Scaring the GFW's...

In yesterday's post about the latest firearm follies on Capitol Hill, the comments veered off into territory sure to make GFW's* queasy and ill-at-ease. Not that we haven't done that before...

Talk about scaring the nor- er, regular folk!

Oh, I noticed that USA Today put that item as a no-context small bit as the next to the last item in column 1 on page 11A. Right next to the "Beware of the Leopard!" sign... At least it was in the A section!

Anyway, NevadaDailySteve brought up the fact that he has a Polish Radom Vis-35 that a family member brought back from WWII.

Which inspired me to link to this Post from the Past. I really *like* my Vis-35.

Which caused Steve to submit Reader Pr0n! Which is good. We like it when readers provide content (No worries Corporal Bristol - I'm working on yours!).

Steve sent this email:

Yours looks to be in better shape. I thought about getting mine re-blued but I've been told that would somehow make it less desirable to C&R collectors. I bought this and the Walther from my father-in-laws estate (he's still alive but in an assisted living center) because I couldn't let them go to someone they didn't mean anything to.

The trigger pull is pretty heavy, I've shot .44 magnums that didn't pull that hard, but it is getting easier the more I shoot it. I don't know if it's because I'm getting used to it or because it's loosening up (Elmer, my father-in-law, never shot it once he brought it back so it never had
a round through it in nearly 60 years.)

First off, I commend Steve for keeping them in the family, so to speak. Second, his unknown advisor is correct - don't reblue a historical piece. Just take care of it. This one, as a wartime bringback, has greater value than all the pretty arsenal reworks like the one I own - it has no import marks. And for real collectors, who know the ebb and flow of arms imports into this country will know that even without provenance, a Vis-35 that has no import mark is most likely a wartime bringback, because mass importations out of Poland didn't happen until *after* all incoming arms were required to have an importer stamp.

BTW - don't buff off the stamp on your weapons - it would make them illegal.