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Every once and awhile something comes along and kicks you in the ass. I have been trying to throw in my 2 cents worth. (a) It help’s Grant to fill the odd empty hole when he publishes his monthly.  (I do not know how he keeps up his busy schedule or ideas) and (b) try to add a little Swiss knowledge and humor from my limited perspective.  This one caught me snoozing.

Why does the standard Swiss Army knife have a hollow rivet?  It is there to help kill people.  That idea really takes away the idealistic image I had of a peace loving, chocolate eating, and easy going culture. The Swiss have always lived with the idea (Let him who desires peace prepare for war.) That is a quote from Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus a writer of the Late Roman Empire.  Now that I have you attention, let’s see how it works.

 

The Gewehrgranaten 58 rifle grenades can be fired from the SG 510-1/Stgw 57 and other rifles. The rifle grenade 58 may be fitted with the following warheads:

Hollow charge for heavy amour.  Anti-personnel with impact detonator. Smoke canister for reducing visibility and a Dummy.

When a Tank is in range, the built in rings on the grenade will help with the aiming.

For longer shots that may require the soldier to shoot over objects, he needs a plumb line to make use of the range indicators on the rifles bipod.

The very early Swiss Army knives came with a black leather pouch. These early and very rare pouches came with an eyelet on the side to hold the string. The next two pictures were borrowed from the German Dagger website. This was the beginning of my path down the road to this article. I thought “What does Dave Hohaus know about Swiss Army knives. He is an expert in swords, not Swiss Army knives.


As I looked further into this, he is 100% correct.  The newer, smaller Swiss Army knife that was introduced around 1953 had the first hollow rivet. Now the soldier did not have to worry about the condition of the leather pouch when it got wet or untie it from his belt.

The string would fit in the hollow hole.

The 1961 model continued with the hollow rivet.  The knife got lighter and smaller. The use of stainless steel and aluminum was a great help to keep the rust away. The leather awl also became a favorite tool for cleaning dirty exhaust ports on automatic rifles. I can already hear the moaning from any ex-military soldier who had to clean a rifle before.

I hope this clears up the question about “Why the hollow rivets”  Again my thanks to Dave.

http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1753006807/m/4950020243?r=3210030243#3210030243    My first hint was from Dave Hohaus. Thanks again Dave

Another website  http://www.biggerhammer.net/sigamt/iar  Sig Rifle