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!

 

[Thuer]

Way back early 1990 I handled two beautifull antique rifles at the White Tower of London.

The first was a scentbotlelock of Alexander Frederick Forsyth made by Smith. This is a first made percussionrifle. I was very impressed of the craftmanship.
The second was a flintlock revolverrifle made by Artemis Wheeler.
Date somewhere 1818.

 

[Penmon]

My LGS has a twin mounted MG-34's on an AA naval mount, full functionally.I must of fondle the darn thing for an hour.
Penmon

 

[jag312]

1. Jim Bridger's Hawken rifle.
2. An authentic Wells Fargo Colt revolver.
3. A Smith & Wesson No. 3 revolver owned by an officer in the 7th Cavalry.
4. Smith & Wesson Schofield revolver, serial number 1, with Wells Fargo markings. I'm sure most of us have seen a photograph of it, but I got to hold it briefly many years ago.

 

[matmat417]

as far as handled it is my Mosin Nagant.. its a 1936 that is all original and belonged to a guard in Moscow, lots of handled marks and is a blood gun.

but seen (M29since14) up close was bonnie and clydes 1911s at the texas prison museum... they had class thats all i can say..

 

[LVSteve]

I have a Yugo rebuilt 98k with a particular rebuild code that has been seen on 98s less than 10 times. Lots of 24/47s were rebuilt at this place, but not 98ks apparently.

Milsurps often throw up pieces that folk think are interesting. For example, you would have thought I was handling Goering's personal 98K by the $1850 tag on one at last weekend's show. How I kept a straight face I don't know. The gun was a Russian refurb with the usual non-matching numbers including a non-matching Russian stock. So, it had been restocked with after the rebuild, too. Maybe it was special for being a complete mismatch.

 

[walnutred]

Back in the mid 20th Century there was a small gunshop in central Ohio called The Long Rifle Shop that a reputation for having unusual firearms. I have to term it that way because he opened pre-WW2 and closed in the late 1980s. One day in the early 1980s he had a Remington bolt action with scope that was in rough shape. When I asked about it he laid a handful of papers on the counter for me to look at.

On top was a copy of a bill of sale from Remington to the US Navy with delivery to and Ordinance shop of some type. Next was orders transferring this rifle to the Marine Corps and USMC paperwork transferring it to a specific unit. Last was a copy of a brief narrative explaining how this rifle was found in a hut in SVN and the form required for the soldier who found it to bring it home as a souvenir. He had been able to trace that rifle from the factory to relic state with the exception of the last person it was issued to in Vietnam. I've always regretted not spending the $250 to buy that rifle.

 

[reddogge]

Got to not only handle but do some repair work on this Colt 1860 Army which belonged to my friend's Great, Great Grandfather, a brig gen in the Union army. The pistol was issued to him when he mustered in. His picture in in the shadow box. Then we researched his military history online and it filled in a lot of blanks for my friend. Interesting project.

Also handled one of Teddy Roosevelt's rifles.

 

[perrazi]

one was only known german mg-34 built by krieghoff that was a cutaway. the other was the pair of pistols given to gen. washington by the marquis de lafayette. they were displayed at a las vegas winter show many years ago when it was at the sahara.

 

[feralmerril]

I have given this some thought and cant come up with just one good answer. I have owned several "blood guns" that I knew about, owned some more I highly suspect were. I once owned a colt new frontier that was one of a consecitively numbered pair audie murphy bought new. I had a whitneyville armory .50 caliber that was the forerunner to a large remington rolling block that some frontiersman must have killed buffallo with. I owned a original civil war sharps carbine, I think it was a 1862 or 1863 model converted to 50-70. A trapdoor springfield 45-70 carbine, a fine colt lighting, a 1878 .45 colt DA army, colt SAA that was sent to the copper queen mine at bisbee az in 1906, a very early .41 remington derringer, a S&W american, a #3 S&W .44, a double barrel .50 cal pin fire pistol probley from the 1840s or so.
What makes a gun the most interesting? Is it rarety? Once owned by someone famous? Blood guns? The oldest? Guns people survived by useing hunting? Guns known to have been used in self defense? Complex guns? I own or have owned examples of all catagorys and I still cant tell you my most interesting ones! I am sure many of us have owned guns that have been owned and seen history by some legendary figuers and NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT! There just isnt that many documented guns known for sure for all of the past legendary figuers of the old west etc. They are out there, we just dont know what we own!
Here is a just few handy pictures of some that I have or had.

 

[Arik]

A real stg44 with a gouge in the magwell where a bullet had hit.

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