Who else collects military handguns?

[Adam Helmer]

Lots of folks collect stuff and military rifles are a popular subject. I also collect military handguns. I began in 1961 with a Webley&Scott MkVI in .455 Eley converted to US .45 ACP.

Since then I have added a few P-38s, Lugers, British .38/200 revolvers, Steyr-Hahn 9mms, US Colts M1911 and M1911A1 pistols, a Polish Radom 9mm, an Astra 400 and some .32 Colt autos with military proofs.

I like collecting military stuff. Who else collects military handguns?

Adam

[Gil Martin]

The problems seem to be the lack of available surplus handguns and the current prices. All the best...
Gil

[gumpokc]

I have a few, but they are "newer" milsurps.

Romanian model 74 in .32acp
TT-33
CZ-52
mid 40's production 1911

am eyeing a broomhandle, but it's a little pricey for the condition it is in.

Hell i'd love to find a repro broomhandle, if it was decent quality.

[Monkeyman]

Rifles, handguns, subguns. I stay away from uniform bits, helmets, bayonets and LMGs - until I found a couple of LMGs earlier this year at gift prices so I now own a couple of them. Speaking of Webleys, check out this WW1 'trench stock' on the Mk6. These four guns just about cover the Commonwealth army handguns in two world wars (except for Inglis GP35 and S&W Victory revolvers).

[Riposte1]

I don't "collect" I accumulate. Collect would imply some sort of logical pattern and that sure does not describe me :-(

I think my interest in milatary handguns is an extension of my interest in all fighting handguns, I have a couple of old revolvers (the oldest being a pair of Manhattan .36 C&B revolvers) as well as some World War I examples of the Webley, S&W 1917 and Colt 1911.

A friend, who emigrated from England long ago, probably has 10% of the Webley Fosberry auto-revolvers extant but that is just a guess, I never saw that many.


Riposte.

[Adam Helmer]

Riposte1,

Welcome to the Forum; I see this is only your eleventh post and you came to the right place.

I am an "Accumulator" of stuff and thankfully I have a big empty barn and other out buildings here at the farm.

I saw one Webley-Fosberry auto revolver in 1961 and I was not old enough to buy it legally and I did not have the $50 asking price. I made up for that shortfall by buying every military handgun I liked ever since, but none was a WF Webley.

Adam

[Riposte1]

Thank you so much Adam for the welcome.

I know what you mean. At my first gun show as a teenager (and older cousin was just starting to go to them) we found legally registered BARs for $80 and Thompson's for $250.

Of course, neither of us would have ever thought to purchase a gun for $80 that cost $200 to register... real rocket scientists we were :-(

Riposte

[DaMadman]

Don't really collect them either but I do like a lot of the Military handguns. I currently have a nice CZ-52 and a .32acp (7.65) Ruby that is in excellent shape. I would also like to have a 1911, and there are a few other old Mil Surp handguns that I would like to own.

fine example would be this Walther
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Walther.html

and if I could find one at a local shop for that price I would grab it up in a hurry

I like this CZ-83 also in the .32 ACP caliber

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/C...cp_Pistol.html

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Don't really 'collect' them, but I had a P-38 for a number of years and it was a fine pistol, even though it was a bit rough finished.
I recently bought myself a Luger P-08....I have always wanted one, and now I finally have one. It's not a military peice; it's a 1920's commercial model chambered for the .30 Luger, but the price was right (the gun had been refinished) and it is a shooter, which is what I wanted.

[Dan Morris]

I don't collect either.... still have P38 and a Makarov that were "collected" from a couple of young VOPO's across fence
in late 60's. along with uniforms n id cards...MI let me keep em!!!(the guns)
Dan

[skeet]

Just sold my 1918 Colt 1911 for a lot. But still have a p-38 somewhere in all this mess. Do have a Russian Makarov and although it's not a handgun as such a Carl Gustaf model 1940(Swedish K) 9mm subgun. Also have an AK that was brought back from Vietnam(Bulgarian). And have a nice little Smith and Wesson Victory model that was modified to 4" bbl by Cogswell & Harrison ltd in London..or so it is marked. I have fitted a 38 spec cylinder to it as well as the original 38 S&W cylinder. Not real accurate in my opinion but my wife was using it as a snake load gun. Gonna take it to the next gun show I go to and sell it. Also have a 1938 Navy contract 45 auto and a WWII 1911A1. Traded a friend a Ruger 357 for it. Had to replace the bbl in it but it shoots ok now. I also have a Nazi marked mauser 32 and I am trying to talk my cousin out of a Nazi marked Walther PP 32. Oh and I also have a Colt 1901 Army 38 colt that was given to me by the man it was issued to. He bought it after they replaced the 38 Colt with a 45 auto as he told me. He retired as a Lt Colonel in 1947 from the home guard or something. Dated his granddaughter(she was seriously crazy but that is another story) and he gave it to me about 6 months before his death. Also have a Colt 25 auto that was supposedly acquired from the military but not real sure that it was.

[Gil Martin]

You have quite an assortment of military handguns. All the best...
Gil

[skeet]

Gil,
most of what I have I acquired when I had my gun shop. Where I was, military didn't sell real well so I only kept (mostly) the handguns. The Swedish was issued to me..many many centuries, it seems, ago. I also have an 03A3 barreled action that was given to me by a now deseased friend. He acquired it during WWII when in the south pacific. Being a marine fighter pilot he got it from a mud marine(that's what he called the guy any way). From what I understand about the pilots in the South Pacific..when not in the air...they lived in the mud also. It is dated 5-43 and seems to be unfired..or pretty much so. Sniper configuration too with milled trigger guard etc. Don't know that much about military stuff either, except I wish I had bought all the things I saw advertised in Klien's Sporting Goods ads in Field and Stream from the mid 50's to the early 60's. I'd be rich!! er

[Dom]

Well, I have one, a Beretta M9 (92F) civilian version. I don't collect them but wouldn't mind having a few, just never got the 'right deal'.

Adam, ich Wunsch dir alles gute im neuen Jahr -- all the best in 2007, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[Adam Helmer]

Dom,

As a legal resident alien in Deutschland, how many "hoops" do you have to jump through to own a handgun in Der Bundesstaat?

I think our readers here would like to know what a fellow Yank has to do to own a handgun in Germany. If I am getting too personal, please so advise. Ich werde keine Unstande fur dich machen.

Bis bald, Mein Freund.

Adam