Browning serial question

I'm not sure if this is a technical question or a history inquiry.

I found some info in my Dad's papers.

There was info on his Luger, (which circa 1960 he paid all of $36.75 for, In Germany, if that was marks it means he paid less than $10 for it ).

In the same box is are registrations from the Luger and a Browning, the Browning is listed as a .32 the the serial is RA559xx

What type of pistol is this? I'm still looking.

(Strokes Luger Lovingly, drools)
I don't ever remember my Dad owning any Brownings so I'm curious what he had picked up even If I never got to see it.

Thanks,

Thanks, that was quick

The Canadian also matches up with the time frame, He was hanging out with a bunch of Canadians at the time.

At least I know what I'm looking for presuming it wasn't disposed of. We lost a 52 vintage PPK because he could not import it back to the us due to the GCA of 68.

Again thanks,

from my own wiki search

It looks like this may have gone by boards as well over the 68GCA, drat I really like the .32s Oh, well at least I know what it was now. Thanks

I guess the Luger apparently was worth the effort to fill out the paperwork to get it back to the US.

rcmodel said:

Please excuse my ignorance.
And my impatience.

But where the hell is it you are talking about??

Did he try to bring the guns back into the USA?
Or Glitter Gulch in the LSR? (Lower Slovak Republic)?

When I am already guessing?
Minor details like what country you are talking about helps my crystal ball work better sometimes!

rc

Click to expand...

Glitter Gulch from say Sept/May any year rest of the year it's Furnace Flats.
That would be Dallas, TX (Lone Star Republic)

My Dad served 24 years in US Army including two separate Trips to Bundesrepublik Deutschland or BRD (West Germany) by the time of our second trip which started before the Gun Control Act of 68, he had picked up some really nice pistols for not much money <35 Marks!??! for a Luger? Of all the docs I can account for he lost at least three guns to not being able to reimport them back to the US after the GCA was passed. grrr, snarl howl scumsucking politicans and the scum at batfeces should fry in hell. Those were privately owned personal property for crying out loud. From what I understand these days he probably would have had to sell off the Luger as well. To be sure a lot of GIs brought stuff (cars mainly) that were not going to ever get across the pond with out loads of paperwork. But I was curious as to what exactly he had, since I didn't remember ever seeing anything besides the Luger my brother and I got to shoot. The P-08 was the first real gun I ever fired. It shoots nice for a 1914 production Efurt it's only 4 years younger than my carry piece the 1903 .32 Colt. The Colt is easier to carry though by a long shot the Browning probably was too.

woerm

Interesting about the PX/BX part

I didn't know the PX/BX peddled guns. That's a discovery. I figured he had bought it from a German he worked with.

But that was in the early 60's.

I remember my Dad and Mom being really hacked off about not being able to bring their little guns back after the GCA. There was a 'exit interview' type thing they went to because all the heaters had to been registered w/ the MP's /Base Commander. Reason number n to the x not to register anything.

I'm guessing the Luger was big enough piece of iron to get around the import restrictions.

What's funny to me is, my Mom still gripes about losing the PPK, but when I found a 1955 vintage PPK with those silly grips that look like they were cut from discarded wall paneling and called her to see if she still wanted one...
She prefers the Ruger Gp101 she has now(yes in .357). Talk about evolving taste in ordnance.

snippage

quote Jim K
FWIW, in 1960 that Luger would have cost around $35-40 in the U.S., so I am pretty sure the 36.75 was dollars, not marks. It was almost impossible for American soldiers stationed in Germany to buy handguns on the German market, but American, German and other guns were for sale in American PX/BX stores in Germany, which operated under American gun laws. Of course, PX/BX prices were in dollars, not marks.

It was not, at least at that time, any problem for a GI to bring back firearms that had been bought at a PX/BX since American bases were for practical purposes considered part of the U.S.; such guns were not being imported, only moved from one part of the U.S. to another. They were imported simply by being put in with the normal HHG shipment.

Jim