Historical Firearms I Want

This is a very gun-centric post.

I have the C&R bug bad. There are only two "curio or relic" firearms in my little arsenal and I feel the need for more of them.

What I have now are the Swiss K31 I got from the folks for Christmas and the Soviet Mosin M44 Carbine I bought with the money I got from the folks for my birthday. Both have been refinished to as good a condition as I can get them and shoot just fine. But, bullets cost money and going to the range is both expensive and takes lots of time. So my plan is to continue to build my little collection until such time that I can escape with the family to the hills of Kentucky or somewhere else where land is plentiful and people are scarce. (Mom and Dad recommend NJ.)

So what follows is a list of firearms I want to add to my collection.

Mosin 91/30


This is the long barreled version of the Soviet gun I already have. Those numbers, 91/30, indicate the year the gun was originally developed and the year it was refined. That means 1891 and then 1930. This was the primary firearm of Czarist and Soviet Russia. I think I'd just go for the oldest example I could find that I could still shoot. More info here.

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE)


The "Smilie" or "Smelly" was the backbone of the British Empire through most of the 20th Century. There are numerous versions of this gun made all over the world, including: Britain, Canada, USA, Australia, and India. Most tempting for my collection would be a WWII era US-made Savage Enfield sent to the UK under the Lend-Lease Act. More info here.


Israeli Mauser


These guns have a certain ironic appeal. They are German Mausers, used by the Nazis, that were captured and then sold to the new state of Israel. Take that, Hitler!

US M1 Carbine - Image from Aim Surplus. Go there, buy stuff!

This is the semi-automatic gun given to truck drivers, tankers, and other guys that supported the infantry in WWII. It fires a weaker cartridge than the full sized M1 Garand battle rifle, but it was still sufficient to send plenty of Nazis and Japanese militarists to their eternal "reward." Alas this gun is pretty much out of my price range, but if I were to come into a windfall, I know which one I would get. How cool would it be to own a gun made by IBM? Yes, that IBM. Gotta love the war economy. Maybe if we can get McCain in office, I can get my Apple iGun.


M1 Garand


I have to get one of these since I am an American. To quote Patton, "Best battle rifle ev-er." Or something to that effect.

But what am I going to get next? None of the above, actually.



I came across a really interesting rifle while perusing the internet the other day. It's the Persian Mauser 98/29. Same deal with the numbers. 1898/1929. This is a rifle designed by the Germans, built by the Czechs at the famous (what, you haven't heard of it?) BRNO factory, for use by the Persians. Yep, it's an Iranian gun from back before they were Iran. It is over four feet long, fires a huge 8mm cartridge, and has a lion crest. And it's not one of those androgynous lions either.



More here.