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Some readers of this space...

By The Armorer on January 18, 2004 | | Comments (6)

...based on recent emails, are concerned that the Imperial Armory is sans pistoles. This is not the case. To quiet the peasants with pitchforks, here are two views of the Armory's stock on handguns. Rather than list what each one is, I will leave that for you, the reader to sort out. The on-line museum will get to them as the Muse seizes me. I'm currently contemplating a bit on the needlegun, or early catridge types, or, by request, the SKS. Not to worry - those of you who answered the poll awhile ago - all that stuff is in the mill!

As you can see, while no where near as extensive as the longarm holdings, there are still a fair number of handguns!

Update (as in May 23, 2007!). I got spanked, in a post over at The Arms Room (okay, in 2006), for my comment down below talking about the safety and thumb-rest grip on the Tokarev. My comment was taken to infer that it was the standard Polish practice. Hey, I was new at blogging back then... let me add now (with my cheek still smarting from the slap) that the safeties were installed (I still say by the Poles) to meet US import requirements, and the handgrips were just a nice touch. There, izzat better, Tamara?

Of course, who knows *how* long it will take to show up in Google...

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6 Comments

By Emperor Misha I on January 20, 2004 8:32 AM
Pardon me while I drool! A Mauser, a P-38, is that a Webley? Oh, and a Nagan, if I'm not entirely mistaken (and I probably am)... And so many, many more. You, my dear Armorer, are the luckiest son-of-a-gun in the Empire!
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 20, 2004 8:37 AM
Actually, Boss - there's two Nagants. A double-action and a single action, pre-Great Patriotic War with wood grips and post-war rebuild with plastic grips. And yes, that is a Webley Mk VI in there. Pretty beat-up (the way I like 'em, used) but still perfectly serviceable for goblin-smashing.
 
By triticale on January 20, 2004 10:26 AM
And a Luger (albeit short-barreled) and an Astra, and what looks like a Hand Ejector. The one just above the Mauser's barrel, with the grip square to the barrel is bugging me. I should know what it is - some .32 or .35 from the early '30s, right? The one I'd really like to know more about is the 1911 with the shoulder stock and the interesting rear sight.
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 20, 2004 11:41 AM
Triticale's instincts are good, but his details are, well, a little shakier on the ones he doesn't know. If by the pistol above the barrel of the Mauser you mean the one directly above the Astra 400, that is a Langenhahn "Army Model" in 7.65 Auto Pistol. The pistol has a glaring little defect - the breechblock is separate from the slide and attached with a screw - which got worn in service - when it failed, the slide could recoil free of the frame into the shooter's face. Not a product of the '30s, it was produced only during WWI and never offered for commercial sale. You're going to kick yourself about the other pistol. It's a Browning Hi-Power, in this case the Inglis-made Mk1No1* in 9mm Para from the Chinese contract, produced in late 1945. The Chinese learned to like the holster stock combo with their Mauser pistols so they continued the trend with the Inglis pistols. The rear site is graduated to a very ambitious 500 meters!
 
By triticale on January 20, 2004 3:01 PM
Well, I got the caliber right on the one, and the designer of the other. I'd heard of stocked Hi-Powers, and now that I think about it the 1911's grip safety would make stocking it difficult. At least I didn't guess Savage Pocket Pistol for the one, two down from the Browning, with the heavy vertical slots in the slide.
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 20, 2004 3:09 PM
Shoot, I think you did well. And you're right, that isn't a Savage, that's a Polish TT-33 Tokarev. The Poles put safties and thumb rest grips on their pistols. Of all the TT-33 variants (and I've got a Chinese, Soviet, and Polish, and I've also shot the Romanian) I like the Pole the best. Best made, most comfortable, though they are all serviceable pistols.
 
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