Poll: German beachcomber finds box of 30 WWII pistols after a storm

[Phantom Man]

More then likely it's a F. B. Radom model 35


View attachment 552862

Yes, it looks like that one and bore perhaps too small to be a .45

 

[Rudedog]

My take from the picture is Dad saying Hans be careful don't touch those evil vepons! I expected to see these layed out like a fish catch photo.My cousins would have these working if possible or broke down for parts. They ain't land mines.

 

[Stomper]

His name is, Ludwig....

 

[Tully Mars]

This is just tragic. What a waste
Given that it appears to be a poorly packed hodge-podge of pistols, I wonder if a resistance group stashed it.

Or ditched in a hurry prior to surrender? I think a large group of German forces were captured/surrendered in that area.

 

[xlsbob]

Some of them don't look that bad so I wouldn't have mentioned the empty box I found on the beach to anybody.

 

[DunRanull]

There is a reverse type of electrolysis which removes rust.. I understand that it can be reversed to plate the surface with new steel.. just a thought... As an American and small-time collector, govt wouldnt even hear of this kind of find.

 

[DunRanull]

Like Wildman Jr. said in the comments " Germany used to be so squared away - now they are a bunch of wimps." In every war you loose your patriots first. In WW11, Germany lost most of theirs, and we lost many of ours. That may explain why and who we are today.

Germany was destroyed by ww2 and aftermath. Some would say that most all of the patriotic "good Germans" died in or as a result of the war. Purposeful starvation, (Yes this was Eisenhower's "policy" with surrendered German troops), decimation and exile to Siberia for many... A shameful pity..

 

[Sawdust]

Box? What box?

 

[zenmonger]

I see the P-38's, something that looks like an Astra...but on the lower right...is that a 1911 facing the camera???

Yes, the one facing the camera does look like a 1911, but the bore appears to be the same as the 9mms. I don't know if 1911s were made in 9mm that long ago. Perhaps it's a High Power? One of the others that can't be seen clearly may be a PPK. This haphazardly thrown together collection doesn't seem like a military thing; I'm betting this was a stash put together by civilians or maybe partisans.

 

[RVTECH]

I could be wrong but I suspect the attitude about guns with the average german citizen is considerably different than ours.
I am sure the first thought of the guy who found them was to immediately contact the 'authorities' - probably due to legal fears hammered into them by what are probably pretty strict gun laws.
I don't think keeping them would be considered by too many over there.

 

[jbett98]

Germany has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe. The guy could have kept them and tried to get them functioning, but with no resources for parts or ammo, what's the point in becoming a criminal along his with dad as an accomplice.

 

[RVTECH]

I was watching a U-tube video a while back about metal detecting relic hunters in Europe and some guys found a German MG in a river and I recall them discussing about how they had to call the authorities immediately according to the prevailing laws.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Best Sgt. Schultz voice :
"I see nothing , I know nothing..."
Andy

 

[Tarawa86]

...especially one in a country where you can go to jail for twelve million years for illegal possession of an otter

Weird, so does Germany ban possession of all Lutrinae or can you own some species, but not others? Was an otter once used in a terrorist plot, or a secret Nazi symbol or something?

 

[tac]

My comment was by way of verbal lacunae, whereby a mild exaggeration is used in obvious overstatement to reinforce an opinion.

 

[WAW44]

Go to any country east of Germany and notice that the sentiment is a bit diffferent. Not nearly enough Germans died.

Germany was destroyed by ww2 and aftermath. Some would say that most all of the patriotic "good Germans" died in or as a result of the war. Purposeful starvation, (Yes this was Eisenhower's "policy" with surrendered German troops), decimation and exile to Siberia for many... A shameful pity..

 

[nehalemguy]

Yes, the one facing the camera does look like a 1911, but the bore appears to be the same as the 9mms. I don't know if 1911s were made in 9mm that long ago. Perhaps it's a High Power? One of the others that can't be seen clearly may be a PPK. This haphazardly thrown together collection doesn't seem like a military thing; I'm betting this was a stash put together by civilians or maybe partisans.

The Germans put pretty much everything they could lay hands on into service. I've seen Wermacht marked Radoms, Hi Powers, Walther PP and PPK. I see nothing in that box that was not used by the Wermacht in WW2.

E

 

[CLT65]

I have to say that if I lived over there, where you can go to prison for a long time for possessing an unregistered handgun of any sort, that honestly I would probably either leave it where it lay, or contact a WWII museum and let them deal with it. I have a family to raise, a career, and a mortgage to pay. I wouldn't risk getting in serious legal trouble over some rusty old guns that I couldn't shoot or even tell anyone about.

Here in the U.S. it would be a different story. It would be fascinating to clean them up and find some history on them.

 

[gmerkt]

Just in my own experience, I can think of dozens of people around here who'd be more than glad to have them rust and all. Historically interesting, not so far gone as to not be of collector interest. The buried for 70 years thing is a cachet of history for many collectors.

15 or 20 years ago, people derided the Russian Capture Lugers, P,38's, K98's, etc. that came on the market. I don't think that's quite as true now as then. A Russian Capture piece, even hastily refinished by the Russians after the war, almost certainly has a history of being used on the Russian front. Unlike a cherry piece used in the occupation of Normay, for example.

Here in the US, if I found such a trove I would just keep it. In Germany where laws are strict, I'd have to think about it. Here or there, lots of ordinary (non-gun people) would just naturally think of calling the police first. Ordinary people would think, "gun" and "crime" in one thought. Some would automatically jump to some conclusion like, "Oh, the police are probably looking for this in connection with a murder." Well, it does happen. Such as the .22 revolver used in the Manson case; a kid found it down a bank off of a road where it had been thrown.

What I see in the container: Three P.38's right on top. Two have the coarse serrations on the hammer, likely are cyq's. There is the Walther PP in .32 that someone else observed. The piece in the upper right side with the muzzle pointed out, I think that's a Browning Model 1922 in .380.

 

[Capn Jack]

A German man and his father found more than seashells along the beach after a storm in their coastal Baltic Sea town last week. Alexander Ladwig, 23, was out for a walk with his pop when he found a recently unearthed box in the sand that contained 30 handguns, reports German news outlet Kieler Nachrichten. The find, near the town of Waabs in Schleswig-Holstein, was quickly collected by the notified local authorities and destroyed– but not before Ladwig had snapped a few images.

quickly collected by the notified local authorities and destroyed...SMH

German beachcomber finds box of 30 WWII pistols after storm (PHOTOS)

And they were immediately seized by the authorities and destroyed. What waste...
I've read that shotguns are sold out due to the illegal immigrant crime problems.