Yup! A little OT I guess, but here's a picture of my kit when I was overseas. My personal Inglis is a 1T series, made in 1944, but the one I was issued was a previously-unissued 5T series made mid 1945, fresh out of war stores. When I got it it even had part of the WW2 Lend-Lease decal left on the frontstrap! Pistol wasn't quite as nice when I turned it back in, unfortunately - that Afghan moon dust is hell on weapons.
In keeping with the semi-OT theme, here's a few handguns not issued in WW1 / WW2 but still connected to various wars:
This is a Spanish Jo.Lo.Ar pistol in 9mm Largo that, while never issued to the Spanish military or any police force I'm aware of, was fairly widely used in the Spanish Civil War. A very unusual design, a straight blowback with tip-up barrel chambered in a hig-pressure cartridge, with a pivoting lever ("palanca") attached to the slide for one handed cocking. The idea was that the pistol would be carried unloaded but could be quickly brought into action one-handed. Accordingly, it had no safety, and no trigger guard to interfere with the lever. As my friend once put it, a whole collection of bad ideas!
This is a British Enfield Mk.II revolver in .476 Enfield, as used by the British army between 1882 and 1887, including the Second Anglo-Afghan War. This one, however, I've traced via serial number to the Canadian North West Mounted Police, who used them between 1884 and 1905, including the North West Rebellion by the Metis under Louis Riel and allied Native tribes. A great piece of Canadiana!
This is a Belgian Frontier Bulldog revolver in .44-40 (probably), made before 1893 by Freres Neumann (I think) for export to America. The idea was to provide an inexpensive holster pistol to compete with the Colt and Smith & Wesson guns popular at the time. Although it's a very simple pistol, it's pretty neat, and I justified it's purchase by thinking that guns like this must have been used in the Mexican Revolution, since they were at one time popular in the Southern US and since so many Mexican rebels had to purchase their own weapons. There doesnt seem to be alot of information available about Frontier Bulldogs, other than that they were made by 5 different companies, and mostly in .44-40. However, mine has straight cylinder walls, which suggests to me it's a .44 Webley or .44 Russian. I think it's made by Freres Neumann, as FN on the grips definately doesn't stand for Fabrique Nationale, and Neumann was the only Belgian revolver maker I could find with the same initials.
This a Webley & Scott Model 1910 semi-auto in .38 ACP, a commercial pistol pre-dating the Mk.1N .455 which was adopted by the Royal Navy, which I previously posted. Webley only made about 1200 pistols in .38ACP, in two models, the 1910 and the 1913. The 1910 was apparently the more common, but either way there fewer than 1000 made. This could potentially have been a British officer's pistol in WW1, it came with a leather holster set up for a Sam Browne belt, but I have no real proof so at this point its mainly wishful thinking.
This a Colt M1901 Army in .38 Long Colt, as used by the US Military during the Phillipine Insurrection, and, aside from the lanyard ring, pretty much identical to the M1894 used in the Spanish-American War. This is the one whose lackluster stopping power lead to the introduction of the .45ACP. Aside from that, the lockwork on these wasn't particularly strong, although mine functions just fine.
Re: Pistol/revolver thread
by Nyles
Yup! A little OT I guess, but here's a picture of my kit when I was overseas. My personal Inglis is a 1T series, made in 1944, but the one I was issued was a previously-unissued 5T series made mid 1945, fresh out of war stores. When I got it it even had part of the WW2 Lend-Lease decal left on the frontstrap! Pistol wasn't quite as nice when I turned it back in, unfortunately - that Afghan moon dust is hell on weapons.
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