As most of these stories start off, my wife was involved. I'm on one side of the handgun kiosk, she's on the other. I see her motioning..."come here." So I go on around, and she asks her favorite question..."What's that?"
Well, "that" turned out to be some kind of Baby Browning sorta lookalike. "Tag says "Galesi Pocket" 22 Cal. Now you know as much as I do."
"I wanna see it." It's a tiny semi auto, blue steel, with genuine white plastic grips. Clerk gets it out, clears it, and hands it over. It really looks like a toy, but it has a nice solid feel to it. Sort of a hog trough sight channel, European heel mag release, a safety, and not much more. On the right side it's marked "Made in Italy" with a few European proof marks, and the Roman numeral XXI...(more on that later). The left side is marked Soc. It (location in Italy perhaps?) Then Galesi.Brescia-Cal 22. Grips are as I said white plastic with a cartouche showing a wreath and the letter AG on each grip.
My wife says...I want it. "Why?" Because!...end of discussion. After all, she never complains about me buying a gun, why should I, when she wants one?
The clerk tells me..."I gotta warn you. It's a 22 LONG only. 22 Long rifles don't fit, and 22 shorts won't work the action. Oh, well, she'll probably never shoot it, and CCI I know still makes 22 Long. I haven't seen any in well, my life, but in theory there is such an animal.
Now, back to that XXI...I have since learned that indicates the year of manufacture as 1965, so before the gun control act of 1968, which basically banned the imporation of small handguns like these into this country. But this is not some "pot metal" Saturday Night Special. This is a nicely machined, solid steel piece. The sources I found say it probably sold for about $35.00 or so which wasn't really cheap back then. I remember buying a Garcia Mitchell 300 spinning reel, and a Garcia Rod for $35.00 about that time. For a 13 year old kid, that represented a full weeks work on the farm at $5.00 a day for a 10-12 hour day. I still have that rod and reel today, and it still works like it did when it was new.
I got it cheap, I think they just wanted to get rid of it. It also came with a rather nice leather belt holster, no doubt from the same time period. There were manufacturers markings on it at one time, but they're so worn that I can't make them out. The leather strap is a different color, so it's most likely been replaced at some point over the years.
I'd be willing to bet someone carried this as a self-defense gun judging by the wear on the holster, and the pistol itself. I can imagine someone finding it in grandpaws sock drawer as they were going through his things. They probably never knew he had it. There is a small crack in one grip, but otherwise it's tight. The gun is very well made. I found a video showing how to break it down, so I field stripped it, and gave it a good oiling. It was just as dry as a bone. I'll give it a good cleaning later on.
I did find online that CCI does still make 22 Long and while they're expensive, they're not made of gold or anything, but I'm not really worried about it. She wanted it, that was good enough for me. It will go in the safe next to the Heritage Rough Rider, with the fake pearl grips she wanted, and has never fired. Besides it's a really interesting piece of history.
Added: While I was writing this, I managed to get a plastic 22 snap cap into the chamber. It's got a surprisingly decent trigger pull. The sight picture is awful, but then it's a "get off me" gun at best. Who needs sights?
Well, "that" turned out to be some kind of Baby Browning sorta lookalike. "Tag says "Galesi Pocket" 22 Cal. Now you know as much as I do."
"I wanna see it." It's a tiny semi auto, blue steel, with genuine white plastic grips. Clerk gets it out, clears it, and hands it over. It really looks like a toy, but it has a nice solid feel to it. Sort of a hog trough sight channel, European heel mag release, a safety, and not much more. On the right side it's marked "Made in Italy" with a few European proof marks, and the Roman numeral XXI...(more on that later). The left side is marked Soc. It (location in Italy perhaps?) Then Galesi.Brescia-Cal 22. Grips are as I said white plastic with a cartouche showing a wreath and the letter AG on each grip.
My wife says...I want it. "Why?" Because!...end of discussion. After all, she never complains about me buying a gun, why should I, when she wants one?
The clerk tells me..."I gotta warn you. It's a 22 LONG only. 22 Long rifles don't fit, and 22 shorts won't work the action. Oh, well, she'll probably never shoot it, and CCI I know still makes 22 Long. I haven't seen any in well, my life, but in theory there is such an animal.
Now, back to that XXI...I have since learned that indicates the year of manufacture as 1965, so before the gun control act of 1968, which basically banned the imporation of small handguns like these into this country. But this is not some "pot metal" Saturday Night Special. This is a nicely machined, solid steel piece. The sources I found say it probably sold for about $35.00 or so which wasn't really cheap back then. I remember buying a Garcia Mitchell 300 spinning reel, and a Garcia Rod for $35.00 about that time. For a 13 year old kid, that represented a full weeks work on the farm at $5.00 a day for a 10-12 hour day. I still have that rod and reel today, and it still works like it did when it was new.
I got it cheap, I think they just wanted to get rid of it. It also came with a rather nice leather belt holster, no doubt from the same time period. There were manufacturers markings on it at one time, but they're so worn that I can't make them out. The leather strap is a different color, so it's most likely been replaced at some point over the years.
I'd be willing to bet someone carried this as a self-defense gun judging by the wear on the holster, and the pistol itself. I can imagine someone finding it in grandpaws sock drawer as they were going through his things. They probably never knew he had it. There is a small crack in one grip, but otherwise it's tight. The gun is very well made. I found a video showing how to break it down, so I field stripped it, and gave it a good oiling. It was just as dry as a bone. I'll give it a good cleaning later on.
I did find online that CCI does still make 22 Long and while they're expensive, they're not made of gold or anything, but I'm not really worried about it. She wanted it, that was good enough for me. It will go in the safe next to the Heritage Rough Rider, with the fake pearl grips she wanted, and has never fired. Besides it's a really interesting piece of history.
Added: While I was writing this, I managed to get a plastic 22 snap cap into the chamber. It's got a surprisingly decent trigger pull. The sight picture is awful, but then it's a "get off me" gun at best. Who needs sights?
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was about like a CO2 pistol. More of a slight muzzle jump than real recoil. I guess I fired 25-30 rounds, whatever was in the box I picked up off the shelf. I was starting to stovepipe the last round by the time I was finished, but it hasn't been cleaned for heaven only knows when. I'm going to clean it and give it a good lube job before the next range trip.
