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Old 06-22-2022, 04:27 AM
Nyles Nyles is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 921
Default Still here, still buying weird old guns.

Been pretty busy the last few months (getting married!) but still managed to pick up a few cool old guns for the collection.



First up was a 1936 Hi Standard Model C in .22 Short - not quite a high end target gun, more of an indoor plinker, but they only made a little under 5000 of them. I used to have a Model B in .22 LR and kinda regretted selling it, but this is even cooler.



Then I picked up a 1955 Egyptian contract Beretta 1951. This isn’t a Maadi Helwan but a Beretta made gun for the Egyptian army, used in the wars with Israel (who weirdly also used the Beretts 1951 at the time). The Egyptian contract guns have some unique features like a heel magazine catch, taller sights and smaller grips.



Next I got an 1915 BSA SMLE Mk.III* that was issued in the Irish Civil War. I already had an Irish Mk.I* but wanted a Mk.III since they were by far the majority of rifles used, plus I didn’t have a nice original WW1 dated SMLE. This killed two birds with one stone.



Best for last, I got a surprisingly cheap 1903 production Colt 1878 in .41 Colt in an auction. These guns are notorious for getting out of time but this one locks up tight and cycles properly. It’s a big ugly awkward kludge of a gun and I love it. I didn’t know when I bought it they only made about 300 1878s in .41, so that’s pretty cool - probably still would have preferred a .44-40 or a .45 Colt but I doubt it would have been cheap if it was!
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