Everybody loves a good gun story and I think this one qualifies.

Model 39s (No Dash) old enough to be Curio-Relic status

Some of you might remember my searching for the range of acceptable 39s as a work around for the California state gun list.
Any single stack 9mm metal S&W was my general want as the wife finds my 459 to fat for her small hands.

Watching gun broker and haunting the local pawn shops as well as the used gun list the local gun store chain maintains failed to turn up anything I could get to in time. If one showed it was gone in minutes.

Then March of this year happens and forget finding anything. Everything capable of actually firing a round has been sold.

A few days ago one of my fellow gun owners says "I'm going to an antique gun auction this weekend do you want to go?" "Sure I'm not doing anything in particular".

Friday is the preview and my friend finds four .30cal M1 carbines he wants to try for one of. We get the printed book of the 1400 items to be auctioned over two days and check out the rest of the goods as best we can being slightly overwhelmed at the sheer numbers.

Back at home that evening I'm working though the book and here they are, a pair of 39-2s a few auction numbers apart at the end of day one. These I had not found or seen in the preview.

One of the Carbines my friend wants to bid on comes up several numbers before that so we'd be there anyway. What the hell and off we go the next morning.

The front most table is a pair of online bidders and one of them bought half of the entire show as he was working for several buyers. If a gun started at $400 he'd yell $900 and jump it way the hell up and clear out the riffraff bidders. Hours of watching him work and both my friend and I were feeling a bit outclassed. The back table was phone bids and between the two most of the items went to one table or the other.

All the WW2 stuff went for stupidly high prices IMO. Most of the wheel guns sold in the $800 and up range and early in the day the few semi autos went for over a $1000.00 and I was sure I'd be priced out of the game in the first five seconds.

It's late in the day by now and many of the seats are empty.
Bidding opens at $400. Jumps in $25.00 increments. Ohh No I'm bidding against #13 the front table guy who's bought half the entire auction.
I'm so screwed.
Numbers keep rising and it hits $500 and my sign is still up and $525.00......
Going once.
Holy *****.
Going Twice
No Damn way !!
SOLD !!!

Son of a.. I'm not sure but I think I won. Yes he is pointing at me.. Calls my number and the price. WOOHOO I Did Win.
Of the pair they had this was the lower number gun and is a A233XXX
2 original magazines and no box.
Add in the bidders surcharge (15%)
State & local sales tax and it was $670 so far.

I will still have to visit the FFL location twice. Once to fill out the 4473 and then wait 10 days before I can drive back and pick it up and see what I actually bought. Pay more money I'm sure. State fee, FFL fee. Sell me a trigger lock I don't need.

Was it a good day? Hell Yes !!!

Bob

Bob, I guess its blue? Sn. about Dec. 1974. Plastic follower on mags?

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Congrats! It was a very similar one that got me reading this page. The one I inherited from Dad had 3 mags but no box... also an aftermarket ambi safety. I don’t have mine close at hand right this minute, but I think the SN is also pretty close to yours. A neat option that was available back in the day was the fully adjustable sight. It replaces the lollipop type windage adjustable only sight with minimal effort and no alterations.

Yours on the Left Coast and mine over on the Right Side... we’ve got them surrounded, my friend!

Froggie

Affirmative it's a blue one. To be honest I didn't look all that closely at the magazines.
I'll post photos and more details as I get them. We'll be out of town this week so it'll be next week before I can start the rest of the paperwork.

Bob

Good Story and congratulations joining the 39 club.

To all the fans of the mod-39, is their an avenue we can pursue to
ask Mr. Richard McMillan to make his latest update on his extensive tutorial
of the 39 available to the 39 collecting fraternity?

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Love that story!

Unless you have to buy that to take it out of the store I'll GIVE you a trigger lock that you don't need!!!

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Come and take it!!

If you can prove you already own a qualifying CA.DOJ approved Gun Safe your exempt otherwise we all get forced to buy a cable or trigger lock with every rifle, lower, or handgun. I don't suppose the additional $10.00 will break the bank.

Bob

Love it when things come together. Congrats on a great gun. But c'mon guys we need some pics. The OP can't yet but the rest of us have no excuse and there may be new converts reading this thread that need a push...

The first one is my shooter with a factory red ramp. Then there are a couple of others. Sorry if you've seen these before but this thread needed something pictured so I was left with no choice.

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Glad to see you got the model your really wanted. Sounds like ya sure have to go through a supreme hassle to get them over there. The 39s sure have gone up in value over the years. Back in 74 the going price was $125 but that was a long time ago.

Hoping enough time had passed I called the gun shop and YES ! I'm good to go and I drove down and retrieved it.
Other then the grip screws looking buggered up it's in good shape. Ordered new screws. One side came out with not to much effort. Once exposed I sprayed the stubborn screws from the back with PB blaster and in 15 minutes they came out easy.

Bob

Sounds like a great score . On another note .... I'm not familiar with Ca. , so this may be a silly question . Here in Fl , I have a CCP . So when I buy a hand gun they run me through the data base and I walk out with my pistol . What's this 10 day period for ? Do you people out there have CCP's ?

People in Illinois bitch because there is a 3 day "Cooling off period" before picking up a handgun, and a 1 day for rifles. I can say, I'm glad I don't live in Calif.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

All guns, Hand, Rifle, and Shotgun sales in Ca. have a 10 day "Cooling off" period so your just stuck to wait it out. With the COVID nonsense the state has been dragging its feet and actually under the narrowest interpretation of the various laws in place the state actually had 30 days to approve me. Only Hawaii has more restrictive laws if I remember.

If I want to sell you a gun we both go to the local FFL. They take possession of the gun for 10 days before you can touch it.
Person to person sales are verboten.

Los Angeles City and County has NOT issued a carry permit to anybody not related to the chief of police in decades. Get out of this County into the more rural parts of the state and it is possible to get a CCP but it still won't get you around the wait period as far as I know.

Bob

It's sad that laws can be so different from one state to another . I can go on Fl gun trader , find something , meet up ,pay and be on my way . Now the seller can ask for a bill of sale or make it a must for the deal , but it's not law .

As a matter of fact , I picked up a 610-2 yesterday , thanks James . I walked in and gave them my license and CCP . I filled out the form and they let me check out my latest drool S&W . I wasn't even done and she handed back my ID's . Now it has taken longer , but it's usually pretty quick .

I really feel for you guys in some of these states . Long waiting periods , limited to so many guns a month , it's a crime . Maybe that's why we get so many transplants down here .

Virginia passed a law this year requiring all sales to use a background check... including those between individuals. No one has figured out how it will be enforced, though. One of our governor’s minions stated proudly at a press conference that they had done in a few months what had taken California 20 years to accomplish!

Froggie

Mr. Green, back 40 years ago, I had a shop in Loudoun Co.
Come in, fill out out a yellow FFL. Pay me, walk out the door with the gun.
Good ole days. Never had a problem. Mike

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Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

I hate seeing vintage arms enter Kalifornia but I am ever gleeful to see them leave it. I'm fearful that a beautiful old relic will be seized by the PRK and wind up in a smelter.

If we look at California 40 years ago, there was a strong shooting culture. Many of the movie stars were pictured hunting or competing in skeet tournaments and other such events that would bring screams today... I’d like to have the changesin gun laws (as well as other societal “norms”) slow down for another 40 years. But we’d better stop this discussion as it seems to be straying pretty far into the realm of politics.

Froggie

Nothing like the thrill of getting something you really want; especially in these adverse circumstances. The Model 39 is a definite classic and a splendid pistol! Congrats!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I was poking around in Amazon for a set Pachmayr grips and found a "used" set for half the going price so I took the chance and if they are used I'm blind as a bat. Looks like a simple return and they are new, never installed.
So the 39-2 now matches the 459 in grip. The plan is to get to the range today or Monday and put some rounds through it.

The range has new Winchester FMJ for a not ungodly price and I'll shoot up theirs and keep my little stockpile. .223 was .50cpr last week and I think the 9mm worked out to .32cpr

I had more typed out on the complexities of our ammo buying in Ca. but....
LMAO by the time I'd made it nonpolitical enough there was nothing left to read.


Bob

Some Range time shows it has a bit of an FTE issue. Of the 50 rounds of Winchester 124 grain FMJ I put through it only 2 magazines ran without an FTE.

I did find the extractor thread here on 39s and the link to midways replacement spring for the same.
I'll strip it down today for another good clean and inspection and see if I can spot anything out of sorts. I did run 2 magazines of Aquila 115 grain ammo just to see if it made a difference. Nada.
Short loaded a couple of mags but it was all the same.

Bob