All About the Guns…

During these past few weeks, I’ve been acquainted with some REAL guns.  Please understand that we do not and can not sell actual real firearms on gunsofold.com, our store site.  I’ve been considering this post on real guns anyway because this blog is about, well, guns.  I’m one of those people who likes guns.   Over the past week or so, I’ve been introduced to some fine specimens of handheld firepower that I felt I just had to write about, so here you go.  If you click on the pictures, you should get a nice, large and detailed image!

Bryco .380 Auto

Yes, I know.  A real disreputable trailer trash of a gun.  Almost universally despised, and has a very bad reputation online.  They say that these are the kind of Saturday Night Special guns that end up at crime scenes, and that they are made of cheap nasty pot metal and fail often.  For all I know, this could be true.  Look it up online.  You won’t find anything good about the Bryco .380 Auto, made by the now-defunct Bryco in Carson City, Nevada.  I actually bought mine a long time ago  in a galaxy far far away.  1990 to be exact.  Different world, different times, younger and stronger me!  With the exception of having about 50 rounds put through it, it has occupied space in various closets over the years. It didn’t blow up in my face when I fired it, and usually does not jam or misfeed, though I hear that they are legendary for this.  So far so good.  Obviously, this is not my first choice for personal or home defense.  I have also heard that if your target is more than five feet away, you’ll miss.  Maybe not THAT bad, but you get the idea.  A very inexpensive gun.  I just keep it around for old times sake…

Smith & Wesson .40 Calbier SW40VE

Now we’re getting more serious.  A  far cry from the Bryco .380, this Smith & Wesson is a lot more beefy and robust than my old .380.  Considerably larger too, and its polymer frame makes it lighter than you might expect.   No, I’m not suffering from some kind of phallic size-insecurity issue, as many gun haters will attest.  Not that I’m prone to listen to what anti-gun types have to say anyway.  As an American who values Second Amendment rights and a veteran, I happen to like guns.  Quite a few people bitch about the S&W40’s very stiff slide and trigger pull.  I must admit, this hammerless semiauto from Springfield, Massachusetts is very firm, and does have very strong springs.  There’s no safety, either!  With this thing you are either locked and loaded, or you aren’t.  Better to check the magazine and barrel to clear it and make sure!  When I pull the trigger, I get a nice, solid boom and buck, as is fitting with a large caliber firearm.  Some may balk about the idea of using such a stiff weapon for personal concealed carry and/or personal defense, but I’ve seen worse.  One thing’s for sure.  With this gun, you really have to give the trigger a good hard squeeze to set it off.  But it’s a rock-solid shooter.  It’s a Smith & Wesson.  I experienced no jams or misfires.  As expected from a large caliber pistol, it has a nice, solid kicking recoil.

Ruger P95 9mm

Ooh.  Now we’re getting somewhere!  The beef and brawn of the Smith & Wesson .40 caliber, in a nice, lightweight polymer frame.  This is a more traditional semiautomatic with a hammer.  Much easier spring action than the S&W40.  When you pull back the slide, it chambers the round, the hammer stays back, which means you are locked and loaded and ready for action.  If you are not accustomed to a pistol with a hammer, this can be jarring!  You are only a slight trigger pull away from discharging the gun.  It has a slightly unusual spring-forward magazine release, but springs it out nicely, once you figure it out.  Like any other larger caliber firearm, it has a nice kick to it.  The Ruger P95 uses the same 9 X 19mm cartridges as the famous Luger 9mm Parabellum.  A tried and true caliber that has proven its worth.  This weapon is suitable for concealed carry and home defense, of course, for such applications, it is recommended that you use a good quality hollow-point ammunition.  At around $340, this 9mm Prescott, Arizona pistol is a real dandy.

Taurus .38 Special Revolver

Now here’s an intimidating little package.  It even looks scary.  I sure wouldn’t care to be staring down the business end of this thing.  It uses very large cartridges too.  Like a magnum.  If you stared into the loaded barrel of this thing long enough (not recommended) you might catch a glimpse of this huge bullet, just waiting for the order to GO.  This is a small revolver with a two-inch barrel that easily fits in the palm of your hand or a pocket, but has a seriously strong attitude about it.  The biggest thing on the revolver you notice is the revolver drum itself and the muzzle size.  It really does have presence.  It’s almost like having a large cartridge with a firing pin attached to it.  A nice, small, concealable package.  When you fire it, you get a nice hard buck too.  If you make those rounds hollow points, you’d be almost unstoppable!  For its small size, this tiny revolver has a big and strong frame.  And a big bark.  Without wishing to convey any aggressive attitude, this is actually quite a mean little revolver.  The Brazilians got this one right.

Bersa Thunder .380

No more screwing  around with the Bryco.  This pocket .380 is miles above the Bryco in both class and style.  Here is a surprisingly nice pistol for the price.  A very sleek and good-looking pistol, it’s also a surprisingly good little shooter.  This firearm seriously reminds me of one of my all-time venerated favorites, the Walther PPK.  It even has the PPK-style grip extender on the bottom of the magazine, which is both functional and stylish and is chambered in the same .380 ACP caliber.  Think of the Bersa as a PPK for those on a budget.  Highly economical, if you can pass the background check in the US, you can get a Bersa for about $225.  For the price, you get a lot of reliability and an all-around decent little personal protection pistol.  There are all kinds of safety features on the Bersa Thunder, including a factory trigger lock and a manual safety that is operated by a key, for those who may need these features.  The .380 ACP caliber is big enough to do the job too.  It has the nice little kick you’d expect from a medium caliber gun.  Just right for concealed carry.  I was very impressed by this little surprise from Argentina.  A good, high-quality and effective firearm in a small, affordable package.

Rock Island Armory .45 ACP M1911A1 CS

Now we’re cookin’!  I like to think of this as the nice little reliable surprise like the Bersa .380, but in the more popular .45 ACP caliber.  If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of United States military veterans of the Cold War, like myself, then you probably know all about the M1911A1 Colt .45 Government Issue pistol.  Remember those long hours of stammering around on guard duty at 02:00 hours with one of these strapped to your waist?  It’s almost enough to make a person want to shoot it off, just to kill the boredom.  Like any good legend, the old .45 will never die.  It has been beloved by Americans for the last eight decades, and will probably be around for eight more.  While the originals were made by Colt, there are now many other models available, and still in production.  And the good thing is, most of these, regardless of manufacturer, have parts that are compatible with each other.  The same is true with the Rock Island version of the .45.  The one I have is a shortened version, being about 1.5 inches shorter in the barrel than its more famous government-issued cousin, but otherwise, it’s still a .45 M1911A1 through and through.  Manufactured in the Philippines, this single-action automatic with a neat skeleton hammer has all the full features and rock-solid reliability of its cousins.  No jams or misfires.  The shorter, more compact size (the CS part in the model name) makes for easier concealed carry without sacrificing any bite, and the .45 ACP caliber is about as big as they come without getting into specialty weapons.  The trigger action on this model is very pleasing and satisfyingly smooth. You have to feel it to appreciate it.  It’s great.   If you load one of these with good quality hollow-point ammo, you have a very fine home or personal defense weapon.  This is considered the entry-level market pistol to the vaunted .45 club, retailing at around $430, and it even comes in a nice polymer carrying case.

Once again, we’d like to remind you that we DO NOT sell real firearms on our site or in our online store.  We sell only non-firing replicas, or in some cases, blank-firing replicas where we can.  The anti-gun crowd has managed to ban even replicas in some places now.  We will always fight for the right to safe, responsible firearms ownership, and our inalienable Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Cartridges: .380 ACP, Luger 9mm, .40SW, .45 ACP, .38 Special. Click on image for a better view, but use your back button to return to the blog, or the WordPress software will throw you off of this site!

If you’d like to read more on the history of some of the most famous guns of all time, please visit my website, GunClassics.com.  Thank You for visiting our blog.  You are always welcome to check back and see what’s new, or to just browse around.  We hope you enjoy our sites, and look forward to serving you in 2012.

A Pistol Like No Other; The Luger P08 Parabellum

One of the most successful and famous pistols of all time, the legendary P08 Parabellum, designed by Georg Luger was manufactured by the DWM (Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken) and saw service in World War I in the German and Swiss military, usually as an officers’ sidearm. They were in service in the Swiss military starting in 1900, and Germany in 1904. Both the Imperial German Army and Navy used the P08. It found it’s way to various parts of the world, and even saw use in the Chinese Civil War. The American military also bought 1,000 of the P08 pistols for field testing, although they ended up going with the now legendary M1911 .45 semiautomatic pistol.

In the early 1900’s there was a lot of devlopment and modification to the P08 which ranged from 7.65mm to 9mm, and even included a version which had a 32-round drum-type magazine affixed to the butt, along with a removable wooden stock, that fit cleverly into a holster.

While modern firearms load and eject by pulling the breech straight backward and letting it spring forward, the P08 has a hinged arm that is pulled upward, forming an “A”shape by using a textured knob, which then springs back into place, loading the firing chamber. An 8-round spring-loaded magazine inserted into butt of the grip supplies the ammunition. This design is instantly recognizable and makes the P08 one of the most famous pistols of all time. It is also  the first 9mm semiautomatic pistol, a format still manufactured today by many firearms producers.

In addition the the innovative locking mechanism, the P08 was also noted for it’s accuracy, ease of use, and is easy to take down and reassemble for maintenance.

In 1930 production was assumed by the Mauser company, who made the P08 until 1943, when the war started to go downhill for Germany.  The famous “Parabellum” was a favorite sidearm of German officers, and was still in wide use in World War II, even after the introduction of the more modern P38, made by Walther.  There was also a commercial version of the gun with an extended barrel, made in the 1920’s.

Many of the P08 pistols were captured by allied troops and taken home to end up in various private collections, and are still in circulation today, and often turn up in auctions. They are available in various states of repair, and most still are able to fire rounds, which are still available, mostly in the successful 9mm format. They are now very expensive to acquire. They can range anywhere from $1,000 to upwards of $8,500, or even more.

The popularity of the P08 has waned little owing to it’s sleek, compact design, the mystique of their connection to NAZI Germany, not the mention the incredibly unique locking mechanism that loads and ejects cartridges like no other gun ever made.

To check out some of the Most Famous Guns in History, visit GunClassics.Com, where you’ll find info, facts, photos, links and more.
For authentic replicas of these Famous Guns, made of steel and / or wood, with working mechanical parts, both blank-firing and non-firing replicas, framed replicas and box sets, re-enactor gear and more, Please Visit GunsOfOld.com.  There you can also find an authentic, non-firing replica of the Luger P08 Parabellum.