Howdy from South Texas. New to the site. I stumbled upon this site looking for information regarding my old m1950 (1968 Rogers, Akron, OH) that I dug out of a dumpster when in the Army at Fort Hood in the mid-90s. After 25 years of being carried around the country in a box of odds and ends, I finally had the time and interest in getting this old relic working again. After a few misfires, cracked gaskets and the pump leather replaced, the little beast is once again alive and working. She's an ugly little troll, but with some love, fresh paint and new decals, I'm sure she'll be the talk of the trail.
Yes, welcome @mlkimmel92 I didn’t retrieve mine (HERE) from a dumpster, but they were in a condition that some would see as fit for one. John
Thanks, Tony and John. BTW John, your thread that you referenced gave me much encouragement in getting mine running again. Mine has a few spots of surface rust on the fount and fold-out legs, but they're superficial and should clean up with a little wire brushing. Cheers, Matt
Welcome aboard and nice work breathing new life into an old stove. For safety sake, the pump check valve (NRV) is worth replacing. If you don't have a cookset yet, you make want to look for a surplus "mountain cookset". Coleman Surplus used to carry these.
Thank you, Sir. The pump check valve pip, gasket (where it seats on the fount) and the pump leather were primary things I replaced to ensure I didn't burn my workshed down (and to maintain pressure in the fount). Also had to do a bit of work on the generator, but thankfully the spare (in the pump handle) was in good shape. Word to the wise; in order for the check valve to work, I re-used the original spring with the new pip. The original spring was far more robust than the replacement valve spring that came with the new pip. Also ordered a MILSPEC cookset from eBay. Hopefully I'll get it in the next few days.
The generators on these are quite simple. Burning quality camp fuel will ensure many years use. Regular gasoline will eventually foul the mesh. If you saved the old vaporizer you can soak in carb cleaner overnight, unroll the screen and wire brush it clean. If its beyond cleaning you can cut new mesh from file copper screen/mesh. A little practice rolling and you'll have a spare. Have fun
Thanks. Appreciate the tip. Yes, I still have the old generator, but utterly destroyed it learning how to dismantle the stove the first time. The screen on the inside looks salvagable though.
Welcome! The 'Born to Boil' M-1950 is an awesome stove. When percolating coffee, I like to heat the water up on the M-1950 because it's so quick, and then move to a 502 for the actual percolating because the 502 is so adjustable.
Nice Army stove. Someday I'll find one too. Anyway, if you want the US GI Mountain Cook Set they go for about $20 at www,colemansarmynavy.com I got one and noticed how neatly an Optinus 8R or 99 fits inside.
Sorry, Try www.colemans.com [Looks like they're sold out for now, but you can request email notification when they get back in stock.] The M-1950s were usually issued as 2 stoves, 2 cook sets, 1 tent to a 10 man squad. Stowed in a sledge, and pulled by the squad. Rations came in 5/man divisions. So they were sometimes called Five Man Cooksets. OBTW -- Welcome Aboard.
Yes they do. My 8R lives nicely inside one. I wrap it in a cotton shop/wash rag as a padding. The only reason my M1950 isn't as well is that it came in the cylindrical style storage canister. I like this far less than the mountain cookset but oh well.
I was in Ft Hood 1989 as our National Guard unit had our annual Training there for 2 weeks. Met former President George Bush(JR- governor of Texas) when I was there. hot(maybe 110) and lots of cows. Nice find you have there. Wonder why it ended in a dumpster?
Welcome! Im relatively new my self. This site is a great wealth of knowledge of ancient technology! hope you enjoy it.
Story about the dumpster find: I was a tank Platoon Leader at the time, and my Platoon Sergeant had a M1950 that was issued to him in his younger days. I asked him about it, and he said that he had acquired two over the years, and had just tossed the non-working one in the dumpster because it was inoperable, and he didn't need two. The supply sergeant didn't want it, because he'd be required to do all the paperwork on it to turn in as excess (just to destroy it), so he tossed it. I promptly swallowed my pride and went in after it, just to kick around for years in my odds-and-ends box.
SveaSizzler, thanks for the tip on the cook set. I was able to find the aluminum storage can/pot set that this stove snuggles nicely into (stamped 1979). I do like that five-man cook set though.
Found the cook set at Omaha's. Looks nice! Mountain Cook Set, Dated All aluminum kit with stainless steel lid
I had some time to clean up my little stove on New Year's Day. After wirebrushing the old paint, decals and surface rust, I went with a light flat green paint.
