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Some recent additions to my collection
Since I haven't posted recently, here's some additions to my collection over the last few months:
A Japanese T-26 revolver in 9mm Japanese, imported from the US. This was the first Japanese-made pistol used by the Japanese military adopted and produced in the 1890s, and still widely issued to NCOs during WW2. Essentially a combination of Smith & Wesson, Rast & Gasser and St Etienne features, the round it shoots is very similar to the .38 S&W. One of very few DAO military revolvers ever produced. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10408.jpg An FN Model 1903 in 9 x 20mm Long, one of the very early models produced before Belgium was overrun by the Germans in 1914. These were used by the Ottoman and Russian police, the Swedish army, Paraguay and Estonia. This particular one is Swedish marked, making it part of the biggest contract for these. Sweden would go on to produce them domestically as the Husqvarna 1907 after Belgium was ovverrun. Oddly, these were never actually used by the Belgian military. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10387.jpg A Belgian Mauser M1889/36 in 7.65 x 53mm Mauser. These were WW1-era M1889 rifles and carbines that were rebuilt to more closely approximate the '98 action M1935 which had just been adopted by the Belgian military. Interestingly, they even went so far as to convert the action from cock-on-closing to cock-on-openning. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10412.jpg An original India-Pattern Brown Bess Musket in .75 caliber, with an unconverted flint lock. This has the reinforced cock introduced in 1809, and bears the cypher of George III, who died in 1820, so the musket was made sometime between then. This was the same style musket used by British regulars during the latter parts of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Given that this one was located in Canada, and shows some signs of having been stored in rustic conditions, I like to imagine that it was used at Lundy's Lane. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10414.jpg |
A Winchester 1895 Russian Musket, or if you prefer the Vintovka Vinchestya obr.1915g, one of about 300,000 the Russians purchased during WW1 to supplement production of the Mosin-Nagant. The big difference between this and the standard Winchester 1895 military musket is the caliber, and the addition of stripper clip guides to the receiver. Although these made up about 3/4 of all Winchester 1895 production, they're extremely rare in North America just because of the low survival rate of rifles used in WW1, the Russian Civil War, the Finnish War of Independence, the Polish-Soviet War of 1920, the Spanish Civil War (large numbers sent as aid to the Republicans), the Soviet-Finnish Winter War and WW2. Rumor is there's a wearhouse full of these somewhere in Russia, but the Russians want too much for them to release them. Personally, I think that most of them are just plain destrored.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10450.jpg A British-contact Colt Official Police in .38/200 British (.38 S&W), one of very limited numbers purchased around the time of Dunkirk. British purchasing agents seemed to prefer the S&W M&P, and after Pearl Harbor Colt turned to making weapons for the US military, so no more were made after early 1943. This one has had the grips replaced by a set of Pachmayrs and is missing the lanyard ring, but I'm on the hunt for replacement parts to restore it. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10459.jpg A Spanish Star 1920 Modelo Militar in 9mm Largo, produced for one year only for the Spanish Guardia Civil (their national police force). It's essentially a Colt 1911 with simplified internals, with the safety changed to the slide-mounted style used on the early Star Model 1914 and 1919 .32 pistols. The Guardia Civil liked the gun, but not the safety, so in 1921 it was changed to a conventional frame-safety, and would eventually evolve into the Star Model A. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10468.jpg A US Civil War issued Remington New Model Army in .44 Percussion, one of the last ones produced for the US military in 1865. Contrary to popular misconception, this is not the 1858 model - the New Model wasn't introduced until 1863, the 1858 never had the large angled fin attached to the loading lever. This was probably the most modern percussion revolver issued in large numbers during the war. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10471.jpg |
A US Civil War issued Starr 1863 Single Action Army, the 3rd most common revolver used by Union forces. Starr originally made the 1858 Double Action, but it wasn't very reliable and the US War Department informed them they wanted a single action instead. Although these were the 3rd most common revolver, they only made about a 10th as many Starrs as Colts and a 5th as many as Remingtons.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10492.jpg Finally, and probably the best for last, a totally authentic, original and unmessed with US M1A1 Carbine, one of the rarest and most desirable US weapons of WW2, and definately the most commonly faked. This one is made by the correct manufacturer (Inland), in the correct serial number range, and has all the correct features and stamps. I purchased it from a fellow I met through work. The story is that his father, while serving with the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division (he mentionned tanks, so I imagine either the VIII Recconnaisance Regiment, or he actually meant the 2nd Independent Armored Brigade), traded a Luger he'd taken off of a dead German to an American paratrooper for it. He apparently carried it around for the war and got ammo whenever they passed American supply dumps. He then had a Colonel he was friendly with smuggle it home in his bags for him, as he figured they wouldn't be searched. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10495.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10497.jpg |
I'd fist fight a grizzly bear for one of those Winchesters in 7.62x54R
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I'd fist fight a grizzly for that para-carbine.
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Can you shoot 38 S&W in that 9mm Japanese revolver?
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Some sources say yes, most say no. The overall catridge length is close, but the 9mm Japanese has a longer case, and a thinner rim. The pressure levels are lower than .38 S&W specs, but factory .38 S&W is loaded pretty light anyways on account of all the old S&W top breaks out there. 9mm Japanese uses a .355 bullet instead of a .361 as with .38 S&W, which is what really worries me.
Long story short, it might (emphasis on might) work, but I'm not gonna risk my gun, let alone my health, to find out. |
Lots of cool stuff there.
How'd the M1 work legally speaking? Is that a 5rd magazine, or it's grandfathered in somehow or I'm wrong about that capacity limit (5rd for semi-auto centerfire rifles that aren't Garands)? |
Isn't the M1 Carbine technically a pistol caliber weapon?
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Just pin the magazine so the follower can't go all the way down, and the magazine can only hold 5. I've owned an SVT-40, SKS, AG42B and standard M1 carbine over the years, they were all pinned. Pistols can only hold 10 so all my Hi Power mags are pinned as well. And yet my 32 round Luger drum is unpinned, because it's an exception to those laws. Go figure.
That said, the M1 / M1A1 is a restriced firearm due to it being a semi-auto centerfire rifle with a barrel under 19", so it's treated the same as a handgun. |
Couple of new additions this month:
First was a Star Model A in 9mm Largo, made in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War. This one is really rare because in spring 1937, when Franco's Nationalists captured the Eibar area, the Echeverria (Star) factory was destroyed in the fighting. Production was relocated into a temporary shelter in Derio, where only 125 were made in 1938. Because of this, it doesn't have any of the usual Spanish proof marks, just an assembly number on the frame and slide. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10512.jpg Then, came a 1914 Commercial production Colt 1911, which is in the serial number range for the 5000 guns purchased by Canada to arm the 1st contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to go to Europe for WW1. Canada switched to the S&W Hand Ejector revolver in .455 in 1915 because of difficulties obtaining .45 ACP ammo in Europe. That said the 1st Division of the CEF never turned in their Colts for S&Ws, keeping them until 1918 some even taking them to Siberia during our intervention there in 1919. They weren't actually marked as Canadian property due to the rush of their procurement, but the serial number range for Canadian contract guns is either C3000 to C13000 or C5400 to C16000, depending on which source you go with. This one is right in the middle of both in the C9500 range. Either way, by numbers your gun has a 50% chance of actually being Canadian purchased, give or take a statistically fairly small number of non-Canadian ones which would have been ordered in configurations other than blued with walnut grips. The fact that it's located in Canada was enough to tilt the odds on it for me, I'll be getting a factory letter to confirm it. Either way, there's nothing like the quality of a pre-WW1 Colt auto, those are actually my fence boards reflected in the bluing on the third picture. One interesting feature is it has the round topped rear sight Colt stopped making in about 1915 / 1916 as opposed to the familiar square topped version. You can see why they replaced it, it's not exactly fast to aquire. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10516.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10517.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/SDC10520.jpg |
Great stuff there Nyles.
If I was in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, I would be most annoyed if someone was to replace my Government Model with a S&W Hand Ejector. |
I would too, except maybe if I'd been unable to get .45 ACP out of British supply chains for awhile. Revolvers were also considered more reliable at the time, particularly in the British Empire. That said, period accounts did show a marked resistance by Canadians to give up their 1911s.
Even in 1916 when the British high command decided that all Webley, S&W and Colt revolvers issued in the British Isles were to be replaced by Spanish-made Garates and Trocaolas so the better guns could go to the front, the Canadian HQ in London flat out refused, stating that their S&Ws were purchased with Canadian government funds and thus outside of British jurisdiction. |
About the only plus I could think to using a revovler over a Government Model would be that I could let the hammer rest on a loaded cylinder and not worry about blowing off my male reproductive organs to do so.
What's your source for 9mm Largo? |
Buddy from work who reloads it for his Destroyer carbine. Also gun shows.
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Well, I got 4 really good guns out of a huge estate sale (guy had over 200 good quality and rare old milsurp guns), two of which arrived today, I have to pick the other two up at the post office tonight.
The first was a Bodeo 1889 Officer's Model in 10.4mm, made by Glisenti in Brescia in 1905. This is a very early production model with the external hammer connector. This is in really nice shape inside and out with a surprisingly nice bore - it's missing the axis pin retaining screw, which is a commonly lost part of Bodeos (I think maybe intentionally - it's not necessary to hold it together and the gun strips much easier without it). I'm absolutely amazed at how the trigger guard improves it's handling characteristics compared to my Trooper's Model (purchased years ago) - the angle, location and side of grip and trigger are the same but the Officer's Model points much more naturally. And although the trigger pull on both could best be described as awful, it seems more manageable on the Officer's Model. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10533.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10535.jpg Right along with it I bought a Dutch East Indies (KNIL) 1891 revolver in 9.4mm Nagant (or 10mm Soerabaja depending on which source you go with). I was very pleased to find that this one was dated 1924 and part of the 3rd Contract, which was originally made by Vickers subcontracting out to the Birmingham gun trade, and then reworked by FN after the initial quality wasn't up to snuff. The external conditions is better than expected, considering the 30 or so years it spent riding in holsters in tropical conditions, and the bore is very decent. Unforunately it doesn't function reliably in double action - that said, single action works fine and it locks up tight. I'm ok with it anyways - it's a rare gun known for being hard to find in good condition at a very fair price. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10534.jpg |
Haven't posted here in awhile, but I've acquired some interesting guns I'll fill in here as time permits.
I'll start with a German Reichsrevolver 1879 in 10.6mm German Ordnance that I picked up from Cabelas in Buda, Tx while on vacation in the US. This was the first issued service pistol of the German Empire after unification, and though it was supplanted by the lighter 1884 model and replaced by the Luger, it was still issued to some NCOs in WW1, particularly in artillery units. The Reichsrevolver is a single-action design (one of very few made in Europe, where the double action was popular long before the US), with an applied safety catch. It's loaded via a gate like the Colt SAA, but to reload you pivot down the lever in front of the cylinder, which releases the axis pin (which doubles as the ejector rod) and cylinder to be emptied. A slow and unnecessarily complex system, but these were very tough, reliable guns which were used for a very long period. This one is in very nice shape, mostly matching, and is unit marked to the ordnance column of the 6th field artillery regiment. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10614.jpg |
Well, haven't posted here in awhile! Due to home ownership my gun buying has slowed, but there's still a bunch of stuff I haven't posted here.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/SDC10633.jpg Looks like a Winchester 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine, but look closer! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/SDC10637.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/SDC10635.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/SDC10636.jpg It's actually a Garate Tigre, a Spanish copy of the Winchester 92 SRC made for issue to the Guardia Civil and Guardia de Asalto, the Spanish rural and urban police forces, respectively, in the 20s and 30s leading up to the Spanish Civil War. Key differences are the Mauser style sight and sling swivels. These were widely used, espescially by irregular forces, during the Spanish Civil War, in fact the president of the Spanish Republic, Manuel Azaņa, carried one while visiting the front. |
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Another old Winchester lever gun, this one being the genuine article. It's an 1895 Saddle Ring Carbine in .30-40 Krag that I got a really good deal on. This one was made in 1915, just before commercial production was suspended while they started making Musket models for the Russian government. The 1895 SRC was actually widely used by irregular forces in the Mexican revolution, although the gentleman I bought this from said he bought it in Alaska in the 60s from someone who had carried it while working on the famous Alaskan highway. A factory letter on this might be in order! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10725.jpg This is a Italian Carcano M91 Fucile made at Terni in 1897. It's in kind of rough shape but I got it for just over $100 so I'll live with it! This was the standard Italian rifle of WW1 and for many years after, this is of course a very early example with a mismatched bolt but otherwise original. It's in 6.5mm Carcano of course and has the standard Carcano 6 round magazine. The only really technically unique thing about these is the gain twist rifling - the rifling twist starts out slow at the breech and gets much faster at the muzzle in order to minimize wear and tear. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10702.jpg This is a Boer Mauser 1896 made by Ludwig Loewe, and carved with the name of the Boer who owned it (very common practice since the Boers didn't have a standing army but a militia in which a soldiers rifle was his private property). I actually have an identical rifle in better shape, but the fellow selling it didn't know what he had and priced it too cheap to pass up! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10584.jpg This is a Siamese Arisaka Type-66, made in Japan for Thailand (at time still called Siam) in the late 20s and the standard issue Thai rifle when they fought the French in Indochina in 1940 and then as Japanese allies from 1942. This isn't the more familiar Siamese Mauser Type-45 but the rifle that replaced it. It's basically an Arisaka Type-28 but in the larger caliber, with different sights and a shorter butt, as well as some small changes in the barrel bands and cleaning rod. There are, oddly enough, no interchangable parts with the Japanese Arisaka. The really neat thing for me is that it's marked entirely in Thai script, whereas even Japanese Arisakas use English numbering. |
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I got this one quite awhile ago, not sure how I missed posting it. It's a Spanish-army issued Astra 1921 (aka Astra 400 commercially) in 9 x 23mm Largo, one of the only straight blowback pistols ever made chambered in a large, high-pressure cartridge. It accomplishes this with a very heavy slide, and very strong main and hammer springs. Takes a solid grip to cock it! Very big, heavy and well-made pistol, and very unusual construction. I've taken apart alot of different pistols in my life and this is one of few where I had to consult the manual! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10538.jpg These two Mausers came out of the same estate sale. The top is a Romanian-issued VZ-24 in 8mm Mauser made by CZ in Czechoslovakia. This one is very, very rare in that it was the royal crest of King Carol II, who ruled Romania from 1930-1940. He was deposed by pro-Axis forces who brough Romania into WW2, where they were actually the second-largest Axis army on the Eastern Front. Almost all had the royal crest ground off after WW2 once the Communists took over. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...carolcrest.jpg The botton is a Polish WZ-29, also in 8mm Mauser, made by Radom in the 30s. This one had all the markings except the serial number ground off so they could covertly be sold to the Spanish Republicans in 1936 without upsetting Germany, who were supporting the Nationalists. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10604.jpg This was, oddly enough, one of the hardest guns in my collection to find - first one I've found in 10 years of looking! It's a plain-jane Russian Mosin-Nagant M1891, made by Tula in 1896, which was never modified by the Finns, never converted to a 91/30 by the Russians, or simply destroyed in any of the dozen wars Russia was involved in between 1896 and 1945. It received the 1910 upgrades (handguard, curved rear sight) just before WW2, but is otherwise unmessed with, if in somewhat rough shape. It was likely another gun sold to the Spanish Nationalists, which accounts for it making it to Canada in it's original Russian configuration. |
Finally, here's one very special rifle for me, it was my holy grail for alot of years and I had to sell a few firearms to buy it since it came on sale at the same time I bought my house:
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10715.jpg This is a Belgian Mauser M1889 rifle, made by Manufacture d'Armes de L'Etat (MAE) just prior to WW1. The Belgian M1889 was the first small-caliber smokeless powder Mauser, the first to use a box magazine, the weapon FN was set up to make, and is almost impossible to find in any condition. This one is even rarer for being made by MAE, the Belgian state arsenal, who only started making them just before WW1 as it was considered good for the Belgian economy to give the contract to FN, a civillian corporation. It's in really nice shape, all matching, with clear King Leopold II cartouches, a sling and bayonet. I've wanted one of these for years, not just because of the unique design but the history. It's no exagerration to say that in 1914 Belgium single-handedly saved the Allies from a quick German victory. When Germany made their plans for the upcoming European war, they wanted to knock France out of the war as soon as possible so they could put the majority of their armies in the East to fight the giant Russian army. The plan was to invade France from the north through neutral Belgium while a smaller force held the bulk of the French army in Alsace-Lorraine along the French / German border. The Germans assumed that the Belgian Army, 1/10th the size of the German, would either let them pass unhindered or be quickly crushed - Belgian resistance would be "the rage of dreaming sheep" in the words of one German general. Neither happened. The Belgians bled themselves white resisting the German advance for a month under the personal command of King Albert I, first at Liege and then Antwerp. They delayed the Germans long enough for the French to re-organise and halt the German advance at the Battle of the Marne. The Belgians eventually retreated to the river Yser, refusing requests by Allied command to abandon Belgium entirely and intentionally flooding it to provide a natural defence. This left only a tenth of Belgium unoccupied, and the Belgians held that line for the remainder of the war. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10717.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10721.jpg http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10731.jpg |
Very very nice Nyles. You have a keeper there.
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I like that Winchester 95 carbine. Those are great rifles. A factory letter would be a nice thing to have. 30-40 is good little load. The U.S. equivlant of the .303 British. You are a lucky man.
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Some more recent additions since moving in to my new place.
A 1936 Colt Police Positive Special in .38 Special with the less common 5" barrel. In very nice shape, both finish and internals. Great little revolver, and surprisingly light and small, espescially compared to a New Service or even Official Police. They even compare favorably to a S&W Military & Police, so I can see why they were such popular carry and duty guns! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC10793.jpg I also recently purchased a Carcano M91/38 Fucile Corto in 6.5mm Carcano, made by Terni in 1941. This was the major front-line Italian rifle of WW2, and is a wonderfully practical little gun. It's very light and handy, somewhat between the length of a traditional carbine and rifle (about 3" shorter that a Kar 98K or Lee-Enfield) with a fixed 200M battle sight (that doubles as a 100M sight if you adopt a low sight picture) in a somewhat lighter caliber - features that haven't endeared it to civilian shooters but IMHO all you really need for a real-world battle rifle. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10757.jpg Shortly thereafter I picked up another Carcano, an M91/38 Moschetto per Cavalleria (Cavalry Carbine) made by Brescia in 1940. The Italians of course were not actually using horse cavalry in WW2, so these were mainly issued to paratroopers and military police by this point. Very short, handy little gun - about the length of an M1 Carbine. Oddly Brescia was the only factory that made the 91/38 series with the old M91-style adjustable sight, and only on the cavalry carbine. No one seems to be clear on why. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10794.jpg Finally, I also picked up my first military sword, though I suspect there will be more to follow. It's a Japanese Type-95 Shin Gunto, the WW2 NCO's sword. These were traditionally styled Japanese swords (as opposed to the pre-1930s western-style Kyu Gunto military swords) made with modern machinery, the T-95 NCO sword having a cast aluminium hilt painted to look like a traditional grip, whereas the officers T-94 & T-98 had a the traditional wrapped grip. These were actually carried into battle by Japanese Seargents and Warrant Officers, as well as the Kempeitai military police. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...3/SDC10760.jpg |
I wonder how these wartime swords held up in battle. I've seen shows on sword making, and it does not appear to be a process optimized for a modern war.
And the history/conspiracy nuts amongst us are somewhat familiar with the Carcano 91/38. |
Or course we are!
That's the gun the CIA staged for the Dallas PD to find and pin the hit on thier patsy! That being said, love Police Positive Special. It saddens me that the days of the service revovler are gone. Oh, and to go along with Cordell, I too love that Model '95 carbine. Stephen Hunter referred to it as the last of the "cowboy carbines." Even he was an evil man, that was the gun of Earl Lee Swagger's father. And I think Earl Lee might have used one once, too, albeit in .30-06. Neat gun. |
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That's why the Seargent's swords had machine-made blades. No more complicated to make than a bayonet. Mine is a very early, likely pre-Pearl Harbor example, of course they got less elaborate as the war dragged on, much like any other Japanese weapon. Officer's actually purchased / supplied their own blade and then had it put into the regulation mounts - you can find T-94 / T-98 Shin Gunto with everything from hundred year old Katana blades to T-95 equivalent machine blades, depending on how wealthy the individual officer was.
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Just received a very early production Soviet Tokarev TT-33, made at Tula in 1936 - actually the first full year of production on the TT-33, as they were still making TT-30s up until 1935. It's a refurb, but all matching serial numbers (the barrel is a force-matched replacement) including two mags and a postwar-made M1935 leather holster. The holster is a bonus as these almost always come with 1950s post-war rubberized canvas economy models. I'm very happy to have got this, I has missed the boat on the initial import of Soviet TT-33s to Canada and there were only post-war models left on the market, so to get a good deal on a pre-war example is just a bonus!
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps7f3a5f94.jpg I also finally managed to track down some correct period grips for my British contract Colt Official Police - so it finally actually looks like a collectible! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...psce128d9c.jpg |
Does the Tokarev make you want to walk around and call people "Comrade..."
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I like that TT-33. Glad to see that you located some Colt medallion walnut grips for your British contract OP. Looks good. I'm still hoping to one day purchase the British OP that my department has locked away in evidence. Considering that the suspect who had it with him has been in prison for the past five years there is no reason for the Colt to still be locked awway. Case is ajudicated. No owner has been located. But bureaucracy moves with the speed of a thundering herd of turtles at times.
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Bureaucracy sounds about right - I once waited almost a year for the Canadian firearms program to de-register my Chamelot-Delvigne that someone called a .45 Colt... ugh.
Got some good stuff from the postman today! It's a very WW1 sort of week in the guntorium... First, I got a very nice Italian Carcano M91 Fucile, made at Terni in 1918, to replace my very not nice 1897 M91. This one is in really good shape, all matching and isn't missing the cleaning rod. Great example of a WW1 Italian rifle - too bad it was made too late to see much of the war, and it cost 3 times as much as the other one, but the other one was so rough I only ever bought it as a place holder. I still think the Carcano is a really under-rated rifle, they're not very prettily finished and the action isn't smooth, but they shoot surprisingly accurately with the gain-twist rifling and are really very practical battle rifles. http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...psd15d43f7.jpg I also got a very nice 1916-dated German S98/05 "butcher" bayonet to go on my Gewehr 98. This is a very impressive, very heavy 15" blade to mount on the end of a 50" rifle. These were called "butcher" bayonets because the very broad blade resembled a butcher's knife. These were also made with a saw-toothed back for issue to engineers and machine gun troops for cutting brush, however most of these were either thrown away or had the teeth ground off because they inflicted horrific wounds and the Allies started summarily executing anyone caught carrying one! http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps640fc8d3.jpg |
Neat! Love the sites on the Carcanco.
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Yeah, they're quite neat. A spring loaded button the left pushes the leaf aside so you can move it, when released it locks it into grooves on the base corresponding to your various ranges. There's even a cutout on the handguard so you can flip it all the way down and expose a fixed battle sight on the base, which is an unusualy large notch - put the blade at the top of the notch and it's good for 200M, at the bottom 100M. The later M38 series operated with just the fixed sight, which I think is plenty good enough for most combat ranges!
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Cool. That system seems very similar to the sights on the, and I'm gonna botch this, the Vitterelli rifles.
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That's absolutely where it came from. The Swiss came out with the Vetterli with a tube magazine in 1869, and then Italians adopted them in a single-shot version in 1870 (followed up by the Vetterli-Vitali with box magazine in 1887). When the Italians came out with the Carcano they just used the same system of sights their soldiers were familiar with. Interestingly, due to rifle shortages, in 1915 the Italians actually reissued Vetterlis converted to 6.5mm with a Carcano-type magazine to rear-echelon troops. I'm actually planning on picking one up soon-ish, though I have other priorities at the moment since they're not actually safe to shoot!
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Hey!
That explains what Great-Grandpa was doing with a convertered Vetterli-Vitali. I knew the gun was a war bring back but couldn't figure out why it wasn't in 10mm Rimmed or whatever the heck it was originally chambered in. Neat gun, cleaning rod included. |
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