any one else a fan of the old & odd pocket heaters? opinions?

[loosebolts]

Hey gents.
(let me preface this with: I'm not a mall ninja...) I started watching Maltese falcon, Casablanca and all the old films and i realized that unlike modern films back then good guys all had small pocket pistol in .25 and .32 As opposed to modern flicks with 1911's and so on. I am gaining a curiosity in some of old designs up to the thirties. a family member had several and they seemed to be some what experimental and unique.
so after seeing a mauser 1914 and becoming jealous i am beginning to think about acquiring one along with a cz-27. (FN design, made in Czechoslovakia under German occupation.) for collecting and the once in a blue moon i get to they range.
a buddy of mine inherited a 5 shot .38 short S&W from 1910 called a lemon squeezer that i got to look over. it seemed pretty awkward and a little ugly but was Interesting from the stand point of it was one of those designs that really did not go any where.
to make a long story short my question is, do any of you gents have experiences with the old pocket pistols? opinions good bad or otherwise.

 

[newsman]

They are kind of cute...kinda like real pistol.

I'll stick to something bigger and more predictable. Sadly a lot of those small firearms were meant to be looked at and not used with many of the cheaper models being made of European pot metal.

If I were to get one...it would be a baby Browning .25. I would also only use it as a third backup to anything more serious.

When I worked narcotics I used to keep a five shot .22 magnum in a pack of cigarettes. Half the smokes were removed and the pistol placed behind the smokes to hide them...that was my last ditch "onion field insurance."

If you do get one, you'll want to function check the pistol quite a bit. You wouldn't want to find it to have issues if you relied on it for it's intended purpose.

 

[loosebolts]

i would rely on it for much of any thing other than a collectable. i head some of those pot metal ones cracking with modern cartridges. i looking more at colts and mausers for the historic reasons. i saw a french WW 1 star ruby for $70. i passed on it. it looked like it was questionable quality and that it had been on fire some time in history.

 

[newsman]

Yes, you're right! Modern ammunition might be too much for one of these old pistols. But it would be a really cool collectable.

Seecamp makes a nice, small, .25, 32 and 380 pistol.

Back in the day I also carried a 1954 vintage Colt Cobra as an ankle gun and backup. If you can move forward there are a lot of nice pistols from the 30s, 40s, and 50s that are still good to use.

 

[HeyMoe]

I have a Seecamp .25 which I carry as a back up when I ccw. It is a nice little shooter and my uncle carried it as a back up when he was a detective.

 

[newsman]

I have a Seecamp .25 which I carry as a back up when I ccw. It is a nice little shooter and my uncle carried it as a back up when he was a detective.

For some reason I think Seecamp dropped the .25 model. Still, they are nice little handguns. I'm not a fan of .25 for some reasons. But hey, I don't want to shot at with either.

 

[HeyMoe]

Like I said the Seecamp is a back up. I figure I will shoot someone 7 times in the eye and them beat them with this pistol if I ever have to use it lol.

 

[newsman]

Like I said the Seecamp is a back up. I figure I will shoot someone 7 times in the eye and them beat them with this pistol if I ever have to use it lol.

That's the spirit, Moe...Like my buddy Clint Smith says, "You can have it when it's out of bullets and I'm done beating you over the head with it."

Still a nice little pistol.

 

[jhe888]

The old Brownings and Colts (or any "name" pistol like that) will be fine with any modern ammo. They are well made pistols, and the old ones are just as strong as they need to be. Modern ammo makers won't make ammo that will blow up an old gun - they don't want to be sued over that. Those tiny pistols would be pure backup in my mind, or for the few times you just can't carry something bigger. .22, .25 and .32 just aren't big enough to be reliable stoppers, and those guns don't hold many rounds.

The Smith lemon squeezers are good guns, too, but the old .38 S&W is a low power round. It is much less zippy than the .38 Special.

 

[loosebolts]

that lemon squeezer look like it did not have much pep in its step none the less it was interesting. personally ill stick with the mauser .32 and perhaps later the CZ. i'd never use one of the pot metal guns like those wwI star ruby jobs.
an old lady one time showed me a .32 that there is literally no information about. it was small and nickle plated made of an alloy called zamac and looked to be made with a bast-ard file in a basement by candle light. it just say 7.65 browning made in spain. on the side. very very questionable quality. I am more for the collecting no so much the shooting. especially with today's prices on ammo.

 

[DeaconKC]

Please stop over at www.surplusrifleforum.com we are friendly there and have a very good milsurp pistol section, that will cover many of the models you are interested in. As jhe said, many of the makers from that time frame were excellent and can easily be used today. The PPK series, the Mauser HSc and the Brownings, Colts and S&Ws are all fine pistols.