Got back a piece of family heirloom

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Medusa

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One of my great uncles was a police officer and a member of Defence League (K.L.) during the first republic and went missing during the troubled times, when the commies occupied our country in 1939. By mysterious and weird ways I got my hands on his duty piece.

Making long story short, it has seen better days, I watched the AGI Hi-power, took the gun apart, completely, to find that some places have not been cleaned in decades, literally. I had to remove some rust here&there, but otherwise seems to be in good working condition. Previous owner assured it works like a Singer sewing machine. We'll see, when I try it out :)

Since this thread would be useless without pics, here they are. I do wonder what all the markings mean, and when was it made.

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I am curious what that marking means: lion, below it is P.V, then a star and "E". Does it show the maker, or perhaps also for whom it was made? The letters on the slide side are quite shallow and a bit worn out (by a holster and careless meantime owner, my guess).

It would also be fun to know, what it's worth, but I assure you, the spiritual value surpasses any monetary one.
 
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Can't help with markings ~ but would love to here the rest of the story. How did you find and acquire it. Was it lost with his disappearance??? I am sure its an awesome story if you can share.
 
The lion over the letters P V is the smokeless powder proof of Belgium, from their Proof System of 1924. The official definitive proof was three proof rounds being fired which were loaded to 50% excess pressure of the standard cartridge loading. The star over the letter E is probably the inspectors mark.
 
Thanks. I did suspect something like that, but I have little knowledge on that matters. Also, the border patrol here has same initialst, PV, that also confused a bit. Where could i find more info on Hi-powers. Jan.C page?
 
Can't help with markings ~ but would love to here the rest of the story. How did you find and acquire it. Was it lost with his disappearance??? I am sure its an awesome story if you can share.
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Not much of a story to tell, so far. I will if I learn it all. The HP was passed somehow to his grandkid who sold it off years ago and suicided shortly after. I haven't been in touch with that part of the family for a very long time, so I knew nothing about it.

Anyway, that some random dude the gun was sold to got into monetary problems and also wanted to cash it in. With lucky coincident I managed to see that selling ad and jumped on it - I have always wanted me an old pistol (from the times of our first republic). When he said whom it was during those early times, I thought - hey I know that name. So that is the story so far. I do try to learn more, as much as I can - what happened to my great uncle, how the pistol moved on, when it was made etc.

Another thing, there must be a range report following, right? :)

Vaupet, thanks for the links.

The gun came as seen - pistol itself in in unchanged condition - all original parts. Magazine is an aftermarket one. It also had a holster stock, but it was lost in the previous transaction. I do not know how much I dare to shoot it - sometimes, yes of course, but not very heavily I suspect. I would not like do wear it out completely, but no gun should lay in safe unused on the other hand.

I might have to go to the gunsmith with it - I can't get the trigger pin out (tried with punch, but no luck, do not want to hit it too hard either), there's some play in the slide (a little rattling to the sides, not too much, but still a little). Barrel has some movement in slide, only a couple thousandths, not anything unsafe, but still I'd like it looked at.

Inside looks good, no damage or rust to be seen, only rust was outside (mostly rear sight - underside of it, the small slide and it's spring, a tad in the magazine catch). Rifling is good and sharp, gun does not seem to be shot a lot, it's just old and carried (holster wear on slide).

Should I have some spares in box, just in case - extractor, firing pin, recoil spring etc?
 
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Congrts on getting your Uncles duty weapon.. I know it must be sometihng special to have a gun with so much history behind it it...let alone that it was your Uncles.
 
small range report

I managed to get to the range with my new old gun. A fun day - 30 cm of snow, -12 o Celsius, and my 2 pistols with plenty of ammo.

The road to range, just driving there could be taken as a good exercise in slippery conditions:

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These two complement eachother quite nicely, both seem to be more accurate than I am

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Third image represents quite a typical 3 round group for HP, @10 meters, other groups were similar - 2 holes under one patch, third within 2 inches. Since the pic itself is quite boring I did not put it into the text at large. Anyway, center ring is 1 inch diameter, next one (10 ring) is 2 and 9 ring is 4 inches in diameter. For scale. It still show that I haven't practised shooting for some time, especially sidearms, I managed to get good groups when I had a good focus, but also got larger groups and pulled more than one round off to the side. Why 3 rounds? I just wanted to see how the HP performs and works, decided to leave the drills for another time.

There was on instance on HP where it failed to pull the empty case out of the chamber, seemed that the extractor had jumped over the rim (both had no damage or marks on them). I have to look the extractor closely, to see if it is bent, the tongue/hook itself seems to be with the proper angles. Another thing that bothered me a bit, was that the rear tangent sight has some movement sideways. It didn't seem to hurt the accuracy a bit, but still may turn out to be a minor inconvenience.

I would like some slimmer grips too, but I would also like to keep the HP in original shape and condition.
 
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that was going to be my question too..

EE, Europe is beyond my geography lessons of late.

What country, republic are you talking about... us yankees are kind of limited in our knowledge of those foreign places.

Glad you got that old gun back.... me, I'd shoot the heck out of it.
 
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