Some recent additions to my collection

[BlackIce_GTS]

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)?

[Excalibur]

Isn't the M1 Carbine technically a pistol caliber weapon?

[Nyles]

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.

[Nyles]

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.



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.

[SPEMack618]

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.

[Nyles]

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.

[SPEMack618]

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?

[Nyles]

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!



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.



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.



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.

[Nyles]

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:



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.

[Jcordell]

Very very nice Nyles. You have a keeper there.