7 replies to this topic

[Kevin G]

Hey folks,This is a pistol that my mother gave me MANY years ago.The story goes that in the late 50?s, while living in Garden Grove, CA., my mom and I had a prowler. Our next door neighbor gave this pistol to my mom for ?protection?. Though I don?t have a clue as to why . . . it is non-op. I ?spose she could have thrown the darn thing at the bad guy . . . Anyway . . . he had gotten it in WWII as a war trophy from a German Officer. This kinda doesn?t ring true to me as the Luger is a more powerful handgun (9MM VS .32). In any event, it came with a very nice laminated handgrip with a very nice thumb rest on the left grip.Also, under the right handgrip and on the exposed metal portion you can see of the barrel when the slide is closed: there is the German Eagle with its wings outspread, Talons griping a circle with the Swastika inside the circle. I think it is called a ?snabble?? (sp) or something like that. It is too faint to take a photo of it in the lighting I had yesterday.One of these days I should take it to a competent gunsmith and have it returned to a functional condition just for yucks and grins.Right side view:Left side view:I will try and get a photo of the Eagle features.Kevin

[Kevin G]

Hey there Steve,It actually came with those grips when taken from the Officer.They are pretty nicely laminated and shaped. They 'custom' fit the pistol very well.I have no clue as to where to even look to locate 'stock' grips for the thing!Target Masters used to have a Pistolsmith, perhaps I will call and see if they still do.I do have a question about the legality of this pistol . . . there isn?t an S/N on it anywhere I can find and it isn?t registered at all. Being non-op and a WWII trophy, I didn?t worry about it at all. I do have the clip for it as well.Any thoughts on any legal ?gotcha?s? with this piece?Kevin

[Rocketman]

KevinThis is wild... I have almost the same thing from my Dad. It's a Belgin FN that looks exactly like a mini 1911. It even says "Browning's Patent" on the side. It's .25 cal and I even have the paper work signed by my Dad's commander in 1946 stating that it is captured war booty and he has permission to take it home. Dad said he took it from a german captain that he captured, he was carrying it in his boot and one side of the grip is worn smooth where it was rubbing up against the leather. I'll have to figure out how to post some pictures.Ed

[ShooterJohn]

Just an idea....(I'm so stupid)

We didn't want to point that out! But we've been talking about it.

[Kevin G]

Wow Steve . . . It does look just like mine.I took off the grips and yup . . . the S/N was below the grips: # 46164 A little clean up yielded " FAU?QUE NATIONALE D'ARMES DE GUERRE HERSTAL BELGIQUE"Below that (like what Ed said) COULD be "BROWNING'S PATENT DEPOSE" The front side of the pistol has been rubbed rather smooth . . . perhaps by a holster?The nickel plating does look kinda cool . . . but yup . . . ruined the piece for sure. Kevin

[Kevin G]

My buddy Jon provided me the following link . . . Pretty interesting stuff about my piece!http://world.guns.ru...guns/hg95-e.htmI guess I will have'ta get it going on!Kevin

[Cranky Farmer]

Great little piece of history you've got there!

[Cranky Farmer]

Did you ever do any work to it??