Beside 1911: Favorite WWI or WWII Handgun

[Dnaltrop]

I just have a hard time shooting hard-to-replace antiques. $3k, probably not, but $1500 I could sneak past the wife eventually without buying her an equal gun.

Our local gun shows usuallly have a certain gentleman with a "not for sale" supposedly unfired broomhandle in a case next to some odd Swing-out cylinder revolver with a name that escapes me (entire cylinder swings out at a perpendicular angle to the frame) Next time I'll try to eyeball the manufacturer.

Tease...

 

[rogertc1]

pick one. i have a lot...

 

[SleazyRider]

Call it pedestrian if you will, but I like the Spanish Ruby pistols (a blatant ripoff of John Browning's 1903), popular with French troops during WW1, because an ordinary po-boy like me can get into collecting them for just a few hundred bucks. They're crude, metal is poor, and parts are more often than not not interchangeable because so many different Spanish manufacturers produced them. But once you get one running, they're fun to shoot and won't break the bank.

 

[Wildbillz]

Let me add the Walther PPK to the list.

WB

 

[Keb]

I also like the Sauer 38H. I have an earlier one, supposedly a Nazi Paratrooper pistol.

 

[Ian]

Definitely the High Power for me. I have a 1944 Belgian-made example that I carry on a fairly regular basis:

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

M1 Garand

BAR

 

[InkEd]

Neither if those are handguns. Please try again.

 

[harmon rabb]

But, something that's always grabbed my attention is the Nagant 1895.

Lulz. Ever fired one? I have one. What a POS. I mean, it goes bang, and is pretty accurate in SA, but it feels so crude, and the DA trigger is approximately 43lbs.

 

[rfurtkamp]

Ever fired one? I have one. What a POS. I mean, it goes bang, and is pretty accurate in SA, but it feels so crude, and the DA trigger is approximately 43lbs.

Yea, I went through half a box..to see if there was *any* improvement. None at all.

Afterwards a Glock trigger felt like heaven.

And the polymer grips were like wood target grips compared to the corncob pipe of the '95.

 

[modifiedbrowning]

Hi Power or Walther P38.

 

[SleazyRider]

A perfectly-functioning Spanish Ruby pistol used by the French in WWI. The rivet on the slide, added by the French, was to prevent the safety from becoming disengaged during holstering. She'll never be voted homecoming queen, but I love 'er just the same:

 

[Smith357]

1917 .45acp revolver

 

[Vern Humphrey]

My first choice would the the M1911, of course. After that, the Colt M1917 and then the HP.

 

[Hansli]

I have owned and shot a byf 41 Luger, Hi Power, S&W 1917, Remington Rand, ac44 P-38, Beretta 1934 and a P-35 Vis. The P-35 is the only one I still have. It is remarkably accurate and nicely balanced. I still own a post war Hi Power, but the P-35 outshines it in every way but magazine capacity.

 

[Joshua M.]

Probably the Luger

 

[Pete D.]

WWII

Webley Mk.VI .38 S&W


Pete

 

[spelsh]

Walther P-38

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Liberty gun. So many made. So Crappy. So few exist today.

The Liberty gun was the only pistol made where the loading process took longer than the actual manufacturing process.

 

[-v-]

Simple, Tokarev TT33

 

[amprecon]

I haven't handled many WWI or WWII era pistols aside from the 1911, but the runner up to the 1911 IMO is the ubiquitous S&W Victory Model, Military & Police and/or Model 10 in .38spl. There were millions produced and many countries adopted them, they are simple, accurate, reliable and effective.
There are many other novel handguns of those eras, but I just can't help liking the S&W Model 10.

 

[orionengnr]

Beside oxygen...
what is your favorite breathable gas?

Yeah, I'm gonna decline on that one too....

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Luger. (Does it matter if it was used by the enemy?) Honorable mention: S&W 1917.

 

[hcso617]

Hi Power, Tokarev TT33 I have a 1911 and a Nagant

 

[oldbear]

WW I - the S&W M-17 and the Luger.
WW II - the High Power and the Walther PPK.