Toy submachine gun, Somalia: 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)

Hand carved wooden submachine gun. The toy bears a passing resemblance to a Uzi submachine gun, but picks up elements from other weapons, such as the Czechoslovak Skorpion, in that it mounts a pistol grip and trigger at the rear of the action. Painted black, the toy has a spent brass cartridge case inserted in the end as a barrel. There are two hand carved wooden bannana clip magazines tied together with red and black cloth and held in the toy by a nail. The trigger is a flat headed nail and the guard a piece of plastic nailed to the wooden body. The Bolt is an old sliding door lock with a piece of rubber strip attached and nailed to the wood. The toy can be cocked with the rubber strip snapping the bolt shut. The safety catch is the on/off switch of a torch. The sling is made from a length of zipper attached at one end with a rubber loop nailed to the wood and to a piece of leather nailed to the other end. The toy has no butt stock.

Collected in Somalia by Lance Corporal Taylor 1 RAR.

• Somali child's toy submachine gun : 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)