need help identifying this gun...

[Bulldog7906]

ttt

[Cajun Blake]

my friend took the gun to a smith in Florida and this is what she found out...

and those little marks I ws trying to describe that looked like little explosions or chef's hats are called proving marks or something... just something that is put on the gun at the manufacturing plant to show that it had gone through something... maybe testing it or something... I didn't completely understand



she got it from her mom's 2nd husband who passed. he was a marine in korea and vietnam, but he got the gone from his uncle, a boston cop back in the 1930's. no telling where he got it from either.

hey bulldog


the proving marks are actually known as "proof marks" or "proofs"

A proof mark is a mark specific to the manufacturer, importer, or testing facility that is performing the test. It generally takes the form of a stamp that makes an impression in the metal. Since proof marks are unique and nearly universal, they are often used to identify the origins of firearms that lack normal manufacturer's markings, such as military weapons, which are often produced by large numbers of different manufacturers. (thanks Wiki )


many older military firearms exported out of Germany , England, Austrailia, etc.... were marked with proofs

a few examples of proof marks

[junior]

Dang yall are GOOD! Kinda like watching CSI, the way yall can track stuff down!

[Bulldog7906]

thanks! i'll pass this info on to her!

[Bulldog7906]

she is visiting her mom in FL right now but when she gets back home to her she is gonna send me better pictures to post on here

[M38A1]

I have a friend who's really good at firearms identification. I pointed him to the pics and this is what he has to offer. Hope it helps...


"My best guess, I think it is hand made by the North Vietnamese, similar to a Mauser pocket but with a hammer. It looks to be the same level of crude manufacture of the other hand made NV firearms I have seen, the Chinese did a MUCH better job with their copies (they used factories and skilled labor, the VC made their stuff in underground bunkers with hand tools, sometimes built around some parts they had on hand or a magazine they found). The other clue that it is NV made is that one of the previous owners served in Vietnam. The stories get changed around over the years by the surviving family members who seem to make SURE to screw up any story involving firearms. I bet it was a battlefield pickup."

.

[M38A1]

OK, my friend spoke with one of his contacts and they are of the opinion it's still Chineese or Asian. He writes:

"I would say it is a chinese or asian handmade gun look at the grasping grooves they are not straight and they are not even here is a couple of pages from a book of mine they look like the one in the pic"

And here's a few pics that seem to resemble the pistol in question. Specifically, number 1534???





Hope this helps in the quest for solving the puzzle....

.

[Bulldog7906]

thats really cool! thanks! she says that the Marine who was in Viet Nam got it from his uncle who was a cop in Boston in 1938, but could have heard the story wrong were the Marine picked it up in Nam to give to his uncle. Thanks again and i'll let her know!!

[Bulldog7906]

a reply from my friend about the the new information...

"Hey, baby, yes! Chinese definitely! Like I had learned from the gunsmith this week, that it was most likely a Chinese copy, which Mauser stopped making by 1940 anyway. It's all starting to come together. Those TBH guys you hang with really know their stuff."