Old CCW Guns

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Kreyzhorse

New member
Good morning TFL.

My buddy and I were talking this weekend about old guns and I mentioned that I occasionally carry my Colt 1908 Vest Pocket product ed in 1919. The gun itself is in very good shape, 95% blueing with all the case hardening intact. The gun is beautiful, accurate and fun as hell to shoot. The gun gives me great joy.

He thinks I'm crazy for carrying it both because of it's condition and age.

That got me thinking, who else occasionally or full time carries an older gun. What do you carry and why?

I carry the Colt because of it's age. I wonder where it's been, who carried it and think of all the things through history it has been silent witness too. To me, it would a shame that my part of the gun's history would be nothing more than occasionally looking at it and even less occasionally shooting it.
 
O

osbornk

New member
If it's reliable, I don't see what condition and age has to do with anything. Nobody sees it so what difference does it make?
 
A

Aguila Blanca

Staff
There's nothing wrong with your gun, but for the very reasons you choose to carry it -- I would choose NOT to carry it. We don't carry handguns in order to indulge in nostalgia, or to be a walking encyclopedia of firearms history. We carry (I think -- I do, in any event) in order to have a means of self defense if the need arises. We hope we'll never have to use it, but we want to be prepared. Like keeping a fire extinguisher in your car and next to the range in the kitchen.

IF we ever have to use that firearm for the intended purpose -- that is, to shoot an assailant -- you can be almost assured that the police WILL seize the firearm as evidence. It will not be handled gently. It may be dusted for fingerprints. It may have a case/file number etched or crudely scratched into it. It may be test fired by multiple "experts," and put away without cleaning. It may be stored in a non-climate-controlled evidence room for a period of several years while your case meanders through the legal process. If you are acquitted and released, and IF you ever get your beautiful, historical firearm back again, you may not recognize it. It may look nothing like that pristine example of an old Colt that you put in your pocket that fateful morning.

I like Colts -- 1911s, to be more precise. I especially like the Mark IV Officers ACP. To me, it's almost the perfect carry pistol. So ... do I carry one? No ... for the reasons stated above. It would break my heart to see a beautiful, 95% example of an Officers ACP ruined by a prolonged stay in a police evidence room. The Colt M1991A1 Compact is, mechanically, the exact same pistol as the Officers ACP, but the finish is a nondescript, parkerized or black oxide that doesn't attract attention and doesn't set a purist's heart a-flutter. So I found one of those, cheap, at a small gun shop not far from my home, bought it, repaired it, and that's the one I carry.

I wouldn't be happy to see it spend time in police custody but, should that happen, it won't result in the near destruction of a pristine example of a somewhat rare firearm.
 
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Loosedhorse

Moderator
I really like old guns.

However, their charm doesn't make them great choices for SD carry. A .25 ACP is better than nothing, but not as good as any number of more modern defensive pistols in larger calibers.

In addition, IMO the Colt 1908 "Vest Pocket" (or FN 1905/1906 "Triple Safety" or Baby Browning) should NOT be carried with a round in the chamber: the only thing preventing an AD (or maybe seven of them in a row) is whatever hold the sear has on the striker.

So if the cocking lug on the striker develops a stress crack over time, and then, in response to a jolt, the weakened lug finally sheers off...
:eek:

One of the things that made the Seecamp so desirable in its day was that no other pistol that small was DA/hammer-fired: no cocked hammer or cocked striker allowing the gun to fire by itself if something broke. One of the ways that Glock "changed the world" was in developing a striker-fired pistol with a partially cocked striker, so that if the striker were to be released (without pulling the trigger, thus cocking the striker fully) it would not have enough energy to ignite the primer.

(The Glock also has a firing-pin safety and two arms on the "sear" that prevent it from being jolted downward off the striker's cocking lug until the sear has been moved rearward, by pressing the trigger.)
 
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S

SIGSHR

New member
I suppose the best CCW gun is a Jimenez or Saturday Night Special-when it is seized as evidence you won't be Crying The Blues over its loss.
 
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Onward Allusion

New member
Hmmm, how about wearing a vintage Omega instead of a Timex? How about everyone just carry a Glock 26 and call it a day? It's no one's life but the carrier's.

Would I do it? Probably not because I probably would cry if I banged up my 1908 or if it got confiscated because I had to use it.
 
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SIGSHR

New member
My 1943 Walther P-38 works fine-as do my 1917 Colt and S&W. I consider a 25ACP a real "mouse gun", "vest pocket pistol", for true deep concealment or
last ditch back up. It does meet Rule No. 1.
 
J

Jim Watson

New member
Hmmm, how about wearing a vintage Omega instead of a Timex?
Click to expand...

I wear both, depending on circumstances.
My Commander is "old" to the Internet Generation, but my 1911 is pretty much retired.
 
1

1936 savage

New member
I have 5 savage 1907 pistols

3 32's and 2 38's...all very reliable with 7 or 8 round mags, my 1917' have hold opens...automatics...sometimes I carry one of them, they are small and can be carried in pocket...they are all strikers which seems to be coming back...beautiful guns...I support your choice for carry...
 
4

44 AMP

Staff
One of the two pistols I have that I "drop in my pocket" at need is a Nazi marked Mauser HSc .32acp.

I got it as part of a trade deal, it wasn't something I went looking for, just something that found me, and, other than the fact that I cannot find a spare magazine that works, I rather like it.

Not because I'm a fan of the HSc or the .32auto but because its a brick. Meaning it feels like a solid block of steel, which it nearly is.

Everyone today seems to want the lightest guns possible, and I admit there are advantages to that. I've handled a few other similar size guns in .32 and bigger calibers, and none of them seems as heavy, to me.

Since I don't have the same faith in the .32 the way I do in larger rounds, the solid feel and heft of the HSc actually pleases me. (plus it reduces the already mild recoil) I always figure, last ditch if all else fails, the pistol is an impact weapon, and I like a pistol with enough mass to give a decent impact. This is something I have yet to find with an alloy or polymer frame gun.
 
H

Hunter Customs

New member
I like Colts -- 1911s, to be more precise. I especially like the Mark IV Officers ACP. To me, it's almost the perfect carry pistol. So ... do I carry one? No ... for the reasons stated above. It would break my heart to see a beautiful, 95% example of an Officers ACP ruined by a prolonged stay in a police evidence room. The Colt M1991A1 Compact is, mechanically, the exact same pistol as the Officers ACP, but the finish is a nondescript, parkerized or black oxide that doesn't attract attention and doesn't set a purist's heart a-flutter. So I found one of those, cheap, at a small gun shop not far from my home, bought it, repaired it, and that's the one I carry.
Click to expand...

My oldest Grandson picked up a RIA officer model I've looked it over and I see nothing wrong with it as a carry gun, as a matter of fact it's what I would recommend.
I'm building him a Custom Commander but I told him to use the RIA for everyday carry for the reasons stated, I know what guns look like when they come back from an evidence room.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
 
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