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Old 12-24-2011, 01:44 AM
Nyles Nyles is offline
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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.




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.




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.




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.

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