Is a guns history a problem?

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nithburg

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As part of my restricted course I was given the opportunity to handle a good number of handguns.
One thing I found was that not all of them felt right in my hands, not that I have little girl hands or anything but some just felt too heavy. The one that did seem to fit though was the P-38.
My question is this... If I buy one can I expect to get flack from other shooters for owning one, because of its potential history?
 
Same, not at all, as a collector I collect for its history, as do others, and some we know have unfortunately killed people during war, my P38 is a battle field pickup certainly was used, but that is their history, and lessons should always be learnt from history, history should never be destroyed because we at some point think it is a bad history.

The important point in your post is does a firearm feel as though it fits you, that is the more important, not just cause it's cool or others have it. I have small hands, big handguns just don't work for me, rifles likewise, does if fit you, your arms, so before you buy check, does it feel right, or you will be like the rest of us, buying guns that don't ft, and we either sell or they become safe queens.

.02c
 
I'd say if anything, the history would have other shooters moving in to have a closer look. More firearms have been used in wars, than can really be counted. A large number of the most common ones, are still used today.
 
I'll echo everything said already and also mention that you can get post-war P38 or P1 pistols quite inexpensively as well - around $299!
If you are just starting out, I think it'd make a great buy.
 
I'm thinking by now, most of us are on the same page with this one...

They are tools. The hands that held them can be problematic but, inanimate steel tends not to have any "disposition...". I'm guessing, not only will you not "suffer" the stigma, you'll be the envy of some!

Just occurred to me...a .303's price vs. A nice '98's....nope, no stigma attached!
 
Lot's of GI's brought them back from the war. I'm okay with the originals.

Personally I'm not totally comfortable with replica's of like Hitler youth knives and such. But I'm fine with the P1 mostly since it was produced for another purpose.

I'd shoot it, don't see a difference between that and any gun from a war. Replica's including the Nazi stuff would bother me but not an original. Even returning a gun from the war to original condition doesn't bother me maybe I'm just strange.
 
DocZoid said:
I'll echo everything said already and also mention that you can get post-war P38 or P1 pistols quite inexpensively as well - around $299!
If you are just starting out, I think it'd make a great buy.
Click to expand...

Will people stop mentioning this :mad: There isn't going to be any left when I finally get the money together for one. Geez guys don't tell anyone about this any more :D:D:D:D
 
I don't see any big deal. Guns are inanimate objects and it's silly to blame them for any misdeeds done with them.

Incidentally, how many people who badmouth buying Chinese guns think nothing of collecting guns made in the USSR or Nazi Germany?
 
CompBoy said:
Will people stop mentioning this :mad: There isn't going to be any left when I finally get the money together for one. Geez guys don't tell anyone about this any more :D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

Don't worry, there's more coming. Anthony at Tradex told me today that he will be getting another shipment of the P1's by mid-summer.
 
Thanks for all the replies! I figured gun people weren't the types to be too uptight about things like this but wanted to test the waters anyway.
So now I'm thinking maybe I should get a P-38 and a P-1...
 
P38 were made after the war as well, I'd recommend the P1 though as it was an improvement, basically it is the same gun. P1 are ex German police I believe, bad guys may have been shot with that one.

After fast shooting my 1959 P38 for about 100 rounds, it gets quite inaccurate, the barrel obviously heats up too much for what is was made for. It is OK if you shoot slow, ...
 
Nicest thing about Nazi Germany is the same as the nicest thing about the USSR: they are both history.

I am shooting a 1944 P-38 and a 1956 SKS and they don't make me want to sing the Horst Wessel Lied or even the Internationale. They are pieces of history which are passed down to us, just the same as my three Lugers (1916, 1918, RC 1938), my Ross and my Lee-Enfields.... although handling a good Lee-Enfield DOES make one wish for a tea break.....preferably boiled in a Vickers.

AND they're fun to shoot!
 
Like the others said, don't worry about any stigmas attached to the history of a gun, just buy one! My P-38 is marked as being manufactured in '62, so I see it as a nice little piece of cold war history.
 
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