Red Nine Grips
 

His real name must have been Charlie O'Hess.

these have some history

Nice grips though.

History? Maybe a 5th grade boy having some fun? Somehow I just ain't buying that the IRA "inscription" is genuine; but then you know I"m kinda' skeptical.

Cool grips for sure.

It could one of the large group of Lugers and Mausers imported through (sic) Ireland a couple of decades ago that were "marketed" by the importer as having had a connection to the Irish Uprising during the twenties. If I were doing it I certainly wouldn't have used an obvious German name.

Maybe Rudolph's brother??? He parachuted in to visit??? :rolleyes:

Yes, George- but you're "smart".:eek:

I would have put someone else's name in there! ;)

Hmmm..... could be, Karl was not the smart one either- missed England and landed in Ireland.:)

A little Occam's razor here... maybe a previous owner named Karl Hess was making a note to himself about the legacy of the pistol? Maybe he was unaware or didn't care about the devaluing effect? Like many a GI?

The Red Nine grips (#26xxx range) shown above are too early to have been factory marked (60K+) with the Red Nice, so probably an example of those marked by a field armourer. Usually, those markings are cruder than those shown. TH

It's a rather bizarre thought that any member of IRA would mark his gun like that. It's not like he would get it back if somebody found it and turned it in, they would probably try to find him instead. :rolleyes: