Interarms Mauser?

[alvin]

Originally Posted by tomaustin

alvin, a "working" gun should lose its beauty....if you want a museum quality specimen, it's true use was never tested in war...to me, something would be missing in collecting unused guns........

I collect guns from 10% to 99.9%. Many gun owners call their nicer guns "museum quality", that's not right. Museum also has different types, and their guns should match their purpose. History museums display many well used guns from revolutionary era or war era, some were used by famous people, or used in historical event. So, they focus on provenance of the gun. That makes lot of sense. Firearm museum would more lean towards gun condition than its previous owner. Like the one operated by NRA. That also makes sense. Some museums are mixed types.

Regarding "tested in war", almost all BH imported from China in 1980s were tested in wars, including factory engraved pistols. Typical BH user in 1930s carried 20 clips (i.e. 200 rounds) of ammo with him. That's not a sidearm anymore. I have never seen other pistol user carrying so much ammo in action -- probably no chance to use that anyway, so just a few rounds in magazine or holster. But in environment without many heavier weapons, pistols had a role to play in battlefields. Unfortunately, US gun owners do not appreciate that, paying gunsmiths to rebore and reblue those guns with lots of energy, damaged those old guns instead of preserving them. That's unfortunate. But who knows, that's probably due to the existing volume is still too big. Many years later, situation may change.