Bought some new guns
 

Haven't posted any new guns in awhile, so what the hell.

My most recent addition was a Smith & Wesson 1899 .38 Hand Ejector, which was S&Ws first truly modern swing-out cylinder revolver (the 1896 .32 HE had a number of features held-over from earlier guns) and the very first .38 Special to hit the market. It's pretty similar to the later 1905 .38 Military & Police that became the Model 10, except for the unsupported ejector rod, straight contour barrel and rounded rubber grips. It also has the tiniest sights I've ever seen on a service-type revolver! I still have pretty good eyesight and they're almost unusable except in perfect lighting conditions. This one has a 6 1/2" barrel and not alot of finish left, but it's in great mechanical condition.

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I also picked up a 1942 Bulgarian contract Star Model B in 9mm Luger. The Bulgarians were allied with Germany in WW2 and participated in the occupation of Yugoslavia, but not in the invasion of Russia. That didn't stop the Russians from invading THEM in 1944, and this is a typical Russian captured gun with mismatched parts and a not espescially careful rebluing. The Bulgarians actually fought on the Allied side after 1944, so this piece would have seen service on both sides of WW2.

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I also picked up a Winchester-Hotchkiss 1883 saddle ring carbine from work. This was the first bolt-action rifle made by Winchester, a 5 shot .45-70 with a tube mag in the butt loaded through the open action. They were initially developped for the US military, who tested the 1878 and 1879 models in rifle and carbine configuration, and then the 1883 in rifle only. This is one of very, very few 1884 carbines made for commercial sale. It's actually a surprisingly functional gun, feeds beautifully once you get used to loading the magazine, and pretty well to boot!

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Also picked up a 1918 Remington M1917 Enfield from a friend of mine for a very good price - this one was later sold to Canada during WW2 and used for training and defence at home. The red stripe around the forend was added at this time to warn you not to load .303 ammo into it, as it's pretty much identical to the .303 P14 rifle. This one is a tack driver - last time I went shooting I was banging the 300 yard gong with every shot.

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I didn't know S&W had unsupported ejector rods. If I ever get around to that revolver guide I've been putting off, I'll have to remember that.

Only the 1899 .38, 1896 .32 and 1st model .22 Ladysmith (1902) did. The 1902 .38, 1903 .32 and 2nd model Ladysmith (1906) all went to supported rods, so they only did for 10 years across 3 models, none of which are commonly seen today.

Some great pieces there Nyles. As always I'm very impressed with some of the items that you find.I also have a S&W Model of 1899 M&P with the 4" barrel. Mine was manufactured in 1902 and is chambered in .38 Spl. As you can see somewhere in the 109 years before I purchased it (2011) the original ejector rod end cap went missing and was replaced. I've toyed with the idea of replacing it, but so far I haven't.

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Thanks! That's a nice 1899 you have yourself, definitely in better shape than mine. I do prefer the 6 1/2" barrel though!

Yes the 6.5" bl does somehow seem more period correct with the 1899. It just looks more Victorian Era. You can picture a British officer using it in South Africa during the Boer War for example.

Or a wealthy officer in the American Volunteers purchasing one before he set sail to Cuba or the Philippines.

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I just picked up this Chinese Type Zhongzheng Mauser in 8mm Mauser, more commonly known as a Chiang Kai Shek rifle. Chiang Kai Shek changed his name to Zhongzheng around 1920 but it's not widely used in the West or Communist China. The Chiang Kai Shek is essentially a Chinese made copy of the German Standard Modell, which had been supplied to some divisions of the Kuomintang army, and was the predecessor of the 98K. This one was made at the Hanyang arsenal in June 1944 at the tail end of WW2 and would have seen use in the Chinese civil war afterwards. The characters on the butt indicate it was issued to local village militias after the Communist takeover, which partially accounts for it's rough condition. It's generally pretty beat up, and poorly made to the point that I wouldn't shoot it, but it gives me a new respect for the Chinese soldiers that carried weapons like this into battle.

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I also picked up a 1943 Ishevsk Mosin-Nagant M38 carbine. The M38 was the first widely produced Mosin carbine, intended mainly to arm the crews of heavy weapons like mortars and machine guns. Unlike alot of refurb M38s, which were put it into M44 stocks with a cutout to accomodate the bayonet, this is in a proper wartime M38 stock, and as a bonus it's the rarer laminated wood stock. It's in pretty typical refurbished Mosin condition, but I was pretty happy to track it down as M38s have become pretty tough to come by in Canada.

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Also got a Dutch M1895 Karabijn Marin carbine in 6.5 x 53mm Mannlicher, made at Hembrug in 1940 on a 1917 dated WW1-surplus receiver. The Dutch came out with a bewildering variety of carbines, and I originally purchased it thinking it was a No.5 Anti-Aircraft Troops carbine. A little research turned up that it's actually one of about 2500 carbines made for the Dutch Marines in the East Indies shortly before the German conquest of the Netherlands. Based on the condition, I think it's likely one of the ones which were diverted for the defense of the Netherlands before making it there.

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Finally, I also picked up a bayonet for my French Berthier M1892 Artillery Carbine, an early model with the hooked quillon (blade breaker), but with WW1-era replacement wood grips instead of the original black rubber ones.

Picked up a few interesting additions to the collection in January:

First was a rifle I've been looking for for years, I finally gave up on finding one in Canada and imported it from the US. It's a Mauser Infanterie-Gewehr 1871, the original single shot Mauser in an 11mm blackpowder cartridge that replaced the Prussian Dreyse need rifle after German unification. Call it the German equivlent to the Trapdoor Springfield or Martini-Henry. Interesting rifle, it has an extractor but no ejector, so you have to manually remove the empty from the action. Otherwise it's a thoroughly modern weapon for the era, though it doesn't have much in common with the familiar smokeless powder Mausers of the 20th century.

These were never really used in combat by the German army, but were the most common rifle used by the Chinese in the Boxer rebellion, and about 1200 were smuggled into Ireland for use by the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army in 1913. They're known there as Howth Mausers after the site of the initial landing. They were used in the failed Easter Rising of 1916, which can be looked at as the Irish equivalent of Lexington & Concord. That's really why I'm so interested in this model, I've always has a passion for the history of the Irish struggle for independence.

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My other purchase was a Canadian-marked Pattern 1908 Cavalry Sabre, made in February 1918 and issued to the Fort Garry Horse, a cavalry regiment (now "armored" reconnaisance) from my home town of Winnipeg that I've actually done alot of exercises with over the years. In 1918 the Garrys were serving in France as part of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, and actually made mounted charges during the 100 Days Offensive that ended the war. Although it's well known that most British & empire cavalry units were dismounted and used as infantry in 1916, they were remounted in 1917 and saw alot of action after the breakout from the trenches in 1918.

The Pattern 1908 sabre is actually a very interesting design, much along the same lines as the American M1913 Patton sabre. Rather than being designed for cutting attacks, it's meant entirely to be used as a thrusting weapon from horseback, with a long, straight, narrow blade that was often not even sharpened before battle and a large guard intended to protect the hand during the charge. The whole idea was that the power of a cavalry charge came from the weight and momentum of the animal, and that stabbing attacks were more often fatal than cutting. Interestingly this sword was designed to be carried on the horse, not the man, reflecting it's intended role.

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What's the grip of the sabre made of? That's not plastic, is it?

I did a page for Ryan's Daughter and it had the Germans supplying Irish rebels with Mauser 1871s. It looks like David Lean's reputation for being a stickler for details was true.

Yes, it is bakelite. I believe the earlier ones used a hard black rubber, but they switched to bakelite for some reason (my guess is that it wears less).

I didn't think they used plastic back in 1908.

Well, bakelite isn't quite the same as modern plastics - it's got more of a glassy texture, and tends to break more easily than modern plastic. Oddly this doesn't have the same texture as other bakelite items I've handled, it's much closer to modern plastic.

I looked at the page for Ryan's Daughter and you're right, those are actual IG71s, not even 71/84s. Nice touch! Michael Collins and Rebel Heart, the only two onscreen depictions of the Rising that I've seen, just went with a mix of short and long Lee-Enfields and Gewehr 98s. They could have gone with relatively common 71/84s, although I suspect there's not alot of 11mm Mauser blanks out there.

Interesting bit of historial trivia, the Howth Mausers were smuggled in by Boer War veteran and novelist Erksine Childers, who wrote a very popular thriller novel called The Riddle Of The Sands (voted one of the best 100 novels of all time), who at the time of the Rising had actually returned to the British military and was serving in London. He later rejoined the Irish nationalist movement and was executed by the Irish Free State government during the Civil War in 1922.

That's why I was surprised they'd use it in something like a sword, especially the grip.

The grip material doesn't really need to be that strong, it is the metal tang inside that provides the strength of the sword. Also, this material isn't actually Bakelite, that is just what people generically call it. The trade name for the plastic that was actually used on the sword was either Gryphonite or Dermatine, but I get mixed up on which way round they were. I think the way it worked is that the very first swords had a wood handle which splintered easily and are very rare these days, then they switched to the black synthetic Gryphonite handle (which I believe is sort of like Vulcanite/Ebonite), and then it was the orange/brown Dermatine handle (broadly similar to Bakelite) which I think are the final, most common type.

I don't know if this was done to the handle in the p1908, but you also got "composite" bakelite of various types which was more resilient and had a different texture, which was made by forming the resin on a textile base of some sort such as linen or canvas.

I posted screencaps of the P1908/1912 sabers on the War Horse page. No good images of the grip though.

Well, haven't posted too much here lately, but got some new stuff that may be of interest.

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First was a WW1 Ottoman Military Police contract FN Browning 1903 pistol in 9mm Browning Long, with all the original Ottoman markings. The Ottoman Empire never went for handguns in a big way, their only purchases in the era were 1000 Mauser C/96s for the Navy, and 1000 of these Brownings for the Military Police. This one isn't in awesome shape, but few of these are - they were used hard and didn't get a ton of attention from armorers after WW1 when they became obsolete.

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Then I got a French issued, Spanish made Cordero revolver. The French purchases of Ruby pistols during WW1 in well known, what's less known is that they were also buying anything the Spanish arms making industry could turn out in their standard 8mm revolver cartridge. There are dozens of different makers, primarily copies of S&W and Colt designs, and quality tends to vary between "I can't believe it's not a real S&W" to "I can't believe it's not a cap gun". This one is a pretty much straight copy of a Colt Police Positive Special, and is definitely one of the best quality examples.

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Most recently I won at auction a Savage 1907 in .380, made around late 1914 / early 1915. Very cool gun, very unique design - a double stack striker fired pocket auto with a loaded chamber indicator in 1907! Although the French and Portuguese used these in WW1 they were all in .32 ACP, this one being clearly a commercial example (although it has British import proofs so it could conceivably have been carried as a backup by a British officer during the war), but it definitely fits into my gangster era collection.

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In terms of long guns, I picked up a French Tabatiere Mle 1867 rifle, a Mle 1842 musket or Mle 1853 rifle converted to breech loading using the Snider breech system. Basically the French equivalent to a Snider-Enfield or early Springfield-Allin conversion. It fires a huge 17 x 32mm round (basically a short shotgun slug), and was used to arm second line troops during the Franco-Prussian War due to the shortages of Chassepot needle rifles.

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Finally, and least exotic, I picked up a 1945 Ishevsk Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine, to replace the 1953 Polish production one I sold a few years ago. I wanted a wartime example as used during the advance into Germany, and this one fit the bill nicely! The nice thing about this one is unlike most of the WW2 Mosins out there it's not a refurb, and has the original unshellaced stock.

I can't believe the logo for the Savage is an Indian head. Reminds me of the time I saw the emblem for the USS Savage. File it under "Stuff you can't get away with today" I guess.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/386.htm

Yeah.... they actually still use that. It was on the grip caps of all the 111 series rifles with synthetic stocks up until a couple of years ago, and it's still on all their boxes and catalogues.

According to their website in 1919 they licenced Chief Lame Deer's likeness in perpetuity in exchange for Model 99 rifles for his band. Although seeing as they've been using that logo since 1903....

Wow. For all the controversy over the Washington Redskins thing, this has sort of flown under the radar.

M44 seems to be the handiest Mosin. I love mine. Everyone else hates it, but I love it

My only problem with Mosin carbines is that they shoot so damned high! I put two holes in the crossbar of my gong the first time I took out the M38.

It's funny, working in a gun shop in Winnipeg I deal a lot with first nations people off of reservations, and they buy a lot of Savages. Doesn't seem to bother them.

Why do you keep making me more and more envious of you? ;) The 1903 and Mosin in particular are real beauties.

They're still fun! So glad I got one before they jumped up in prices. Yours looks very well taken care of; how's the bore? I didn't check mine against the little "here's how to tell if your Mosin is garbage" guide floating around online until last week, but mine looks pretty good despite it having a rough exterior

The bore's actually pretty good. There's a bit of a crack in the stock, but it looks pretty stable. Caused by drying rather than recoil I think.

Spartan - thanks!

I have seen exactly TWO Mosins with stocks that were not all tore up, a sniper Mosin from WW2 and the perfect 91/30 my buddy ended up with, so I don't think just a bit of a crack is a problem at all

Sometimes the coolest guns are kind of tore up, you know? My Parker Hale looks like it was thrown off a cliff, but it's just too good of a rifle to let that flaw get to me

Exactly! I buy guns because they have history, if I wanted something perfect I'd go buy a Sako Bavarian at work.

I own several issues of "Guns & Ammo" from 1967-1972. In the November 1968 issue there is an article about Savage being criticized for it's logo and advertising. In the late sixties Savage had an ad campaign with actual North American Indians posing with the various models that the company was making.

Savage responded that the company is sensitive towards issues concerning the Indians, that Savage contributes to various organizations and charities and that the Indians who are in their ads approved of the campaign and it's depiction of Indians.

Savage was dealing with that controversy long before professional sports teams were. Just FYI.

If I ever felt the need for another hunting rifle, and could find a leftie one, a Mannlicher stocked rifle like that Sako would be it

I'm not really into hunting, although I'll admit a certain temptation to take my Rem Model 8 .35 on a bear hunt.

Speaking of vintage semi-autos, I just received this 1908 production Winchester Model 1907 in .351 WSL, to replace my 1954 production model. Seeing as I'm interested in these for their use in WW1 and the gangster era of the 30s, I definitely wanted the pre-war model with it's lighter stock and smaller cocking plunger. The postwar model is definitely an all around improvement, although the earlier one is a lot nicer looking! It's not as nice as my newer one, and it has a split forend (all the prewar ones do, the wood was way too thin to stand up to the pounding from the counterweight inside), but it's the one I really wanted. As a bonus, this one has the special order factory sing swivels!

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That's a great find. One of the "Police Specials". Way to go!

How difficult is it to find .351 WSL? Can't imagine how much it must suck to have a gun with really uncommon ammo that's fun to shoot; just finding/buying .303 makes me cry because it is so expensive and not very available

I picked up a 50 round box of 1970s Winchester Super X at a gun show and shoot it quite sparingly - it's not an easy caliber to shoot, that's for sure! Still, not as bad as some of the other guns in my collection (10.6mm German Ordnance Revolver, anyone?) Apparently PCI still loads it in the States, but no one brings it up here.

It is quite a fun gun to shoot, the big counter weight slamming forward really keeps the recoil down, it almost wants to pull forward after every shot. Very controllable, even firing quickly! It's too bad the round was never chambered in more guns, it really does suck as a deer hunting round but makes a great short-range manstopper - it would have been a big step up from .30 Carbine if they'd chambered it in something like an M1!

Go back in time-->select fire Winchesters for erryone-->beat those commie bastards to having a real assault rifle-->get US army equipped with it so we have a jump-start on everyone else

Somehow missed this on the first go-around! I think Savage has, at lease since the 50s, been quite sensitive with their advertising and remains very popular with the native hunters I deal with at work. I just find the whole Chief Lame Deer story highly suspect given the timeframes involved.

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You guys will definitely get a kick out of this one - I got a grenade launcher cup for a SMLE, in this case pictured with my 1943 Ishapore Mk.III*. Really simple design, clamps onto the muzzle and fits a Mills bomb with a gas check plate threaded on (don't have that piece yet) inside the cup. Simply insert the grenade, pull the pin (the cup holds down the safety lever), chamber a grenade launching blank and fire it off. Ranging is controlled by the adjustable gas bleed-off valve at the base of the cup. Effective from 50-200M, introduced midway through WW1 and largely replaced by the 2" light mortar in WW2, except in the Indian Army. I'm obviously not going to screw up my Mills bomb by shooting it, but they can launch tennis balls, so it's time to load up some blanks!

Random trivia I just picked up today: Prior to inventing the Mills Bomb, William Mills developed and manufactured metal golf clubs.

Kids on lawn-->launch tennis balls with grenade launcher