Do any of you have your Grandfather's service revolvers or pistols?

I was looking at the little Colt .25 auto my Father handed down to me. It was my Grandfather's back-up pistol when he was a Chief Deputy Sheriff.
My Father has Grandfather's service revolver, a S&W nickel 4" M&P revolver, chambered for .32-20, as well as his old holster, both of which will be passed on to my brother and I one day.
Anyway, it got me to thinking...How many of you guys have your Grandfather's service revolvers or pistols and what are they?

I own two of my grandfather's guns, although he didn't serve as an LEO. The first is a Remington New Model Army .44, the other a Reid's Knuckleduster 7-shot .22, sans barrel. Both are in like-new condition and are breathtakingly beautiful.

My father was a police officer in New England. I'm very proud to have his top-break Iver Johnson .32 caliber 5-shot revolver (in pretty good condition, I might add). Hard to believe, given the state of firearms advancement today, that he would trust his life daily to a model like that.

The M1911 in this picture belonged to my Great-Grandfather, who was a Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Service.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/J_M_Lambert/Guns/100_1238.jpg

This Smith & Wesson M&P belonged to my Grandfather, who was a Lt.Col. In the USAF.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/J_M_Lambert/Guns/100_2567.jpg

I still have my grandfather's .38 short rimfire pocket revolver...He called it his "Saturday dancing gun"...

I have my Grandfathers S&W Victory .38 special. He carried it as a peace officer in South Dakota. It spent most of it's life in a holster and a drawer. It shows the wear to the finish, but its essentially perfect, mechanically speaking. I shoot the heck out of it. I'm tossing around the idea of replacing the barrel, due to the sights being god awful. I'm not grinding down or replacing the front blade. We'll see I guess.

Walther P-38 (AC43)

No. I do have his hard hat somewhere, though. He worked in a steel mill.

Got my Grandpa's M10. He traded a sheriff friend for it, wasn't an LEO himself.

I've got a S&W .38 topbreak DA 4th Model that belonged to my grandfather. I've heard that my Grandfather got it when he served in WWI, and I've heard that he my have used it when he served as a sheriff in Hornbeak TN.

Robert

Do any of you have your Grandfather's service revolvers or pistols?

Nope. Grandpa was primarily a rifle and shotgun shooter. Supposedly he had a pair of Colt 45s, but nothing turned up after he died. Hmmmm.:scrutiny:

CZ-27, its never been fired since the war

got a sears side by side 16 gauge that my great grandpa bought for my grandpa as part of a humerus story ill leave out. Ill never shoot this one.

got a niclkle plated smith model 36 that my grandma kept close. I shoot this often and keep it loaded by my bed... its what my grandma would have wanted.

the only other memorable guns have been stolen or burnt when my grate grandmas house burnt down.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r226/51Cards/19111943.jpg

Late father-in-law's. USAAC, Papua-New Guinea (Wewak).

My in-laws have an early (WWI?) 1911 that one of their relatives carried. It sits under the mattress, rusting away. It just makes me sick.

We have a G33/40 that my grandfather brought back from WWII - but it's been converted into a 30.06 hunting rifle, so...

I have a Colt Police Positive in 32-20 that my Great-Grandfather bought from the Cleveland PD in the 20's.

He was one of the PD's mechanics that "up-armored" Eliot Ness' personal car when he came to town. :D

My Grandfather was in the Imperial German Army. First world War. IF he carried a service pistol it would have been probably a Luger.

I do have several different photo's of him with his Mauser 98, not a K model either.

I do have my fathers Victory S&W revolver though.

Does that Count.

Go figure.

Fred

I don't have Grandfather's gun, but I do have the one that he passed on from his Daddy.

Great-Grandfather joined the Kansas City MO Police Dept in 1884, 10 years after it was created. The serial number on this Colt Lightning (.38 Long Colt, double action) indicates it was manufactured that same year. He kept this weapon through 30-some years of service with the dept, retiring as a Captain. The badge is from his 33rd year of service, and the holster has seen a lot of use.

When my dad passed away and I inherited it, I fired two cylinders through it with my son, cleaned it, and put it in this shadow box.

He was one of the PD's mechanics that "up-armored" Eliot Ness' personal car when he came to town

I wonder if he knew anything about the torso killing investigation.

Here is some pics of my Gpas gun he brought back from WWII.. This one was made in early 1921 by the serial number vs year of manufacturing
Its a Fromer Stop 32ACP
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a264/john4me05/PawPawsgun001.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a264/john4me05/PawPawsgun0011.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a264/john4me05/PawPawsgun0031.jpg

I learned my Gpa paid 1 dollar for the gun from a German officer sometime back in WW2.. Apparently the guy needed money to get drunk on...
It sat in a leather holster since then til a couple months ago... I tore it down and cleaned it last night and it is in surprisingly good shape with just the tiniest small specs of surface rust... May have even been there when Paw Paw got it... Gun cycles beautifully... It doesnt work too well with modern ammo but in research the 7.65 is a hotter cartrige than the 32 ACP modern day ammo

I've got my great-grandfather's Colt SAA Army.

I don't know much 'bout either of my grand-father's; but I do have my now
deceased fathers Smith & Wesson 2" barrel, blue steel 30-1 in .32 S&W Long.
I bought it for him back in '71 NIB for the sum of $92.00 + 5% sales tax~! ;)

Guys, these are some great responses and pictures! The histories behind these old guns are fantastic!

My father's service weapon was a .30 caliber carbine. But he left that with the army when he was discharged. However....

My father is a very late bloomer gun-wise; he got his first one at age 73. He was 7-12 years old during WWII, so his childhood was dominated by the war. As long as I can remember, for 35+ years at least, he's looked towards the heavens & wistfully said how he's always wanted to have a Luger and a K98k. So, one day, after hearing this at least once a week for my whole life, I just got on his case, told him to get his Visa ready and to wait by the phone. I found him a K98k online, and then gave him the phone number. Since then, in the last two years, he's gone on a whopping buying spree. Aside from the K98k, he's bought a perfect P08 w/2 (!) numbers matching magazines, a cherry WWII P38, a mint Mauser HSc with original holster, mags & capture papers, and a nice .30 caliber Carbine. All of them are correctly numbered WWII items. Also, he's bought a dozen helmets, 15-20 German dress daggers, a Japanese battle flag, etc, etc, etc. And, every time he gets something else, he tells me "You know, no one else in the family cares about this stuff so it's all going to you when I die." He's said it so often that I even asked him if he was trying to make his death seem like an attractive prospect.

He also has a Yugo SKS that he insisted buying from me, 2 Marlin .22s, an H&R 949 & a Russian Makarov, also gotten from me.

Note: I visited with the SKS and he fell in love. He said "Leave it here and find a replacement. Here's a check. I want this! Just take the check and fill it out when you find what you want. I don't care, just leave the rifle here when you go back home. I'll pay; just leave it with me."

Dad has even gotten a CT carry permit and has said that the 949 or the Makarov are good night time dog-walking sidearms.

And my mother just sits, rolls her eyes, and says "I never thought that I'd be one of those people with 20 guns in the house and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. Well, it makes him happy & it gives him something to do now that he's retired. At least he's not hovering around me in the kitchen as much as he used to...."

I have my Dad's( handed down) Winchester 1894. Sweet gun.

I have my late father's Smith and Wesson Model 65 3" that he carried as a Sergeant with Topeka PD. He bought it from the dept. when he retired, carried it as a plainclothes security guard for another 10 years until his death.

I'd have liked to have had his Model 15-3 he carried when he was on the streets, but my dirtbag brother has it now, or some pawnshop does :mad::mad::mad:

I've also got my great grandfather's M1911 and 1903. He was a Marine before and during WW1, they both date around the same time but whether he brought them home from the Corps or not is a dead family mystery.

I do not own any of his guns, but I do have his KABAR knife and brass knuckles that he carried in the South Pacific.

Mine isn't really my father's service pistol, he served guarding prisoners in Camp Crowder during WWII, and had to turn in any weapons he had when he ETS'd. I'd love to have his old service weapon, he was issued a Thompson!!! My grandfather wasn't in the service, though my great grandfather served for the entire duration of the Civil War, and I would love to have gotten the old cavalry pistol he carried when he was a courier in the First Maine.

However, a friend of my father's brought back a Walther P-38 he took off of an SS officer he shot while liberating the camps. That friend gave my father the pistol for rebuilding his cast iron torgue-flight transmission in his Dodge. My father cherished that pistol, it was the only pistol he even wanted to own (he was more a fan of long guns, and especially shot guns for home/self defense).

I still fire the pistol and will until it ceases to work due to wear. However, it is well made and does not show any signs of slowing down in its old age, so I believe I will be using it for some time to come. However, with the current state of the political situation I am going to retire it as my defense weapon, I would be heart broken if I lost the thing because I had to shoot some jackass with it because he broke into my house and climbed over my dog to get to me or my family. I'm going to a modern, more easily replaced weapon for that purpose.

My gun collection is low right now, I lost several weapons to my ex-wife when I divorced her. To quote a line from a Segal movie "I love giving away all of my possessions, it makes me feel really spiritual!":banghead:

Incidentally, I have to buy a new shotgun, too. The Remmington I now keep by my bed was also my father's, and it was his second favorite weapon.

However, with the current state of the political situation I am going to retire it as my defense weapon, I would be heart broken if I lost the thing because I had to shoot some jackass with it because he broke into my house and climbed over my dog to get to me or my family. I'm going to a modern, more easily replaced weapon for that purpose.

I think you can still get P-38s in decent condition for under $300. Why put all that trigger time and muscle memory to waste?

S&W Victory model given to me by my uncle who was a WWII Seabee. The full story is here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=320162


http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u152/jt1jt1/PB270002.jpg

My grandfather was in WW2 (the big one) and actually brought back a few Mauser handguns (says my father).
Unfortunately, it seems he sold them to a friend in the mid 1960's. They made my british grandmother uncomfortable and he was not really a gun guy anyway.
I wish my father had some idea of who he sold the guns to. But my grandfather is gone, and my dad didn't really care at the time.
Dad's not an LEO or military guy, but some day, (LONG LONG in the future i hope) I'll get his guns. He doesn't have many, but it'll be two pistols and a shotgun that I'd never let go of.

"I think you can still get P-38s in decent condition for under $300. Why put all that trigger time and muscle memory to waste?"

I don't mind putting in more time with another pistol. I like to shoot.:D

As far as getting another P-38, you're right there are plenty of them out there, one point two million of them were made during the second world war, and I think Walther was still making the P-38 into the 1990's so they are quite readily available.

However, it is definitely not my first choice as a carry weapon. It just happens to be the only pistol I own right now until I pick up my new (slightly used) Bersa on the 5th (I bought it the same day the guy traded it in and the gun shop has to hold it for two weeks).

The problems with the Walther as a carry weapon are do to its size and shape. It's chunky, has a log barrel profile for an autoloader, and the front sight snags on clothing easily. It's made as a military side arm, that's how it is best carried. If I were going to carry it I would just as soon go back to carrying my old Vaquero (gone these many years). Alternatively, if I carry an autoloader that large I may as well go to a full sized 1911, especially since the Walther can have problems with feeding anything other than full jacketed ball rounds.

I know, you can use jacketed hollow points and polish the feeding ramp, but still, that requires that I have the feeding ramp polished. If I am going to buy another gun anyway, I may as well get one that doesn't come to me needing work.

All of that being said, the P-38 can't be beat for sweet shooting accuracy. I love the weapon. Just not for carrying under my shirt.

I haven't actually applied for my concealed weapons permit yet, and simply carry my gun in my car. I should get around to applying soon and then I'll make the final decision as to my carry weapon. For home defense, as I stated in another thread, my first line weapon is a 12 gauge and the pistol is just back up.

My grandfather was not a poiiceman or in the service, but I have his Colt 1903 .25 pocket auto, and my brother has his 1894 (circa 1916) Winchester 94 .30 WCF. Great memorials of a tough, kind man.

I have my Grandfather's S&W 1917 in 45 ACP that he and his son, my Uncle carried as they traded terms as Sheriff in Leake County MS during the 30's through early 50s. This is the same pistol that after busting a still with the Feds my Uncle shot the heard off a water mocasin at about 50 yds. To quote my Uncle "I made a point never to shoot around that man again..." Unfortunatley this pistol has been shot with considerable military ammo that had corrosive primers so the barrel is in very poor condition. But it is a family heirloom that gets shot occassionally.

I have a French .32ACP my grandfather brought back from WWII. A friend of mine has her grandfathers 1911A1 he carried in WWII as well as the .380 colt he recieved when he became a GeneraL.

This is the only one of my grandfathers guns I have.
1st generation Colt Peacemaker made somewhere around 1906-07.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/timc/Coltwithflag-1.jpg?t=1206369693

I have my Grandpa's old Iver Johnson Champion .410. It isn't in great condition, and I haven't ever shot it.
I also have a Colt Single Action Frontier Scout that belonged to him.
It was given to him, by my grandmother, on their first anniversary.
The only service he was in was service to the Lord. He was a preacher for 37 years, I think. He passed away in 2005.

I have my GREAT-Grandfather's Service Revolver from when he was in the Grosse Pointe Police Auxiliary in 1968. With it, I have his original state "safety inspection" card, the Warranty card, box, vapor paper, and holster.

None of them are "duty" weapons, but I have lots of heirlooms from my grandfather and great-grandfather, including a (non-working) pepperbox.