Whats the oldest piece of kit you were issued with?

Whats the oldest and best bit of kit you've still got that you were issued with? I've still got some 37 pat webbing and braces - not the best though

 

A 7.62mm bullet and it had'nt been used. Looked for it after it left the barrel but to no avail.
I got some more though, out of a brown metal box.

 

Thats too easy and I bet I will win:

.30 Browning MG, issued on active service as turret gun in Ferret AC.

Date stamped 1919, cloth belt fed and all.

Mind this was in 1983 , so may be beaten yet.

 

9mm Browning. Stamped 1982 that I wore in Bosnia in 2005.

 

1984- On my first drill with a National Guard Infantry co. since leaving the Regulars. As a GPMG(M60) No.1 -I was issued a pistol belt, Brown holster & ammo pouch for a .45 pistol, the ammo pouch was stamped on the flap inside; "Mills, Nov. 1918"( still have it, though it's retired now). On a side note during Our train-up before Iraq the Arms room had tools for both the Watercooled .50 Browning & the B.A.R. still in the kit.

 

'58 pat. water bottle, stamped 1962.

 

This one has been done before.

However, we got some shovels through this week direct from Bicester.

Some were shiny and a couple of years old whilst others in the same bundle still had mud on them and were dated 1953. If it ain't broke then why fix it.

Not that they'll be used, possibly sidelined for "preservation".

 

We've still got some P14 rifles (re-barrelled to .22) for small bore target practice.

 

I was issued with some Olive green gaiters dated inside it says 1995, these are in mint condition and still have the original packaging wrapped around them
*I got these, this Tuesday just gone

 

Not really issued, but while inspecting a Bosnian Serb ammo compound in 2001 I found an MG34 date-stamped 1937 complete with eagle and swastika. In another bunker were crates and crates of Soviet PPSh 41 SMGs all dating from the mid forties and in another was approx 12,000 lbs of TNT in cardboard wrapping, marked US Army Corps of Engineers 1944. It looked a bit sweaty so I didn't hang around. Some people never throw anything away.

 

Whilst in the Gulf in 1991, i drove a Land Rover Ambulance Series II that entered service in 1967, a year after I was born, vehicle was still in use when i left in 1994

 

Whilst in the Gulf in 1991 my LMG had 1945 stamped on the side!

Edited for mong spelling!

 

Mess tins from '51. Some NBC puffer bottle detector system from '62....fills you with confidence!

 

37 pattern webbing issued in 62. The belt was still in use in the early 70’s

 

The infernal D10 Imperial Cable Winding Engine . I haven't dared look at the date...