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Hey Folks,

My favorite rifle is my CMP M1 Garand Special. It's a mix of parts and a 308 barrel. The receiver and bolt are post war...However the entire trigger group, and the Op Rod, is from 1940-1941. Was my trigger group at Bastogne? Or maybe on Iwo Jima? Perhaps my grandfather carried part of the rifle at Peleliu...

(Or perhaps it never went anywhere and just sat in a box for seventy years)

garand.jpg


And what about my grandfather's Colt 1911? It was manufactured in 1944 but has British proof marks all over it. Did this pistol jump into Normandy? or maybe it was at the Nuremberg Trials...

IMG_6357.jpg



What about your firearms? What are the History's Mysteries that they hold?
 
Your pistol with British Proof Marks - please let us see them so we can put a date on them - was sold 'out of service' on the commercial market here in yUK at some time - around the date of the proofs, which are mandatory for foreign-made firearms in ALL the CIP-signature countries. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but let me know if you need a reminder.
 
Hey Folks,

My favorite rifle is my CMP M1 Garand Special. It's a mix of parts and a 308 barrel. The receiver and bolt are post war...However the entire trigger group, and the Op Rod, is from 1940-1941. Was my trigger group at Bastogne? Or maybe on Iwo Jima? Perhaps my grandfather carried part of the rifle at Peleliu...

(Or perhaps it never went anywhere and just sat in a box for seventy years)

View attachment 697024


And what about my grandfather's Colt 1911? It was manufactured in 1944 but has British proof marks all over it. Did this pistol jump into Normandy? or maybe it was at the Nuremberg Trials...

View attachment 697025



What about your firearms? What are the History's Mysteries that they hold?

A majority of my guns have known histories. At least two, SERIOUSLY spooky ones.
 
"We sat in an armory until a collector bought us, when we were occasionally taken out of the safe to have a couple rounds put through us... months of darkness would ensue."
:s0114:
 
Wow your Grandfather's 1911A1. You are very fortunate to own it. I have some CMP and the older DCM rifles.
I wonder where they have been. I have one all original 1943 M1 rifle I got from the DCM years ago.
SA M1 'Special' and a new reproduction SA 1911A1.
1589537171704.png
 
Two of my favorite old ones...

A J.Henry Trade Rifle . .58 caliber , flintlock circa 1800.
Did it head West and get used by a trapper or trader...was it traded to a Delaware hunter...?
Perhaps it headed north to Fort Union and provided meat and protected its owner from the Blackfoot....
South it may have went , down to Bent's fort....
Who really knows...
I do know that it still shoots and has gotten me elk.
DSC06814.jpg

DSC06817.jpg


A later rifle...a Sporting Rifle . St. Louis made , by F.E. Seiferth circa 1840-50 . .50 caliber percussion.
Was this a fancy buffalo hunters rifle...Maybe it went up the Oregon Trail ...
Perhaps the California or Colorado gold fields...?
Again who knows who knows for sure.
This one shoots well enough still to win a rifle match or two for me.
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DSC06621 (1).jpg

Thanks for looking
Andy
 
A majority of my guns have known histories. At least two, SERIOUSLY spooky ones.
I'd love to read these if you have ever written about them.

I own a well used 1844 percussion cap pistol manufactured as a US side arm about the time of the Mexican-American War, and a very well cared for, civil war era S&W Model 1 and a S&W model 2.
 
Another fun old one of mine
A flinlock fowler made by Belgium gun maker G. Laloux
His company made guns from 1834 -1920...from the condition of mine , I think it dates to around 1900 or so.
20 gauge and it has busted many a clay bird and gotten grouse for me.
What did it do before I got ahold of it....?
I think it was just someone's wall hanger...as the bore is still bright and shiny...
No wear to speak of in the vent , and the frizzen did not have a lot of marks.
Andy

DSC06557.jpg

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One thing to consider when buying an old gun....
Is to buy the gun , not the story.

Another thing to think about , is the whole gun...not just a piece or a part of it.
Just because the lock of a flintlock rifle has the name Jacob Dickert on it...does not mean that Jacob Dickert made the rifle...he sold many parts as well...he made the lock , sure...but one needs to look at the whole gun to have a clue and the clue may at best , only be a guess.

With the two guns below....one is a Colt 1st model Dragoon...and the other a .54 caliber percussion trade pistol.
Which is true...
But the Colt is a 2nd generation from the 1980's which as been artificially aged.
( Not by me )
Its still a real Colt...but one from the 1980's not 1850s
The trade pistol is one that I made from random old and antique parts I had laying around in the shop.

If told with the right story...they could fool someone who did not do their homework.
Andy
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I have my grand fathers 1896 Remington 12 ga. Most likely bought used in the late 19 teens. My Grandfather was born in 1898. He and his cousin Cloyd made a few trips back and forth from Kentucky to California in a model T truck. I'll bet that ol' scattergun put a few rabbits and other edibles in the stew pot on their adventures.
 
I feel kind of bad the fire arms I have that are "American Arsenal" aren't real/fully real. I have a new model Inland .30 Carbine. It's a fine gun and has given me not one problem. The new Inland's purportedly used parts that will interchange with original .30 carbine parts even. I also have an M1 Garand that the only parts that are original U.S. military are the receiver ('43 Win) and barrel ('53 SA). The rest of the parts are, a repro stock, everything else is/was new BMB Breda parts. I wanted originals guns but didn't know enough to put the kind of money wanted for originals for fear I'd get a dog not worth what I paid. Neither on of those were cheap, but I knew I wasn't paying too much for what I got.

I do have a 1902 all matching Swedish Mauser though. And a 1918 BSA Lee Enfield that if you could read the bumps, dings and bruises through the hardened linseed oil on the stock, it would have some stories I imagine.
 
Something to consider with old military guns...
Is that when they go to a armory for an over-haul...
The army doesn't care if all the numbers match or if the pieces are of the original era.
They want a rifle / gun to work and have all the parts meet current military specs.

So....having a 03 Springfield with a 1919 dated receiver and a 1942 dated barrel is still "original" if done at a military arsenal ....Because that modification that was done by the military...
At least in my view.
Andy
 
Something to consider with old military guns...
Is that when they go to a armory for an over-haul...
The army doesn't care if all the numbers match or if the pieces are of the original era.
They want a rifle / gun to work and have all the parts meet current military specs.

So....having a 03 Springfield with a 1919 dated receiver and a 1942 dated barrel is still "original" if done at a military arsenal ....Because that is modification that was done by the military...
At least in my view.
Andy

Oh, I've learned that Andy. And I agree. Some of those M1 Carbines have parts in them from several of the different builders. The Lee Enfield has so many markings on it it makes your head spin. The Swede Mauser has been back to the Carl Gustafs armory only once. And again to the husqvarna in 1938-1940 to be shortened (M38) and have a Husqvarna rear site put on.
 
Your pistol with British Proof Marks - please let us see them so we can put a date on them - was sold 'out of service' on the commercial market here in yUK at some time - around the date of the proofs, which are mandatory for foreign-made firearms in ALL the CIP-signature countries. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but let me know if you need a reminder.

The mark that I *think* is a British proof mark is a Crown with "BNP" on the slide and another on the frame.
I know nothing about the pistol except my grandfather purchased it "after the war for $25"


And @Andy54Hawken , great pictures as always.
 
Something to consider with old military guns...
Is that when they go to a armory for an over-haul...
The army doesn't care if all the numbers match or if the pieces are of the original era.
They want a rifle / gun to work and have all the parts meet current military specs.

So....having a 03 Springfield with a 1919 dated receiver and a 1942 dated barrel is still "original" if done at a military arsenal ....Because that is modification that was done by the military...
At least in my view.
Andy
A timely thread for me. I've had this 1911 for quite a few years. I'm not very 1911 knowledgeable so I'd asked some questions when I first got it. Its serial number indicates it's #2 off the line in 1914. After a few guys did some extensive research, they thought it had gone through WWII then reassembled for Korea. I never asked for their research because I wasn't interested in selling, but I sure got some tempting offers from them

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Last Edited:
Something to consider with old military guns...
Is that when they go to a armory for an over-haul...
The army doesn't care if all the numbers match or if the pieces are of the original era.
They want a rifle / gun to work and have all the parts meet current military specs.

So....having a 03 Springfield with a 1919 dated receiver and a 1942 dated barrel is still "original" if done at a military arsenal ....Because that modification that was done by the military...
At least in my view.
Andy
My garand is one with a military refit of a barrel in the 50s on a wwii era receiver.

I'll admit that I like historical artifacts. I have a fair number of wwi era handguns. I tend to buy the overarching story of the gun, knife or sword. I like the history and the unknown. I do have a black widow luger with the name and serial of the soldier who captured it.
 

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