Well, I didn’t get A Gun For Christmas. I’ve taken a liking to old-school guns*****, and I’ve decided I need the following:
[ul][li]Mauser C96 ‘Broomhandle’ in 7.63×25mm Mauser, with a shoulder stock/holster[/li][li]Wartime or pre-war P.08 Luger 9mm, non-civilian. (WWI would be cool, but WWII is good too.)[/li][li]Browning Hi-Power Standard 9mm, deep blue finish, walnut stocks.[/li][li]Beretta 92 9mm, deep blue finish w/walnut stocks[/li][li]Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless .32 ACP[/ul][/li]I’m a little funny about ‘collections’. I can’t afford to be a ‘serious’ collector. Also, I want something I can shoot. I don’t really care if a gun has been refinished. I actually prefer it. A refinished gun is worth less to a collector than one with its original patina, so it costs less. And no one will say, ‘My god! You’re shooting that?’ (Of course they’re still making the Hi-Power, so that’s easy to get and looks how I want it to.) My collection is for my own enjoyment; for a-shootin’ and for a-lookin’ at. Actually, I haven’t been shooting in half a decade. But SO says it would be fun, and that’s all the reason I need!
*****In the photo, clockwise from upper-left: Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector 2nd Model, .455 Webley (Eley), converted to .45ACP w/moon clips, made in 1916; Mauser C96 ‘Red 9’, 9mm, made in 1916; Colt M1991A1 that I bought (as the nomenclature implies) around 1991, .45 ACP; Smith & Wesson M&P, .38, c. 1950; Webley Mk.VI, .455 Webley (Eley) made in 1916 or 1918 (I forget which). Since that photo was taken I’ve also picked up another c.1916 S&W HE2 in unmodified .455 that could really use a refinish, and a commercial serial-numbered Colt Government Model (1911) made in 1917.
Well be careful with the Mauser; you can go to federal prison for owning a pistol with a shoulder stock without permission (read: tax stamp) from the ATF.
I don’t know from Mausers and Berettas, but I’ve owned 2 Hi-Powers and currently own a Colt 1903 pocket hammerless .32. I sold the Brownings because they bit the web of my hand, although I wish now I hadn’t.
The pocket hammerless has led a long life and looks it. It’s strictly a shooter, but a whole lot of fun. If I were you, that’s what I would look for next. I love mine and will never sell it.
It’s one of the most sleek, elegant designs ever, IMHO.
If you ever get down this way again, PM me and we’ll go shoot some.
I’ve also got a Colt Police Positive Target .22 manufactured in 1910. It was re-barrelled and re-blued sometime after 1925 so not worth anything to a collector, but it’s great fun to shoot too, and very accurate.
It occurs to me that the Canadians made a hi-power with a shoulder stock. Good luck finding one though.
The last time I read the regulations, it is allowable to have/use an original stock with the Mauser. For some reason, reproduction stocks are not allowed. AIUI, it’s OK to have a reproduction stock and the gun, but they can’t be assembled together. But an original stock is OK.
The manufacture date should be stamped on your Webley in a couple of places- often on the left hand side of the frame towards the hinge; It’ll say “Webley Patents” and often have the year there. Otherwise, on the top of the cylinder strap you might see 'xx, denoting the year of manufacture.
The Browning Hi-Powers Bumbazine refers to where made by Inglis in Canada during WWII as a contract for Nationalist China.
Lugers cost a lot of money for some strange reason, which is odd when you consider they’re by no means rare. If it’s WWII dated and has Nazi markings on it, expect the price to go up even more.
I’m thinking about getting a gun for Christmas too. Except my speciality is old military rifles. Thinking about an M39 (A Finnish version of the Soviet Mosin-Nagant) since they’re available wholesale right now.
I tend to be a looker rather than a shooter. Commercial ammo for Soviet rifles isn’t too bad, but I priced out the cost of 7.55 Swiss, like 90 cents a round. Won’t be shooting my K31 too much…
My mother’s significant other (who was for all intents and purposes my father from the time I was a teenager on) died a year ago. His daughter had sold his firearms sometime before his death, possibly because she just didn’t like guns, possibly because he was seriously depressed for his last year or so and she feared something happening.
My mother tracked down his hunting rifle, bought it back, and gave it to me! It’s a Savage Model 99C, something of a classic (I hate to think what she paid for it!). When he and I went hunting together, this was the rifle I carried, but it’s the one he always used hunting alone.
This rifle was really the only thing of his that I would have liked to have. He purchased it with his separation money from the US Navy in 1945 at the end of the war, and he took hundreds of deer (not all of them legal) with it.
There just seems to be something right about a father (or father-equivalent, in this case) passing his rifle to his son. Throughout history, a son customarily would inherit his father’s weapon upon his death, be it club, bow, spear, sword, or other weapon. The understanding was that the son would also inherit his father’s hunting and fighting skill and prowess along with the weapon.
I haven’t hunted in years, but I’ll have to go out again next fall. I probably won’t even plan to take any game, but it will be good to walk the woods again, he and I, together.
It’s a 1917 model. Nitro Proofed (means it can fire smokeless ammunition) at the Birmingham Proof House, and the Broad Arrow markings indicate Military issue. Looks like a very nice piece indeed!
Old school? Old school??? Dang it you runny nosed rug rat, tain’t one of those got a nipple let alone a set of jaws er a rock so don’t be callin dem cartrige things Old School.
Actually I don’t mind modern guns at all. I got another Mauser KKW for Christmas; this one with the original sling and bayonet and I picked up another Stoeger Uplander but this one with the interchangeable chokes. But that old school thing gave me a really fast chuckle.
I was really trying for a new pistol for Christmas, but I still have a little bit of a wait. The next Ruger SR 1911 that arrives at my LGS is mine, though. These have been back ordered all over the country, but my name is next on the list.
Baretta 92 is “old school?”
