Top Factory Flaws for WW2 Guns
Guns from New Orleans
Hey guys, and welcome to another show and tell video. This is actually a show and tell video from those 700 guns that we got out of New Orleans. Probably a lot of you already saw that, and I had them all spread out and I said I'm going to pick out some guns. First and foremost, not every gun I'm going to show you came from that collection. The vast majority are guns that I'm going to pick out from that collection that I found unusual or rare. And I'll probably do a series of three videos, just like I did with Peters collection. I'll do a series of three videos of interesting guns.
A Sturmgewehr that's already on Hold
Not from that collection, but came in this week is a Sturmgewehr. Now this is an MP44. You can see right here. Also, you see this dulling here, this has had a little bit of touch up. I think it was worn, a little bit of touch up. It's all matching, except for this part of the wood stock. Not from Woodstock, but the wood stock and then it is all matching numbers. Now this one, the receiver has been cut, you can see a cut right here. And it has been rebuilt in semi-automatic. So this is a semi-automatic, not full auto. The advantage of semi-automatic is you don't have to wait six months to get it. And the disadvantage is it's not full auto. But that also means that it's a lot cheaper as well. And so therefore this is actually on hold right now. We had it on for a day, it went on hold right away, somebody is going to come take a look at it and perhaps purchase this.
Our Special Guest Apache
I have a guest today a special guest Apache is here. Also likes guns, he likes to just lay here like I do, just lay amongst the guns. Apache is visiting today. And so he wanted to get in the shot. So we wanted to get him laying with some guns. As long as he behaves himself, we'll just let him stay there. But if he interrupts we'll get him out of the room.
Miniature Daggers
Okay, the next thing I wanted to show you was these miniature daggers. Now, these were made during the Nazi era, they also replicate them and this came out of Don's collection. As far as I know these are original, you can see it's the size of my hand. This one here is I believe a diplomatic dagger, I know this is army, this is SA, this is Luftwaffe and this is a Heuer, Workers Party Heuer miniatures. We don't know the value, so we put it on gun broker for $1.
We do have Penny Auctions
If you check out our gun broker site, right now we have 86 listings. Some people say that I can't go to your website because everything's too expensive. Pretty much every item we put on and right now we have 86 items. There's five days left on this, it's at $282. So I think this will go easily to 1000. But we put everything on for a penny, starting price is one penny. So that is affordable by everyone out there. However, of course if you're overseas, we can't really sell you guns. But that just goes to show we do put on Penny auctions, we let the market determine the value. So don't blame me when people bid it up.
What was the Purpose of the Mini Daggers?
So what was the purpose of these? I think they're just like momentos. And I don't know who the maker is. They're well-made and the sheath fits pretty nicely. Some people say they are letter openers, I have used them as letter openers, but I'm not sure of the official use. But obviously some people collected them, and this is a collection of miniature daggers that replicate the real thing that the Nazi Party put out. I should mention that I believe the Nazi Party did make these and sell these just as a way of raising money. Just like any political party, they needed to raise money to support their functions.
A 1911 Colt
Okay, now back to guns. This is a 1911 Colt. It was actually made in August of 1945, one of the last ones made. I did a whole video just on these type of guns but this came in not from Don Andrews because I mentioned that he didn't really have any American weapons, few exceptions. But this did not come from him, this came in this week. It's very rare. In fact, I say in the video that I did previously, they only made about 1800 of these and they are rarer than a Singer. Now they are expensive but not as expensive as a Singer. But let me show you what makes these rare.
Why is the 1911 Colt Rare?
So again, August of 1945, the serial number is in the 2 million range. That serial range along with the inspector proof which is JSB, kind of hard to see. Some of you know right away from watching my videos that this makes it very rare. Now a lot of people don't care that it has a different inspector. Before this was GHD and then John S Begley came in in August and he only inspected for the last month of the war. Again, they only made about 1800 guns. This one is in excellent condition. And these are quite valuable. There's a few differences in the late war. For one thing, the mainspring housing is not checkered, but rather has the vertical stripes. And it does have a slightly different barrel. But this gun will be going on our website and will be quite expensive. So don't get sticker shock, if you want to check it out.
I spoke about these percussion guns in my previous Video
So these percussion weapons. I mentioned this one in the last video, and I said I thought maybe this was fake. I got a lot of feedback from you guys. I always really appreciate your constructive feedback. But this is a percussion weapon that is not new and exciting. But what was new and exciting for me was the seemingly Nazi proofs. That's an Nazi era Eagle with an SP at the bottom, which is for black powder. So this is a mark for black powder. So it does make sense. News to me. And by the way, that has to be 1940 or later. So just like today, if you go to your local sporting goods store, they do sell flintlocks and percussion weapons that are modern day replicas.
They are actually Replicas
Germany was doing the same thing. What's surprising is during the war, they had retailers that were still selling these percussion weapons. And it was, I mean Germany, they have a history of shooting and hunting and collecting. And so you can still buy a percussion weapon in 1940. And this proof mark tells us that it was made during the war and probably sold in a retail store. So it's not an antique, it was probably made in the 40s as a percussion weapon by a retailer.
A Barrel modified for a silencer, just kidding!
Same thing with this gun. So again, the proof marks, this is a percussion weapon made in between '40 and '45. And an SP marking. Looks like this one is threaded for a silencer. That's just a joke, by the way. I'm not sure why this was threaded, but I don't think it was for a silencer. But that was a modification to the barrel so maybe it was a conversion kit. I don't know a whole lot about these but I wanted to show these to you. And these are in working order. No license required to own one of these. One other one.
The Smallest German- made Pistol
Alright, this this odd ball. This reminds me of Men in Black they odd weapons that they had. I'm told this is the smallest made German pistol during the war. I'm sure that's true. That cross right there could be a retailer or Swiss, I wanted you to get a better look at it. I'll show you how it works. But you see right here, it has that same proof mark. So it was made during the war, it is tiny. The caliber might be smaller than 22. And I would want to shoot this.
How would you shoot this tiny thing?
I mean, I don't know how you would shoot it. But basically, I cocked it. You lift this, you then can single shot put the cartridge in and then close it down and fire. Now to eject the bullet from what I can tell, so we lifted this to load it and we pull this and it ejects the cartridge. So it's a cute little gun. Randy is the only one in this shop that would go out and shoot this because it would scare the rest of us.
Who would make this tiny Gun?
But tiny little gun, who the heck would make one of these. And for what reason I don't know other than bragging rights to say this is the smallest German pistol made during the war.
Remember this Pancake Gun?
Okay, there were actually two of these in the collection. If you remember I held it up and I said this is a pancake gun. I made that up, I didn't know what it was. I mentioned how thin it was. But actually this is the perfect concealed carry piece. And I just got a kick out of it. I'm going to show it to you. Let's come a little closer.
It is actually a Concealed Carry Piece
So we mentioned that this was that was made for export. We have England, Russia and North America, so they were exported. The reason they're perfect concealed carry is this would fit right in your pocket and because the trigger pops down, it doesn't get caught up in your pants pocket. But it's actually four shots and here's how that works.
Here is how it Works
You pop this up. So it's a great little design once I figured it out, pop this up and this whole cylinder revolves. Also comes out easily. There are four shots, these look like 25 caliber, by the way. Push the button up, you go in horizontally, and then it swivels. Now what's interesting about the design, the first shot, what I did is I looked inside here, and there's two firing pins on the top. And the first shot, the firing pin on top hits, then the second shot, the firing pin on the bottom hits. Then all you do is rotate the cylinder, and you get two more. So four shots, one cylinder, flat as a pancake, fits in your pocket, perfect concealed carry piece.
Can you Spot It?
Let's try it out. What do you think? Am I carrying? Well, let's see, it seems like there's something in there. Actually, a couple more comments before I go. This is actually made by Sauer and it's called a bar pistol. It has a crown U proof, so it was certainly made between the wars, and not for very long. Because they're very rare. I had not seen one before. But again, this collection had two of these.
Factory Error - Triple Stamp
Now a P-38. Now Don had a lot of, well, I should say Peter had a lot of factory error items. And I showed you some of those and got a kick out of them. Don also liked these factory error guns. Here, take a look at this P-38. It would be a common P-38, except for the fact that it was made in 444. So that's April of '44. Actually not, that is a double stamp, if not triple stamp. It almost looks like our focus is bad on this gun. But the P-38 was triple stamped, the BYF was triple stamped and the 444 is triple stamped. The serial numbers are all fine. Again, you see the common grease that he has on all of his guns, which we cleaned up a lot of it. It has the proper Eagle 135 proofs. This is really in much better shape than most. But the triple stamp, I just got a kick out of it. Because clearly, Fritz had a few schnapps that day.
Beautiful Walther PP with Little Wear
Okay. War time Walther PP, another factory error, check this out. So first of all, this gun is actually beautiful, very little wear here at the muzzle. You can see this striations from the machining. But also right here, I would normally have thought that that was pitting from Katrina. But actually, his tag said that this is a casting flaw. So it was like this when he bought it before Katrina. And this is a casting flaw, which I've seen before. In 1943, 1944 they were not worried so much about the condition of these guns. And here's a example.
Factory Error That Provides Proof
You can see that it is, well that's mid war with a P at the end. But look at it this way and check that out. It's a reverse P. So again, factory error. It also tells me that this was stamped separately. That the serial number and the P were separate stamps, which is good to know. So that means this P is struck a little harder than the serial number. So the serial number is struck, and then the P is added. And that is proved by that factory flaw.
A Mod HP
This is another P-38 that came from Don's collection. And this one is somewhat unusual. Well, let me come a little closer. So this is a Mod HP, which is typically a commercial gun. But it's late war, it kind of has a plumb frame. And you can see here that it was inscribed. Now these were made in about 1944. It does have a commercial eagle N stamp right there. So it was test fired. Some of these were later diverted to the military. But generally this is a civilian weapon, and a civilian in 1944, the only one getting them would have been party officials or somebody with special permission to carry a gun. So this would not go to your typical civilian.
It was a Presentation Piece
Now this is a presentation piece. And Don said a little bit about this was presented but he wasn't on the internet back then. So when I picked this up last week, I was able then to research. It was given to Deno Belli, and I was able to find him, from General Holmes Dager. Now, Holmes Dager, General Dager is easy to find. That's 11 with a triangle and that would be the 11th Armoured Division and that's part of their patch. Basically it's a triangle with an armored vehicle in it. So that's the 11th Armored Division. And he was the Commanding General.
Who was General Dager?
General Dagger, Brigadier General Dagger was the Commanding General in 1945 and then he stayed even after the war was over. He was the Commanding General there. Here's a picture of General Dager. And he was a fighting General, not somebody who sat on the bench. Interestingly, early in his career, he was stationed in United States and he was a desk warrior, meaning he had administrative duties. But he applied and was eventually approved to go to Germany, where he was in the 8th Armored Division, and then finally put in charge of the 11th Armored Division. And he was part of the juggernaut through Germany all the way to the end of the war. He received a lot of awards for bravery. You can see here that Distinguished Service Cross, also other Medals of Honor for his fighting valor and the troops that he led.
From DENO to DINO
Now Deno later changed his name. By the way, I'm sure everybody got his name wrong, because it said in the ancestry.com that he changed his name from DENO to DINO because I think Americans spell Deno differently. But his family did immigrate from Italy and he did serve under General Dager. Now, I would like to say he was given this for bravery in battle. But in fact, we were able to contact his family, talked to his son and called his daughter as well.
A Peek into Deno's Life
He was a musician. Professionally, he taught music. And so he went into the service, he actually helped to entertain the troops. And he was part of the administrative team under General Dager and I can only imagine they got to know each other through the music and putting on concerts. And, you know, my dad was actually telling me that they would take a guy like this, they would find people who played instruments and part of their entertainment is they would perform for the troops. And the family was a little vague on the details. But for the most part, we know that this was presented to Deno as a personal thank you for his service during the war, especially to help the morale of the troops. But overall, this is just a very historical beautiful gun in better shape than most of the guns.
Talk about Factory Flaws
Wait, I guess I got to show you this. Talk about factory flaws. You see that little mark out there? I sold one like this maybe five years ago. The guy that bought it said I love the gun. It's beautiful in every way. I just can't believe that somebody sawed off the bottom of that. And I said yeah, I can't explain it.
Guess what, it was not Sawed Off
Well, a couple of weeks later, I got one, same zero range, same saw mark. So bottom line cut to the chase, I've seen a dozen of them all Mod HPs, all late war 1944, all with the exact same casting flaw. So they had a run of these and they didn't stop the presses and start all over again. They put them out with that same casting flaw on those late war guns.
A One of a Kind Gun
I want to show you another Walther PP. Again, this came in at the same time as the Andrews collection but it was not part of his collection. You probably saw especially when I showed you Apache on the floor. He changed sides by the way, he's now over there. But I have guns everywhere all over my floor. So I'm just kind of picking some things I want to show you but there's a lot more to show you and I can't do it all, but check this out. Now this gun should have come from Peters collection. It didn't, but this is a one of a kind gun. I've never seen one before. Maybe we'll never see one again. So there are certain things that I can tell you for sure about this gun. And then there's some things that I'm not for sure about which is this additional piece.
Definitely a Target Shooting Gun
This was definitely used for target shooting. Maybe for competition it is 22 caliber, you can tell from the barrel but also the indentation. It was made for export because it says made in Germany. And it was made in the pre-war period because it is crown N proof. But what we know is special about this gun it was imported by Stoeger Arms. Now Stoeger Arms imported Lugers and other German pistols. It's kind of rare to find a PP or PPK that Stoeger marked. I have sold others, however, they do command a premium. This one is in excellent condition. It comes with the proper 22 caliber magazine. That's a proper 22 caliber from the late 1930s.
Let's talk about the modifications seen here
But let's talk about this adaption up here. This could have been ordered by the factory but also it could have been added by the retailer. We do know that Stoeger had special guns. So for example with the Lugers they have special long barrel like 18 inch barrels. They ordered those for the American market, specialty items and this was one of those specialty items. Notice at the top, this is ivory, and an ivory button here, an Ivory dot. And when you line them up, I don't know how well you can do that, but it just makes an incredible line of sight. And hopefully we can get a good shot. And then also you can adjust for elevation here. This would adjust for elevation up and down. And then this would adjust left to right. So this little device, again, it's either factory made ordered by Stoeger or Stoeger added it but it is drilled into the slide both the front sight and this monstrosity rear sight was added for Stoeger and sold in the US market. The gun is in incredible condition, a very rare find and one of a kind.
A Special PPK and PP
Okay, Walther PPK and PP. These are also special guns. Let me come up and show you. First of all, let's start with the PPK. Now, serial range and crown N, this is about 1938. Actually it is 1938. Look at the condition of this finish. Absolutely gorgeous! Not refinished, this is original dark blue. Notice the fire blue here. This gun is just incredible. Worthy of my collection.
The Czech Police, I was Mistaken!
Now it is a Czech gun, and again, I did a video about Czech guns. I think I said in there that these went to the Czech police, I was mistaken. All the guns that went to Czechlosavakia were marked with the Czech Lion. It was given a property number. So this was gun number 1320 that was exported to Czechlosavakia. And the Czechs always dated it.
Another Factory Error
Now we're doing factory errors. That's the theme of the day. It says there 48 there's no way this was exported to Czechoslovakia in 1948. In fact, it was exported in '38 and I'm sure that is a factory error. We'll check out the magazine. The magazine is the same condition as the gun.
Even guns have Siblings! Here's one
Now let's take a look at its sibling. I was going to say twin, but it's not a twin because this is a PP, and it is about the same date. In fact, if we look right there, this one has the property number, the Czech Lion and '39. So this was explorted in '39. Just before crown N switched over to Eagle N. You can see the front strap. The condition of the gun not quite as nice but again the Czech export guns are fairly rare, only a few 1000 of them went and they command a premium as well. And the magazine is similar, it's got the banner with the caliber.
A Walther Exported to France
You know how much I love Walther's, here's one more. This time it's exported to France and for some reason the French exports were marked Allah Magna. Let's take a look at it up close look at the finish on this. Allah Magna is written right here, which is French export. So of course that was before the war. They didn't want to export guns after they took control. If you look at the front strap, beautiful, but something different about the finish. This is dural. See that little line there that's where the steel meets the aluminium frame. This is aluminium if you put a magnet on it it's not magnetized. Beautiful gun also made in '38 and exported to France in 1938. Beautiful magazine which is banner only, a little bit earlier than the other ones. But that's just a beautiful example of a gun from Germany, Walther factory, exported to France in 1938.
Wrapping Up
Okay, for this video, I have one more PPK which is going to rock some people's worlds and then this holster that I want to mention as well. And then we'll be done. I've got lots more that I can cover. Check it out, Apache is keeping -- he's a guard dog, watching over all the guns on my floor. I still have so much more to go over. But check this out. You'll get a kick out of it.
Quick Flashback
So first and foremost, out of Peters collection, I talked about factory errors. And remember I had a grip, a PPK grip that had no banner on it. And I said it must have been a factory error. Why would they make one without the Walther banner?
My Conjectures
So this gun came in, this is obviously nickel, see the line right there, it's aluminum. So this is white aluminium, never finished. 431 is the last of them, they stopped at 431, there is no 432. So we talked about that. So this is the very end of the war. It's also mismatched. So probably put together in 45. And it may be that this was put together by the GI and it may be that the GI is molded a few and got rid of the Walther banner. Now that's only conjecture on my part. The only reason to get rid of the Walter banner is there was a lot of Polish forced labor workers in the factory at the end. The GIs document that.
They also said the factory workers for good reason had a lot of hostility toward the Walther family. And in fact, they said the Walther family was under house arrest at their home in order to protect them from some of the workers who wanted to exact retribution. So it could be conjecture on my part, that after the war was over, put together for the GIs as souvenirs, these were parts that remained in the factory. You can tell these are parts because here's blued, here's blued, here's blued, this is Verchromt, this is nickeled and this is no finish. The magazine is nickeled and this was made with no Walther banner, perhaps put together by the workers. And the Americans, I'm sure paid them to hey, make me some souvenirs.
It is my Belief
Now, I should clarify that the first group that came through, they were only there for a few days, they were frontline troops. They were there, they cleared the factory out, they grabbed souvenirs and left. But then other soldiers came in afterwards and they were there for weeks. I mean, the war was either near over or over. And so they were just guarding the factory and they had a lot of time on their hands. And they actually paid some of the workers who remained. And I'm sure they could have gone home at that point. But transportation, I'm sure was difficult. So some of the workers remained. And I'm told the Americans would pay them to put together souvenirs. This, I believe is one such gun. And again, please don't write me nasty notes. Most of that is conjecture but reading the history. I do believe that that's what happened with his gun at the end of the war.
Oh Dear, I Lied Again!
Talking about what happened in the factory at the end of the war that reminded me. I lied to you again, I told you I was almost done, I have to show you these pictures. These are phenomenal that some of these have been in books.
Photo Dump
But this was in Don Andrews file drawer and this was in an envelope. These are photographs from the factory during the war and at the end of the war. So check this out. These are some of the Polish workers in the factory. This guy is, it looks like it's pitted. I don't know how that's possible. But this guy looks like Africa core, so maybe early. These were actually some of the workers they did get regular exercise. That's the Walther factory behind the people. There's obviously some of the workers in the Walther factory. This is their lunch break. See everything from old men to younger men.
Lunch break at the factory. Now the conditions here, first of all, if you're forced from your home to work in Germany, that is not a pleasant thing. But the conditions at the Walther factory were not deplorable. I do see some women and men, I don't know the date that this was taken. They're not marked on the back. More factory workers. That's the lunch room, it shows a little bit about what it looked like. The factory, by the way was a sprawling campus. This looks like a very young boy, maybe being educated on the engineering of some of the guns. Here they're putting together barrels. More probably more for Walther rifles. Some of these pictures I have seen before. So these have been in circulation. Again, factory workers just they're really lined up their full production.
Help from a German Please
Somebody from Germany can help me with this, but this is Zella Mehlis, and I would think this would be like a guesthouse for somebody visiting the factory. Not sure but that's a sketch.
More photos
Again, making guns, making guns, making guns. I mentioned a sprawling campus and in this case, they were made exercising. It looks like there might even be a soccer net and maybe had recreation. Here's my favorite shot. The factory had a bowling alley. Probably in the basement, kind of like the White House. For those of you not in the United States you may not know but there's a movie theater at the White House and a bowling alley. Here's the bus, the Walther bus took people back and forth. Maybe to camps, not sure but that would be the Walther bus that brought the workers to work. You can see in the background that's part of the factory.
Now the Holster
Okay, last thing I wanted to cover is this holster that was found with one of the guns. Now, there was nothing remarkable about the gun. This does fit a Walther PPK and that is the Railway insignia. It's basically a wheel with flying wings and that was the symbol for the Reichsbahn or the German Railway System.
A Railway Police Gun
Most of us are used to this, which I mentioned before this is a Railway Police Gun. This one mentions the Bahnschutz and Stuttgart 1940. This one is Akah marked and it has a Walther PP, nothing remarkable about the PP but we assume it went to railway guard and this is not marked specially in any way. Actually this one is as marked specially. This one is RBD Railway Police Monster or Munster or monster, but it's a munster. And so this was a railway police guard and they actually have railway police PPKs as well. Some of them are marked 1940. Some of them are marked RBD Munster. This came with just a regular PPK. There's special markings, but I thought it was a very cool holster with this attachment on it. It makes it special. If you have a railway police PPK this would be a great holster to put with it.
Thank You Apache for All Your Help
Hey, thanks for watching. Hope you enjoyed that. And I want to thank my special guests Apache for helping out with the filming of the video and also Randy.
Lots More Guns To Go, So be sure to Subscribe
I do have more guns to show you. I hope you enjoyed this, I still have a lot. Out of the 700 I still have a whole lot more that I can show you. And so I'll bring you at least two more videos on this topic. I also mentioned going to the museum in New Orleans and I got a lot of positive response about that. Not sure when I can schedule that. I don't think I want to be down there in July and August. But hopefully sometime soon I'll get down there and bring that all to you. Make sure you like and subscribe to our channel because we really appreciate your support.