Questions About Some Recent Acquisitions

[albayo]

I recently came into some interesting guns and I have some questions for members more knowledgeable than I.

First one is a 9mm Browning High Power with a tangent rear sight and cut for a stock.
The gun doesn't appear to be war time as I can't find any Nazi markings on it.
The stock looks commercial aftermarket not like the Inglis one I had in the past.
How can I tell when the HP was made? The serial number is 5### so its low could it be pre war?

Colt New Service in .455. I can't find much on this gun other than its marked .455.
I assume they were all military but lacks any military stampings.
Were a lot of them used by commonwealth forces in WWI?

A Mauser HSC pistol in 7.65 nice condition all intact.
Did all these pistols end up in military hands and if they did where would I look for any markings?
I think they were all manufactured before the war am I correct?

Walther PP in .380 or 9mm Kurtz. Looks to be in great shape commercial finished, but can't determine if its pre war or post war.
I know it was commercially sold before WWII and probably manufactured after the war as well.
Any hints on the manufacture by serial number, 45###A?

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Al

 

[sailor723]

I believe all slotted grip FN Hi Powers were pre war. I do know that dating is difficult because FN often reused serial numbers ranges for different contracts and records are scarce to nonexistent. There are some very knowledgeable posters on the Hi Power sub forum at https://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15 who could probably help. photos and/or descriptions of any markings always help. I do recall reading the the Belgian military guns were marked with either a "H" in a circle, a "C" in a hexagon or a "C" in a square.
There were a number of Chinese made copies of the SA marked stocks around a few years ago. The fit where the metal is set into the wood usually isn't as good as the Canadian made ones for the Chinese contract Inglis guns. I've never seen a pre war European stock.

As for the .455 Colt New Service once again any proof or other markings help. I do know that British officers (not sure about Canadian but I think they did as well) in WW I provided their own personal sidearms so it is very possible it was a commercial purchase. Have you tried running the serial number at the Colt site? http://www.colt.com/Customer-Services/Serial-Number-Lookup?

From the "Colt Fever" website......

New Service Royal North West Mounted Police-Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (Mountie)
These were ordered by the Canadian Mounties for use as their standard service pistol.
These were made in .45 Long Colt and .455 Eley.
Finish was blue.

New Service British and Canadian military contract.
During World War One the British and Canadian government ordered approximately 60,000 New Service revolvers for use by ground troops and the Royal Flying Corps.
These were adopted as a limited standard issue model.
These were usually in .455 Eley for British use and .45 Long Colt for Canadian.
Prior to the war, many British officers bought commercial New Service revolvers instead of the British standard Webley revolver so choosing the New Service during the war was a natural choice.

Some more good info about the New Service here in this thread....(esp post #3)

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?topic=32020.0


Some Walther info here....

http://www.tague.at/pistolen/en_index.htm?/pistolen/pages/en_waltherpp.htm

From the wartime serial numbers ending in the 39###x range I would guess yours to be post war.

Lots of good Walther info sites listed here....

http://www.waltherforums.com/forum/...ebsites-help-pp-ppk-owners-id-their-guns.html