Those went missing quick ! .......:o)
I left sterile hardware stored behind in Israel, where I hope to get back once more, and in Rhodesia, where I probably won't, and Serbia, where I just might.
Most of the nifty new stuff that I got my hands on that was off the books was in the hands of other qualified users, who were at least p[oilit enough to let my try out their goodies and familiarize wit tem a bit. The first Minimi/M240 SAW I ever fired was actually an Aussie F89A1 Minimi, and so on.
I tend to like the really neat historical relics of another age that because of efficiency or necessity, remain in real-world service. I did have a G36 carbine sort of stick to me last time I was let out of the cage. And yep, it made it home.
Lots of our schools were improvised, modified tools in nature and as you suggest simple. Soap dish boomage to dremel tool / kitchen table stem guns. Favorite school I attended every chance was foreign materials intelligence school at Aberdeen MD . Like going to the Chicago Museam of Science and Industry.... You couldn’t see and experience everything in just one visit. Sino-Soviet, Warsaw Pact, NATO, bygone eras, unique and simple from handguns to artillery. Really enjoyed and used the lessons from that school as much if not more than my EOD related schools and experiences.
Chemical, Nuclear, biological, conventional ect... Not really work when you are allowed to earn a living doing what you enjoy. 40 years so far. Only a few more holes in me than I was born with so it’s all good .
Just a few more years and I’m going to start tinkering with rat rods full time. The kind that require a Tetnus shot to drive per se. Only way I want to get rusty in my old age.
Stay safe Archy ......