Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Considering that the P38 / P.38 design was groundbreaking at its launch, was used during WWII by the German military and for many years post-war by several police forces around the world, I guess you can say that Walther done good.

The silly Europellet chambering aside (see rants passim), the P38 is a brilliant pistol:  reliable to a fault, safe to carry and use (except for the individual on the naughty side of the muzzle), and considering its non-adjustable sights, way more accurate than almost anyone who shoots it.  I’ve fired many P38s, made either by Walther, Mauser or Spree — they’re identical — and almost uniquely among pistols, I never once experienced any kind of stoppage or failure.  The only thing I can fault about it is that silly heel-located mag release (common among many pistols of the time), and the quality of workmanship makes this a gun I would happily carry today, without a single reservation.

The WWII-era P38s are too expensive nowadays, of course, even though close to two million were made — for some reason, people prefer the steel frame over the replacement P1’s aluminum frame, but I can honestly say I can’t tell the difference between the two — and certainly not in operation.

Want.

Last week saw a whole bunch of Gratuitous Gun Pics, so why not continue with another one or two this week, say I?

Here’s one which provides a solution to the notoriously-difficult question of mounting a scope onto a Mosin-Nagant 91/30:

Now I must admit that mounting a Scout Rifle-type scope onto the 28″-barreled (and sporterized) 91/30 looks somewhat goofy — without the full-length front stock, the barrel does look a little overlong — but it is nevertheless a solution to the scope problem.  And you could do a whole lot worse than spending less than $600 on a proven rifle which includes a scope, and is chambered in the manly 7.62x54Rmm.

I still think, though, that the scope mount would look better on one of the shorter M44 carbine models.

When is a Winchester semi-automatic rifle not a Winchester semi-automatic rifle?

When it’s actually a Browning BAR made by FN Herstal — like this one:

Let’s see:  a tried-and-tested semi-auto rifle action, in hunting guise, with a ten-round magazine (two, as advertised), and in a manly chambering* — all for just over a grand?

Oh yes, Kimmy WANTS.

*I took inventory of Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere over the weekend just past, and discovered that I have a little under 500 rounds of .308 Win, but no rifle thus chambered.  Hence my interest in the above.

Longtime Reader Preussenotto sends me pics of gunny gorgeousity:

Saw this on fecesbook.  Captured the pictures for you because I know you love Mausers and the full underbarrel stock.  Plus the double-set trigger.  The caption said it was Swedish Mauser caliber.  Enjoy. 

How could I not?

I don’t want to shoot it.  I just want to hold it, stroke it and work the action…

…and then shoot it.  A lot.

I am SO weak.

I have to admit that my experience with “sporterized” military rifles has not been good.  Too often, the work has compromised the function (and still more often the aesthetic beauty) of the original.  (This is not the case when the sporterizer has had a name like “Goudy”, “Stegall” or “Goens”, but then again, the lofty skills of said gunmakers has always been accompanied by loftier-still prices, so I’ve only ever handled such rifles, but never fired one.)

Here’s one that caught my eye, however, at Collectors:

Other than the plastic stock, I can’t find too much to dislike about this rifle — even that ugly muzzle brake should tame the 8×57’s recoil.  Also, it’s selling for less than a grand (compared to the $5,000-plus of the custom rifles from the above makers).

Want, with wood.