well with the stripper clips for the Gew1898. These pouches were used through the Great War, but for some reason they are not often encountered in the collecting market.

This shows both the front view and rear view, the closure straps on the end and the typical style of belt loops that allow the pouch to be removed from the belt without removing the belt. The brass rivets and suspension loop seen on the back of the right pouch identify these as pre war construction as brass was replaced with steel as soon as the war began due to shortages of tin to alloy with copper to make brass. The M1895 pouches are similar to the M1889 pouches, but hold 45 rounds compared to the 30 in the earlier pouch.