Old school cool show off your collection

[1911]

Here are a few more items in my collection. The Walther P38 has the rarer plum colored frame. It is a all matching WWII German Army issued with the proper Waffenamt military inspector stamps. It was made in late 1944. There are differing theories on why they came out plum colored . The most credible reasons are the firearm factories were being bombed day and night towards the end of the war. The guns were being made in out of the way places without the normal salt bluing tanks. If the bluing gets to hot or has impurities in the tank then you get the plum or red color. There aren’t as many of these because it primarily only happened towards the end of the war.

The bone handled hand engraved Mauser HSC does have the proper WWII Greman Army acceptance proof marks and German factory proof marks. It was one of the last group of HSC that was made before the Mauser plant was captured by the American forces then passed on to the French. The wood handled Mauser HSC was made in 1945 during the time that the French were in possession of the German Mauser plant after the American forces had captured it. Our Military passed off the Mauser plant to the French and kept on moving further into Germany. The French only kept the Mauser plant for 6 months before the destroyed the plant. Both of these Mausers were made at the same Mauser plant and both are factory engraved. Having someone take the time to factory engrave a pistol during the late part of the war when on average the pistols being turned out were having rougher and rougher finishes was extremely rare. These two Mauser HSC were given to people of importance. Both also have the factory matching mags and holsters.

[1911]

This item in my collection is a Nazi eagle 37 marked German army Sauer & Sohn 38H. The Sauer part is of course J.P. Sauer of the now famous Sig Sauer firearms company. It came with the original laminated paper holster and two original mags. The laminated holster is extremely rare as most didn’t survive the war. The Germans were running out of all the raw materials to keep up the war effort. They started using alternative materials to keep making military equipment. This is why this holster is laminated paper instead of the normal leather. The magazines are outrageously expensive for this 38H.
I shouldn’t really complain about the price of WWII mags as all origional WWII mags are now very expensive for the original ones no matter what WWII handguns they come from. I have worked my sources and been lucky to be able to obtain a good supply of extra factory correct mags for all my WWII toys. The mags will continue to skyrocket in price as the collectors like me have bought the all of available supply. Now you pretty much have to pay what someone wants to part with one.

The original black bakelite grips are also very rare to have survived intact because thay are so brittle. The original bakelite grips were in excellent condition so I removed mine to protect them and put on some wood grips.

[1911]

Another item in my collection is a Hitler youth knife. These knives were given to the German youth that were being indoctrinated into the Aryan anti Semitic believe. These youth were also being given military training such as marching, drill and ceremony and basic rifle marksmanship. These knives were used roughly and abused by these young kids so not many survived in excellent condition. These knives being so rare and expensive they are being faked by many unscrupulous people. Some people may take offense to these knives. To me it is simply a part of history that tells a story of the mindset of a Country and it’s leader that had no problem exterminating millions of Jewish people. This knife was made by one of the rarer knife makers. It is of higher quality than most of these knives. The hilt and pommel are nickel plated steel. The knife blade also has a higher quality steel. Most knife makers were using cheap pot metal. I know that I am always saying rare and expensive with the items in my collection but that is what I have sought after and found. I would rather quality instead of quantity. Now after three decades of collecting I am beginning to have quality and some quantity.

[thlee43]

Super nice collection. Can you tell me who made the knife? Tried to read it in your photos but my old eyes can’t figure it out.

[1911]

It was made by Edward Wüsthof Dreizackwerk, Solingen. The M7/19 is the maker code. RZM stands for Reichszeugmeisterei which was the office in charge of sourcing and supplying equipment and uniforms for the Third Reich. Wüsthof has the reputation of making top quality knives. The company is still in business and even today their knives are known as some of the best in the world. The company is still owned by the same family.

[thlee43]

Thanks, I was wondering if was from Solingen. I have some Henckel’s chef/kitchen knives made in Solingen, (now a lot of them are being made in China), that are some finest steel I have ever sharpened.

[1911]

Here is another pristine Luger in my collection that is a all matching parts Swiss Bern from 1929 and made by Waffenfabrik Bern. This Luger is extremely rare as less than 18,000 were made by Waffenbrick for the Swiss Army. These Swiss Waffenfabrik Bern’s comprise less than 2% of all Lugers produced. All the parts are stamped with the Swiss cross on them. With the Luger was the original magazine and holster dated to the Luger.

[1911]

A few more items in the collection. All of these lighters are WWI Army issue or hand made. I have rebuilt each one so that all of these lighters are working. Two Bowers, one Ronson and 3 hand made trench lighters. I also have one brass WWI U.S. Army patrol whistle.

[GamecockOperator]

some of this post may be a repeat of some of my earlier posts… forgive me.

@bonamoleonard first, thank you for your service, and thank your father for his. those are awesome stories, thank you for sharing. that would have been awesome to check out that turret.

@1911 thats an awesome little lighter. i have never even see one, much less knew they carried them or were issued them. its the little things you dont think about i guess.

@Cool_Rick i think you’re right almost… lol. by far he has much much more stuff than i do, as ive almost exhausted much of my collection.

@1911 I bet that you do need a warehouse to store all your stuff in. imagine how cool you could set up displays for stuff and all that. China always making knockoffs of something and ruining the collecting for everyone. GRR>. I bet the early WWI stuff now is very hard to find. i dont even want to delve into collecting that generation. Do not worry its not being taken as bragging… that mag pouch is pretty bitchin though. I agree with being the current conservator though that is very true. its the best we can be is the most current conservator.

@1911 i can only imagine how impractical it was for them heck i think alot of the stuff our guys have to pack now a days is impractical in its own right. If i hadnt told you already, thank you for serving as well. I never did, so i try to make it a point to thank those who did. We are lucky today however like you said that our military gear has came a drastically long way… many thanks to the germans in WWII for that too… because they had a lot of influence on our gear… anything from firearms to helmets.

I will do my best to try to share more here when i get it and what i have. here and in the other threads… i had tried to make a seperate one for rifles, and this one originally just for pistols… but whatever we want to post is fine as long as its historical in nature. I’d rather see your collection anytime so do not feel like your showing off. i view it as educational and impressivea ll at the same time. I do know that if i had a quarter of what you had invested my wife would kill me 30 times over. lol

@Yota-walker i’ve heard a lot of our current military guys say the same thing. in your opinion why?

@davidlandonjr that french revolver is awesome. i’ve never seen one. looks to be in great shape. definately keep her and take care of her. its a family heirloom.

@davidlandonjr that is awesome about flying in a b24. i’d love to have that oppertunity to do so myself, in either the b17 or b24. i can only imagine how awesome it was for youto have done so knowing your grandfather had been in a b17 himself, even though it was a different plane, it must have still given you the feelings of what they went through back then. Thanks for sharing the photos.

@1911 that is awesome about your grandfathers flight records… i wish i had all that of my grandfathers. on my mothers side i do have my grandfathers personal diary and i had transcribed it into digital format for him before he passed. its quite awesome to have that much of a connection to that generation. almost can make you feel like you were there with them some.

holy cow man. those photos of you rcouch with all those pistols thats incredible… many im amazed, envious, and flabbergasted all at once. I just dont know what to say… amazing.

those two lugers are amazing… ive always wanted one myself. Believe it or not it is the very first pistol i ever fired. my grandfather’s best friend was a SERIOUS collector, probably could have given you a run for your money and then some and that was in the 80s… i was just a boy, but when they went to teach me how to shoot a pistol they asked which one i wanted to shoot and i chose the Luger . Loved that gun… even with its funny operation… loved it then love it now. Still wish i had one, but thats too deep of pockets for my blood these days unless i just have dumb luck and stumble into one.

ever since i had the megatron transformer as a kid in the 1980s i wanted a real p38 as well. im telling you man youve got some great pieces. you should be very proud of your collection.

thats interesting to learn about the sauer and son paper holster. i had no idea. man you are a wealth of knowledge concerning this stuff… im not only awed by your collection but awed by your knowledge as well.

i’m fairly familliar with the hitler youth knives, and their constant reproductions. i also know that alot of anti semetic groups search them out, trying to get them, etc. yours is as you say quite an exquisite example. It is sad how a whole country could be convinced and indoctrinated as the germans were of the 1925-1940’s were. I am thankful that America and her allies were able to over come them then, but i fear for America now, and the apparent fact that she’s forgotten her history to her children… without going political i’ll just say we live in strange scary times. Anyways, beautiful piece of history… Sad what it represents though.

in your final pic, of the lighters and patrol whistle… i’ve only ever seen the third from the left before your post was made showing the first one above that you had rebuilt. I cant thank you enough for all you’ve shared, and i’ll try to share something else soon. I have to go back to seee what i’ve already posted to make sure i dont double post something i’ve already shared.

Now If you all have read this far, thank you. however i expect most of you to tl;dr.
thanks again.

[Yota-walker]

The Poncho Liner is the greatest cause you can spray it down with camp dry, wear it like a cape and it’ll protect you from all the evils in the world. You can take the poncho liner, attach it to the poncho and it serves just as good as a sleeping bag. With a sleeping bag it serves as an excellent liner. You can wrap up inside of it like a cocoon inside of a foxhole. It works well against sandstorms. You can take a wet weather top and sew the liner inside and makes it just as good as a gortex top. If you combine the field jacket liner with the poncho liner you will become invincible to wet and cold weather-good for another 12-20 miles if you are ever in the back forty on patrols. I have several and use them often. Better than bed sheets although my wife has her own opinion.

[iznthesky]

Amazing……I just spent the better part of the last hour reading and enjoying the great photos and write ups of all those great collectibles from WW1 & WW2. I appreciate everyone’s contributions……especially 1911. They were so good….you gentlemen should consider making short videos….there is so much valuable history there……and there is still a lot of interest in this……it’s also a Segway to get the next generation into appreciating our military history. Thanks.

[GamecockOperator]

Thank you yota for the information and colorful description of the uses for this newb who does not have any military experience. Had i been in good health still where bugging out and hiking and walking were still something i’d consider doing, same as camping, i’d definately look into stockpiling up a few of them. but unfortunately in my current state, i dont think i’d have a use for them other than to take up valuable space and money at this point, because lets face it, with the Cancer i’m sure as hell not doing any hiking or camping or anything too physical at all anymore. hell im lucky to be able to shoot these days… lol. anyway thank you.

@iznthesky

nd there is still a lot of interest in this……it’s also a Segway to get the next generation into appreciating our military history.

im glad to hear this. and you’re right it is a great segway for that. as i dont have any more pistols really to share i hope we can get others here to post up more in this field, now as for c&r or historical ish military rifles, and gear, that may be a different ball of wax entirely and i am more than happy to post up some of what i have there.

[Yota-walker]

You’re welcome. Good luck and take care.

[1911]

A while back I picked up two origional 1917 unissued WWI pistol lanyards still in the brittle military wax paper. I just so happen to have several correct military pistols that these lanyards go on. I got them to complete the set. There are reproductions and outright fakes being sold but these are the real deal. Original WWI & WWII ones still pop up every now and then but they are getting harder to find. Unfortunately more fake lanyards are appearing on the market to fill the void. The first revolver is a U.S. Property & U.S. Army marked Colt Commando. It is a .38 cal US Army issue made in 1942 for WWII but mostly saw more use stateside than in overseas combat. These Commandos were made by both Colt and Smith and Wesson. The finish looks spotty in the pic but that is just oil pooling on the surface from my protective oil impregnated socks. It is in pristine shape with the original holster. The next one has a little more history involved. It is also a U.S. Property & U.S. Army marked Colt 1917 Revolver made in 1918. It is a large frame revolver chambered in .45acp. This revolver uses moon clips account the 45acp does not have a rimmed case like most revolver rounds do. This revolver has the original plastic Colt grips and the original US Army issued holster. I put the original grips up account of them being fairly rare to find them in such good shape without any cracks or damage. These revolvers were adopted in WWI to supplement the 1911 that wasn’t available in sufficient numbers to arm all of our soldiers that needed sidearm. I will let all of you guess the date that our Military adopted this large frame Colt revolver. If you miss the answer to this question then shame on you unless you are new to the wonderful world of firearms and history… These revolvers were also made by S&W during WWI.

[1911]

These 1917 lanyards would also be used on all of the 1911 and 1911A1. The first pic is one of my WWI Colt 1911 from 1918. It is U.S. Property and U.S. Army marked. On all WWI 1911 that has the proper WWI magazine you can see the lanyard ring on both the frame and magazine. The second pic is another rare WWI Colt from 1915. What makes this old girl very rare is that she is a U.S Property marked but she is also marked U.S. Navy. A little over 15,000 U.S. Navy marked 1911 were made from 1912 to 1915. I believe it was after 1915 that all of the 1911 that were produced from then on were all marked U.S. Army. Of the 15,000 U.S. Navy 1911 that were made most ended up at the bottom of Peril Harbor on Dec. 7 1941 and many more went down with ships that were sunk during WWII by the Japanese Navy and the German U Boats. You can imagine that not very many of the 15,000 still survive.

[davidlandonjr]

I didn’t realize there are/were official GI lanyards, just thought they grabbed some string and made their own.

[1911]

I am going to post another piece of military trivia that many people don’t know. If you look at the slides of many WWII 1911A1 you will notice a darker color in the parkerizing starting about 2" from the end of the slide. On many early M1 Garand receivers you will notice that the heel of the receiver is a darker color. Some of the early Garand Receivers had problems with the heel of the receiver cracking. The heels were dipped in molten lead to anneal or soften the heel to keep it from cracking but allowing the rest of the receiver to maintain it’s hardness. There are a lot less dipped receivers than the later ones that were heat treated differently from the makers. The dipping process also causes the metal that was dipped in the molten lead to parkerize a different shade of color than the rest of the receiver. It gives the receiver a different visual or two toned look. It is one of the things that some Garand people look for because it is different from the majority of other Garands. It is unique to have one of the early dipped receivers. I thought that I had a better pic of my M1 Garand but I don’t in my phone. You can just see the difference in color at the rear of the receiver.
The same process is true on many 1911A1. There were some problems with the slide cracking due to the hardness of the steel. Dipping the muzzle end of the slides annealed the steel of the slide to help keep them from cracking.

[GamecockOperator]

@1911

A while back I picked up two origional 1917 unissued WWI pistol lanyards still in the brittle military wax paper.

I dont think i’ve ever seen origiinal 1917 wwI pistol lanyards before. thank you for sharing them.

@1911

The next one has a little more history involved. It is also a U.S. Property & U.S. Army marked Colt 1917 Revolver made in 1918.

that one looks to be in great shape. i’ve always wanted a 1917 revolver in .45 acp. i havent been able to pick one up yet, but one day. im not looking for ultra rare or even ultra pristine examples, i’d want a shooter.

@1911

I will let all of you guess the date that our Military adopted this large frame Colt revolver

um what is 1917 alex?

@1911

U.S Property marked but she is also marked U.S. Navy

A friend of mine’s father had one, he was us navy of course. I never got to see it, and god knows i’d of loved to have been able to add that to the collection, but that was just not to be. I was unaware that they were that rare, but it makes sense. Especially when you reminded us on the losses in the pacific theater.

@1911

If you look at the slides of many WWII 1911A1 you will notice a darker color in the parkerizing starting about 2" from the end of the slide.

I was aware of the parkerization and reason for it on the 1911s but i hadnt heard of it for the garands. Which is odd cause i would have thought that i had more knowledge about them than the 1911s from wwII. Thanks for that info too.. like i said you’re a wealth of knowledge and i’m loving all that you are sharing. thank you for it. (both knowledge and firearms)

[1911]

@GamecockOperator

I was aware of the parkerization and reason for it on the 1911s but i hadnt heard of it for the garands. Which is odd cause i would have thought that i had more knowledge about them than the 1911s from wwII. Thanks for that info too… like i said you’re a wealth of knowledge and i’m loving all that you are sharing. thank you for it. (both knowledge and firearms)

I am not that surprised that you didn’t know about the Garands. They are usually the earlier WWII Garands. Some were dipped in 1941 and 1942 and some were not. I think most in 1943 were dipped. After 1943 all the manufacturers changed from case hardening to a heat treating process to correct for the overly hard early receivers. Once the problem became more widely known Garands were inspected by Armorers when they could. A good number of receivers were taken out of service as they had formed stress cracks. If it was feasible Garands with cracked receivers were stripped of parts and the damaged receivers were cut up or melted down. There aren’t near as many lead dipped heel receivers left around as you would think. My lead dipped heel Garand is a Springfield Armory made in 12/1942. It is mostly a Springfield Armory gun. It is still a parts mix gun though. This is why I didn’t really have a problem sending it to Tim Shufflin to have him convert it to his custom designed Shuffs Mini G.
Tim is a master with Garands. His work is legendary. That Tim and I know of I was only the second person that we knew that had suppressed a Garand. The Mini G is fun to shoot. Without a suppressor the 30-06 round coming out of a 16" barrel shoots one hell of a fireball out the muzzle. At night the fireball is intimidating and blinding… 8 rounds of 30-06 on tap in a small compact package with the Burris Scout Scope 2-7x32mm it really is a good all around package. It’s balance is a hell of a lot better than a full sized Garand. I had Tim Manganese Phosphate parkerize my Mini G not Zinc Phosphate so the lead dipped heel shows up better and darker than the lighter grey Zinc Phosphate parkerizing does.
http://shuffsparkerizing.com/

[1911]

This is one of my a totally complete excellent condition WWI 1918 US Haversack pack, with 1918 pack tail, 1918 meat can pouch, 1918 mess kit, 1918 mess kit utensils in their leather sheaths, 1918 canteen cover, 1918 canteen, 1918 canteen cup, 1918 eagle snap calvary ammo belt with Saber hanger and calvary ID disk, eagle snap .45 acp mag pouch, leather 1911 holster from 1918, a 1918 Springfield Armory leather Hospital Bolo sheath, a 1912 Springfield Armory Hospital Bolo machete, 1918 officers map pouch and 1918 first aid pouch with bandage still sealed in the tin packaging. Each one of these items in this condition is pretty rare. Having a full complete set in this condition and with matching dates is a good deal more rare to find.