Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

If ever you’ve wanted to own a WWII-era battle rifle but were put off by the cost of the M1 Garand, the Russian SVT-40 and the German G.41 or G.43, allow me to suggest a decent alternative, the Belgian FN-49, as offered by Collectors in its “Egyptian” variant.

Why choose a gun that was obsolete almost as soon as it began production?

Let’s start off with the fact that it was designed by Dieudonné Saive, the man who refined the John Moses Browning High Power pistol.  He began work on the design just before Belgium was invaded in WWII by you-know-who, and only got to finish it in the late 1940s.  So you know the gun is going to work well.

Secondly, it uses stripper clips rather than a detachable magazine, which means that replacement / additional mag costs are zero because 8mm clips are cheap and readily available.

Thirdly, it shoots the manly 7.92x57mm (a.k.a. 8mm Mauser) cartridge.  (Those wanting less recoil should opt for the Venezuelan contract model, which shoots the 7x57mm cartridge.  I lost mine in the Great Canoeing Accident On The Brazos, but I can attest to its greatness.)

Finally, it is a joy to shoot:  smooth operation, reliable feeding (even when chambering the rimmed 7×57), manageable recoil and excellent accuracy.  (One caveat:  the older single-piece firing pin is prone to breaking, and when it does, you’ll get the occasional double-fire slamfire which is irritating not to mention dangerous.  When you buy yours, have the seller affirm that it’s been fitted with a two-piece firing pin.)

Yes, it’s a heavy gun, just like the Garand and G.41, but that’s why the recoil is bearable.

If you already own a Mauser K98 boltie (as every rifleman should), why then, you’ll have an adequate supply of ammo, won’t you?

And if you have rifles chambered in .30-06 Springfield, then you should get the “Belgian” contract FN-49, which are thus chambered. (If you want to read more about it, go here or here.)

Sheesh… as I write this, I can sense that I’m talking myself into wanting this lovely rifle.

You could do worse, a lot worse, than having the FN-49 as your SHTF rifle.

Pistol-caliber carbines are a common topic for discussion on this here back porch of mine, and I thought I’d make mention of this puppy, CZ’s latest incarnation of their excellent little Skorpion subby, the Scorpion EVO 3+ which comes with a 16″ barrel and folding stock.

Look, it’s come a long way from their original little full-auto sweetie, the SA vz.61:

…most notably in that the EVO’s chambering has been (marginally) upgraded from the original .32 ACP to the 9mm Europellet, and the new guy just looks better than the toy-sized original.  (I also like the fake suppressor on the EVO carbine, guaranteed to give the gun nannies fits, but which is removable so one can add a real suppressor onto its threaded barrel for extra-added hysteria.)

The EVO 3+ also comes in a 4″ pistol configuration:

…but I think it’s butt-ugly and if you want CZ reliability in a pistol, then the CZ 75B will do just fine.

Getting back to the carbine:  the nice thing about the new Scorpion is that it retails for well under a grand (compared to the HK MP5 at 3x), and its magazines are, at ~$30, likewise much cheaper than HK.  The only bummer, as far as I can see, is that the Scorpion doesn’t accept the CZ 75’s mags but uses a proprietary one.

As I’ve said before, I’m somewhat dubious about the utility of a 9mm carbine, but I reckon that if you must have one, this new Scorpion seems to fit the bill.  More about it here, and these guys sell it as well as the mags.

Afterthought:  you know what I’d really like to see?  A Scorpion chambered in .45 ACP. matched with their manly CZ 97 B pistol:

I used to own one of these (sold during the Great Poverty Episode), and I miss it terribly.  What a beautiful gun it is, to be sure.

Here’s something from Collectors which may seem to carry too high a price (even for them), but really isn’t:  3-Gun Set Belonging to Col. S.B. Sightler ($17,500).

Now I have no idea who the late Colonel Sightler is, or how much his personal collection may be valued by a collector.  What I do know is that the collection is as follows:

Parker DHE side-by-side 20ga shotgun:
(not the actual gun, but a representative sample thereof)

Underwood M1 Carbine:

And Winchester 62A pump-action .22 rifle:

Now here’s my point.  Each of the above guns is, by itself, supremely droolworthy.  And their average sale prices, individually, reflect that.  Depending on condition, a Parker DHE 20ga typically runs about $10,000-$14,000 (I’ve seen higher);  Underwood M1 carbines can fetch $1,500-$1,600;  and a Winchester 62A about $1,200-$1,500.

Adding that up, it comes to around sixteen grand for the three guns, if bought individually.  In that light, the $17,500 that Collectors is asking for the collection doesn’t seem that extreme — even allowing for their normal (inflated) markup.

And one last thing.  Given that these guns were owned by an ex-military man, I’m willing to bet that all three guns — even the little Winchester gallery gun — are in fine condition, which makes them a safe purchase.

If I were a collector and in the market for some decent guns, I’d be sorely tempted.  The provenance is just a bonus.

From Collectors comes this little peach:

Okay, here’s my take on this classic.

The Walther PP / PPK models are quite possibly the sexiest-looking pistols ever made*.  Those sleek lines and usually-faultless operation make for a tempting package — on the surface — and as James Bond’s gun, it works.

Unfortunately, Reality intrudes.  The .32 / .380 ACP (7.65mm / 9x17mm in Eurospeak) Browning cartridges are not serious self-defense options, and unfortunately I find that shooting the “more powerful” 9mm Parabellum (9x19mm) to be rather unpleasant in the small PP frame.  (My opinion;  yours may vary.)

One would think that it would be fun shooting the smaller .32 ACP cartridge in the PP (as it is with the Colt 1905, for example), but it isn’t — at least, not for someone with large or beefy hands such as mine.

The last time I fired a PP pistol, I became aware of some wetness in my grip, discovered that the sharp edges of the PP’s slide had made two razor-like cuts in the web of my hand, and I was bleeding like a stuck pig.  Painful, and a pain in the ass to clean up (which one has to do immediately, because blood does ugly things to a gun’s bluing).

My shooting companion — the owner of the PP — was a slender woman who had small ladylike hands, and who had therefore never been cut by the recoiling slide.  She loved shooting her little “purse gun”, as she called it, and was horrified that it had wounded me.

So as pretty and sexy as the Walther PP and PPK pistols are, there is a public health warning attached to them.

All that said:  I’d get the above pistol in a heartbeat, because it’s beautiful and sexy.  But I wouldn’t shoot it that much, unless wearing a shooting glove.

*with the possible exception of the Beretta 70-series .22 pistols.