Some recent additions to my collection

[Jcordell]

I like that Winchester 95 carbine. Those are great rifles. A factory letter would be a nice thing to have. 30-40 is good little load. The U.S. equivlant of the .303 British. You are a lucky man.

[Nyles]

Some more recent additions since moving in to my new place.

A 1936 Colt Police Positive Special in .38 Special with the less common 5" barrel. In very nice shape, both finish and internals. Great little revolver, and surprisingly light and small, espescially compared to a New Service or even Official Police. They even compare favorably to a S&W Military & Police, so I can see why they were such popular carry and duty guns!



I also recently purchased a Carcano M91/38 Fucile Corto in 6.5mm Carcano, made by Terni in 1941. This was the major front-line Italian rifle of WW2, and is a wonderfully practical little gun. It's very light and handy, somewhat between the length of a traditional carbine and rifle (about 3" shorter that a Kar 98K or Lee-Enfield) with a fixed 200M battle sight (that doubles as a 100M sight if you adopt a low sight picture) in a somewhat lighter caliber - features that haven't endeared it to civilian shooters but IMHO all you really need for a real-world battle rifle.



Shortly thereafter I picked up another Carcano, an M91/38 Moschetto per Cavalleria (Cavalry Carbine) made by Brescia in 1940. The Italians of course were not actually using horse cavalry in WW2, so these were mainly issued to paratroopers and military police by this point. Very short, handy little gun - about the length of an M1 Carbine. Oddly Brescia was the only factory that made the 91/38 series with the old M91-style adjustable sight, and only on the cavalry carbine. No one seems to be clear on why.



Finally, I also picked up my first military sword, though I suspect there will be more to follow. It's a Japanese Type-95 Shin Gunto, the WW2 NCO's sword. These were traditionally styled Japanese swords (as opposed to the pre-1930s western-style Kyu Gunto military swords) made with modern machinery, the T-95 NCO sword having a cast aluminium hilt painted to look like a traditional grip, whereas the officers T-94 & T-98 had a the traditional wrapped grip. These were actually carried into battle by Japanese Seargents and Warrant Officers, as well as the Kempeitai military police.

[funkychinaman]

I wonder how these wartime swords held up in battle. I've seen shows on sword making, and it does not appear to be a process optimized for a modern war.

And the history/conspiracy nuts amongst us are somewhat familiar with the Carcano 91/38.

[SPEMack618]

Or course we are!

That's the gun the CIA staged for the Dallas PD to find and pin the hit on thier patsy!

That being said, love Police Positive Special.

It saddens me that the days of the service revovler are gone.

Oh, and to go along with Cordell, I too love that Model '95 carbine.

Stephen Hunter referred to it as the last of the "cowboy carbines."

Even he was an evil man, that was the gun of Earl Lee Swagger's father.

And I think Earl Lee might have used one once, too, albeit in .30-06.

Neat gun.

[Spartan198]

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

I wonder how these wartime swords held up in battle. I've seen shows on sword making, and it does not appear to be a process optimized for a modern war.

I read in one of my dad's WWII Pac Front books a while back something along the lines of that ground troops were instructed to "pay close attention" (i.e., put as many holes as possible in) to Japanese officers with swords due to that they had cut through the barrels and stocks of rifles on some occasions.