My first Broomhandle

[Olle]

Originally Posted by alvin

The finish is original. The grip panel screw and screw holders (there is a special English word for them, I forgot though) are, of course, replacement. What really interesting was the property stamp on the frame.

"警台", initially, I thought it's "Taiwan Police". But I don't know why the character on the right was spelled in simplified Chinese. However, many simplified characters were not new China's invention and they had been there for long time, just not officially adopted before 1964, including this particular character. If this gun does not have importer stamp, I would still think it's "Taiwan Police".

Alvin,

That's pretty cool, I thought it was a Chinese army pistol so I sure appreciate you deciphering it! There's no import stamp, so if nobody tells me otherwise I'll assume that it's Taiwanese.

It would also be interesting to know how you can see that the grip screw and escutcheons have been replaced. The grips are original (and also numbered to the gun), and there was so much grime covering the screw that you could just barely see that it is indeed a screw. These parts may have been replaced at some point, but it was obvious that they have been there for a very long time.

I'm planning to clean the grips so I pressed the nut out. It had something that looked like thin paper wrapped around it, which could indicate a loose fitting replacement. It's still a press fit without the paper, so I sure don't know why it was there to begin with.

In any case: The only bad pitting is on the grip frame, so I was planning to weld it up and then refinish the gun. I see it as a run-of-the-mill version in shooter condition so I don't think I'll be doing something wrong, but I would sure appreciate your take on this.

[alvin]

Originally Posted by Olle

It would also be interesting to know how you can see that the grip screw and escutcheons have been replaced.

The condition of the grip screw and escutcheons are not balanced with the condition of the grip panels. Escutcheons might be original, cleaned. But those are minor parts on the gun.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by alvin

The condition of the grip screw and escutcheons are not balanced with the condition of the grip panels. Escutcheons might be original, cleaned. But those are minor parts on the gun.

Ok, that's probably because I dug out the grime and cleaned the escutcheons. But like you said, they are minor parts and really not all that important. I will go ahead and clean the grips anyway, they're still soaked in oil and grease and would look better cleaned.