Gefreiter, at the time I damaged those pistols it was not done intentionally.
Also at that time I had access to as many of all three as I wanted. I had worked part time for Alan Lever and he had hundreds of them on hand for a long time. I'm willing to bet I disassembled and cleaned thousands of of all of them. The P35s were mostly NIB with their coat of factory preservative. They were in relatively short supply.
P08s and P38s were another story. They were there in every condition and variation imaginable. Alan was always on the lookout for interesting variations though and wanted the interesting pieces set aside. Full matching 100% condition, Navy marks, Dutch marks, Artillery models and snail drums etc. Most of those were set aside for serious collectors and yes, he had a list of who to call to move them. They didn't stick around for long. He was good though and if we wanted the odd piece, he would sell it to us at a reduced price. Not enough to make a business out of though. I was young and under the impression that politicians would never take our firearms away form us and only a few nut jobs were anti gun. I also thought that milsurp would last forever and be pennies on the dollar.
In 1972, I did a cleaning job for Robinson's in Victoria. They had a box about a meter square, lined with aluminum foil, sealed at the seams. It was packed full of P08s in their issue holsters with whatever accessories they had with them when packed in the crate. After cramming as many into the crate as they could, they filled it with hot cosmoline. It had to be very hot and liquid because every nook, cranny, holster and pistol was filled to capacity with the stuff. My pay for cleaning the pistols was $5/hour for 40 hours plus the P08 of my choice from the crate. Good money for those days. The trouble was, the pistols had to be immersed in hot water then individually taken down, bathed in varsol and reassembled. They had to be done one pistol at a time so that nothing that was all matching got mixed up. Most of course had been FTRed during their lives in service and had several different dates and manufacturers.
None of the holsters were salvageable. The leather would tear from the slightest touch. The loading/take down tools were mostly there and a couple even had cleaning rods. All had extra mags. I don't remember but I thing there were only four out of 200 pistols that were matching and in decent condition. Needles to say, the job took me 7x12 hour days to complete. The manager was true to his word though even though he thought I should have finished the job sooner. He paid me as agreed and I came away with a matching S42 with a spare mag and take down tool. I was exhausted but happy.
The pistol I ruined, was a BYf 44 with matte finish. Very nice it was to. I managed to get a spare toggle assembly from International Firearms in Montreal but of course the pistol was no longer matching and I got rid of it. A few years later, I got married and bought/refurbished a house. I sold of just about everything I had to pay for the refit.
By the time the marriage was over and I could afford to pick up some nice pieces again, I had lost many contacts and of course the surplus supply had dried up.
To bad for me.
Also at that time I had access to as many of all three as I wanted. I had worked part time for Alan Lever and he had hundreds of them on hand for a long time. I'm willing to bet I disassembled and cleaned thousands of of all of them. The P35s were mostly NIB with their coat of factory preservative. They were in relatively short supply.
P08s and P38s were another story. They were there in every condition and variation imaginable. Alan was always on the lookout for interesting variations though and wanted the interesting pieces set aside. Full matching 100% condition, Navy marks, Dutch marks, Artillery models and snail drums etc. Most of those were set aside for serious collectors and yes, he had a list of who to call to move them. They didn't stick around for long. He was good though and if we wanted the odd piece, he would sell it to us at a reduced price. Not enough to make a business out of though. I was young and under the impression that politicians would never take our firearms away form us and only a few nut jobs were anti gun. I also thought that milsurp would last forever and be pennies on the dollar.
In 1972, I did a cleaning job for Robinson's in Victoria. They had a box about a meter square, lined with aluminum foil, sealed at the seams. It was packed full of P08s in their issue holsters with whatever accessories they had with them when packed in the crate. After cramming as many into the crate as they could, they filled it with hot cosmoline. It had to be very hot and liquid because every nook, cranny, holster and pistol was filled to capacity with the stuff. My pay for cleaning the pistols was $5/hour for 40 hours plus the P08 of my choice from the crate. Good money for those days. The trouble was, the pistols had to be immersed in hot water then individually taken down, bathed in varsol and reassembled. They had to be done one pistol at a time so that nothing that was all matching got mixed up. Most of course had been FTRed during their lives in service and had several different dates and manufacturers.
None of the holsters were salvageable. The leather would tear from the slightest touch. The loading/take down tools were mostly there and a couple even had cleaning rods. All had extra mags. I don't remember but I thing there were only four out of 200 pistols that were matching and in decent condition. Needles to say, the job took me 7x12 hour days to complete. The manager was true to his word though even though he thought I should have finished the job sooner. He paid me as agreed and I came away with a matching S42 with a spare mag and take down tool. I was exhausted but happy.
The pistol I ruined, was a BYf 44 with matte finish. Very nice it was to. I managed to get a spare toggle assembly from International Firearms in Montreal but of course the pistol was no longer matching and I got rid of it. A few years later, I got married and bought/refurbished a house. I sold of just about everything I had to pay for the refit.
By the time the marriage was over and I could afford to pick up some nice pieces again, I had lost many contacts and of course the surplus supply had dried up.
To bad for me.
Austrian ammunition maker Hirtenberger AG has put the word out concerning a quantity of its 9x19 mm ammunition that is "unique for use in any handgun." According to a November 7 BATF Industry News release. "The ammunition was loaded to produce pressures far in excess of that intended for use in handguns...This ammunition should not be fired." The ammunition was produced for the British Ministry of Defense from 1990 through 1992 for use in submachine guns "under adverse conditions" and carries the "L7A1" designation. While BATF is unaware of this ammunition being imported into the U.S., the maker advises that up to 12 million rounds were sold recently on the world surplus market.
