Family Handguns - Reprise
It seems that my family seem to have a habit of losing their handguns - sometimes through their own fault, other times not. However for one reason or another, we just do not seem to be able to hang on to them. Now whilst all stout bulldogs rile against the UK's insane handgun ban, the loss over the years of these firearms represent a piece of my family's history & service.
So this morning dear readers, we start our little tour with the Webley IV .455, carried by Grandfather Free Market during the Great War
Not the most sophisticated of weapons even while 'in issue', it is precisely the sort of sidearm a proper bulldog should carry - like its owner, slightly old fashioned, solid, reliable but packing a decent punch.
Grandfather FM kept it after the armistice of 1918 but handed it in at the start of World War II with one of these, a Luger 9mm which be had taken as a trophy off a German officer who surrendered to him
I still have the holsters for both weapons, but its not quite the same is it?
Moving forward a generation, at the end of World War II, Father FM had acquired a brace of these Colt 1911s
At the end of the war, he dropped them down a well. As he confessed to me, he only used one of them on one occasion, when he managed to shoot out one of his parents kitchen windows by mistake - after that, I think he rather lost his appetite for JMB's classic design.
As for your dear author, well the taxpayer trained me to use one of these.
Like it? I purchased a civilian version as well, which I really enjoyed shooting. Not the most imaginative choice, but spares & repairs are rather cheap when they use the same thing at the 'office' if you get my (cough cough) drift. Yes I know the the Browning has its faults & there are those of you that will decry the 9mm round, but it just worked. What more can you ask for?
However, when Michael Howard (my he die both slowly & in pain) banned Her Majesty's law-abiding citizens for owning side arms, it was surrendered & has no doubt long since been destroyed. So for the time being, here endth Family FM's handgun collection. However rest assured that I see this only as a temporary interuption & in the course of events, normal service will be resumed.
Comments
If you plan involves restoring handgun rights to UK citizens, ask the Queen what I have to do to jump ship should the USA continue to decline at a more rapid pace.
Posted by: GE | March 23, 2004 3:34 PM
Does the plan involve a rope, a large magnet, a well and a couple of rusty pistols?
Posted by: Robert Douglas | March 23, 2004 5:18 PM
Tee hee, no, but its a thought!
Posted by: Mr Free Market | March 23, 2004 5:59 PM
A plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel?
Posted by: Mark | March 23, 2004 8:33 PM
Well, if your plan includes emigrating to the U.S, when I added you to my blogroll I included an invitation to visit lovely Arizona.
Mi casa es su casa.
I don't have a Hi-Power, but I've got a quite nice 1911 you can borrow, and I'm sure we can locate a Webley AND a Luger.
Posted by: Kevin Baker | March 24, 2004 3:45 AM
Well, I can supply the Luger, and I'm sure Kevin can find you a nasty American M1A battle rifle to shoot. One of the Lords of Chaos might let you try out their GE minigun.
Posted by: bjbarron | March 26, 2004 2:43 AM
Let us all go to America.
Posted by: Dave The Australian | March 26, 2004 8:40 AM
Ditto to what Kevin said, except I live just north of Dallas.
I don't have a Webley or a Luger, but I don't think you'll be upset by my humble pistol collection.
And both Arizona and Texas have frequent gun shows, where one may acquire the handguns of one's forebears, sometimes even without that "permit" nonsense -- and quite legally withal.
Drop us a line when you visit. We drink sherry, Boddington's and single malt in this house, but others may be available on request.
Posted by: Kim du Toit | May 29, 2004 10:38 PM
Just greedy self-interest on our part.
The more gun nuts immigrate to the US, the less chance the socialists have to win.
Posted by: Kristopher | October 1, 2007 5:29 PM
Such aristocratic pieces, and all perfectly serviceable should a gentleman feel the need of them.
I guess I am too old to emigrate; certainly too poor at the moment. Just have to die with an incurable sense of insult.
Posted by: Jeff Wood | October 1, 2007 11:23 PM
Just how does a 57 year old white, middle class male, with attractive wife, migrate to the US from Downunder?
Posted by: Skippy | October 2, 2007 10:04 AM
Why did your grandfather have to give away his pistols?
Posted by: Steve | October 2, 2007 3:13 PM
I've always been basically a Glock man myself, but to each his own. I wouldn't mind having a go with a Luger though, I've always liked the looks of them. Let's do our best to make this ban as temporary as possible.
Posted by: Citizen Stuart | October 2, 2007 7:04 PM
Skippy,
(1) Go to American Embassy. Spend years and thousands of dollars filing out paperwork, taking tests, taking free proctology exam, etc. Then get rejected for being white, educated, and skilled.
(2) Go to Mexico. Walk across border. Get showered with welcome gifts: welfare, free education and job training, medical, tax breaks, etc paid for by American tax slaves.
Posted by: Tax Slave | October 2, 2007 9:51 PM
If you insist on doing it legally, buy a business worth at least $1M ( or $500k in certain distressed areas ).
Think Bed and Breakfast ( or maybe a Dude Ranch in the Rockies or the SW ).
Posted by: Kristopher | October 4, 2007 11:01 PM