Some recent additions to my collection

[SPEMack618]

I'd fist fight a grizzly for that para-carbine.

[mpe2010]

Can you shoot 38 S&W in that 9mm Japanese revolver?

[Nyles]

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.

[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.

[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.