What is the most interesting gun you've had your hands on?

[A10]

Old bear posted in another thread that he had held a .45 American Eagle Luger. I once had the wonderful opportunity to handle one of Col. Colt's prototype Paterson revolvers. It got me to thinking that, with the wonderful concentration of firearms enthusiast here, there have probably been many of us who have had the chance to handle historically significant firearms. Anyone else care to share an experience?

 

[shooboy]

The two that had my mind working the most were the Korth Anno Domini .357 Mag revolver, one of only 10 ever produced by KORTH in 2000, and the gorgeous S&W Model 3 nickled beauty that had a serial number in the 400's...... Shoo

 

[ACP230]

I got to handle an old muzzleloading long rifle.
It could have dated to the Revolutionary War. The rear sight had been
moved down the barrel twice as the owner's eye's aged.
It was signed but the name wasn't done exactly in the style the riflesmith was known to use.
Still looked and felt authentic. Lots of history in that gun.

I got to shoot a Brown Bess musket that had some small parts that
were said to be from the 1770s. I was impressed by the size of the
hole it made in a paper target.

 

[mtelkhntr]

I was in L.A. in the mid 80's and had to stop in at Pachmayrs. At the time I had an itch for Remington 3200's that I couldn't scratch. In their display case I see a Krighoff K-32 with the most beautiful wood with the finest checkering I'd ever seen and engraving and inlay's beyond my wildest imagination. I'm sure I had a puddle of drool at my feet when the salesman comes over, pulls it out of the case and say's here, try it. My mouth went dry and my hands got cold and shakey as he handed it to me. I didn't know whether to say something knowledgeable or just stand their and **** my pants. I remember saying something about it must be a dream. I do remember the price tag and it was roughly half of what my wife and I had paid for our house about 3 years before. Just a dream I could hold.

 

[DeathGrip]

Great post. I haven't handled to much historical by the standards most would expect here.

My family collection sure has some interesting stories and some stories are lost to time. N.Y., WV., Ga. and more all tied up in Fla. for three generations. Make that five generations now.

I'd like to have met the guys that used these for everyday life. Most were well taken care of but one is worn out. It is a Winchester that was the first gun I ever shot. .22 Model 1903? I'll post a pic..........It's the one on the bottom.

Then there's the Luger and 1911. I'm sure they have some stories to tell. WW2.

 

[giddyupsut]

I've personally handled a pistol used by Dillinger and a BAR used by Clyde Barrow. It was way too cool to hold a piece of history.

 

[rburg]

A while back our tables at a gun show were next to Jim King, an Atlanta dealer. He had on display Winchester M70 #2. It had with it all the accessories, hang tag, book, you name it. He let me hold it for a little while. I wanted to take it home with me, but his asking price of $33,000 was well out of my price range. Of course it was showroom new, and beautiful.

Later I had to settle for #202, more in my range.

A few years later I asked him about the gun. He came down to about $20,000. He figured he'd have it forever at the higher price. I've since wondered what I'd have done at $20,000. My wife would have been pretty mad, but then I'd have been pretty happy. Life is a balancing act.

 

[Iggy]

Shot an original Hawken rifle.

No dammit, it warn't brand new

 

[41RF]

A Swiss K31 carbine that had been carried by a nice fellow from Geneva until 1958, when it was taken back and he was given an automatic rifle. He always missed it, he told me, when I was able to contact him after buying it at a gun show. Many of the Swiss rifles have a tag under the buttplate with the soldier's name and home town! If you have one, take a look; the real Swiss Army knives fit the screws perfectly.....

 

[moosedog]

I got to handle Pancho Villa's original Colt 32/20 revolver this last winter at the Michigan Antique Arms Show.

 

[M29since14]

Didn't get to handle either but my nose was maybe six-inches away from General Patton's Colt .45 and S&W .357. It was kind of mind boggling to stand there and think where those two revolvers had been. It might have been nice to get them out from behind the glass, but really there was no great need to hold them. If I had held them, I would have wanted to fire them.

 

[brucev]

In 1985 I attended a conference entitled "Doing Church in the 80's." Across the street was a high end mall. Lunch at one of the restaurants in that mall (some kind of baked chicken, etc.) was $18 plus tip/tax. In that mall was a odd little placed called Abercrombie & Fitch. They had a few shotguns in a glass case. After I put on the little white cotton gloves which the salesman handed to me, I was allowed to handle and enjoy swinging a very pretty little shotgun made by a firm called Boss. The price tag was (if memory serves me) about $25,000 or so. I was impressed.

 

[CptCurl]

How about a Colt '21?

 

[A10]

How about a Colt '21?

And what appears to be a case of ammunition? I sense more to that story.......

 

[Glockman9mm]

An original colt 1911 with the serial # in the low 2000's. It had some wear but it gave it character. If that gun could talk oh the story's it might tell.

 

[rcnixon]

I got to handle and inspect a genuine M-14 at a high-power match in Brooksville, FL sometime in the mid-'90s. I also got to touch a $70,000 shotgun at the old Colonial Gun Shop in Hillsborough, NC in about 1998.

Russ

 

[Evil Dog]

Played with a M-2 50 cal machine gun a time or two... thanks to Uncle Sam.

 

[cal50]

If guns could talk.....

Slide show-

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

Any gun that is up in age and survived various wars could tell a story. I have several Mosin Nagant and Finn rifles and they vary in condition. Some you can tell had a hard life and others not too rough.

I collect SKS rifles and my most prized addition to my collection is a Vietnam capture SKS rifle. It was removed by our guys from a weapons cache in Cambodia. Its in virtually like new condition with capture and export documentation in excellent shape.

Just the though of how the rifle left the factory in China, made its way to Vietnam and was picked up and now resides in Ohio is neat.

 

[redlevel]

How about a Colt '21?

Like this'un?

 

[A10]

All these tommy guns are making me jealous!