I Would like to hear your opinions about the most famous pistols of WW2 My 4 favourite ones are 1- Nambu 14 2-P 38 walther 3- 45 cal. 4-Luger P 08 pistol What do you thing about it ??? Here are some videos YouTube - japan weapon YouTube - Luger pistol YouTube - Casual firing of the M1911A1 pistol of WWII
I seem to have a soft Spot for Revolvers. Although it wasent 'official' in WW2, I like the MkIV Webley. Though any Revolver will do. (Russian Nagant)
work on your spelling Mark ! the P-38 was actually a sharper hand gun than the p-08 for accuracy. nothing could compete with the killing power of the Colt 45 except the Browning high power 11mm through Belgian then off to German service, they both have the extreme stopping power at close range plus a good kick to boot.
I like the browning hi-power. Also i like the smaller german ones such as the PPK. The broomhandle is pretty cool as well.
i would rather have the colt because of the stoping power of the .45 and i could deff know the guy was going down in 2 shots or less.It was favored by roosevelt who notice after the enemy was shot 2 or 3 time with a 9mm they would get back u and keep coming. But id rather have any pistol than no pistol at all in case my primary weapon failed or ran out of ammo.
The awful truth, alright! Dunnigan described pistols in How to Make War as "generally useless" - although this may be a bit of an overstatement. There are many instances in war of pistols saving the owners life in close-combat, urban fighting, or in situations where the soldier's main weapon failed. However as Dunnigan points out, pistols are in general issued to officers as a badge of rank or as a back up weapon for those on crew served weapons such as machine guns. There have been many, almost comical attempts to make the pistol into something it isn't, such as a submachine gun firing full auto - such as the old mauser broomhandle pistol being fitted with a wooden combination shoulder stock/holster. Such a contraption would be almost laughable in a real gunfight at any range beyond point blank. In my opinion any kind of full auto pistol would really be useless to soldiers (although they continue to be made today, by Beretta and other firms around the world). Has been called "the worst pistol of world war 2." Fired a puny round less effective than 380 auto. Jammed often, hard to disassemble. - The German replacement for the luger, had good basic design, featured double or single action. One of the best pistols of the war, far superior to the luger for reliability. Possibly THE best pistol of the war. 45 ACP was a very effective pistol cartridge, as these things go, more so than the 9mm parabellum fired by almost every other pistol. The single action feature of the pistol was a major drawback in combat although a good safety feature - unlike the P-38 pistol, if the external hammer was not cocked, the pistol could not shoot. (The nambu and luger had internal hammer.) I suspect this feature cost most more than one soldier their life because if you need a pistol in battle, you may not have the time, or the presence of mind, to cock the hammer. It was, however, possible to carry the gun with the hammer cocked and the safety on. I i have no idea how often this was done in battle but it would be interesting thing to find out. A very accurate pistol with good user ergonomics. Many who used one have commented on the luger's good "pointability" meaning it was easy to naturally point it where you wanted it to shoot without undue contortion of the hand and wrist. The toggle mechanism was its weak point, these parts were as finely machined and complex as a cuckoo clock and any infusion of dirt would cause a luger to jam up firmly. The German solution was to issue it with a very tight fitting leather holster that helped seal it from the elements rain, dust mud etc. Again usually this pistol was issued to officers and police and other people who's main job was everything except fighting. Efforts were made by the Waffenamt (German ordnance) as shown in Mibo's post above, at fitting it with a shoulder stock, and even a high capacity drum magazine. Plainly this was someone's fantasy since the gun would most likely overheat after 20 or so rounds to the point where the user would be unable to hold it in an ungloved hand, that is if it didnt jam up first. One important and unusual pistol you didn't mention was the Browning high-power. It was designed by Mr Browning and first marketed about 1935 on the civilian handgun market. It used many of the good features of the Colt 1911 he had also designed, such as the swinging-link barrel. Unlike the 1911 it was double action. Unlike the 1911, it lacked a grip safety, but had a magazine safety (the weapon could not be fired if the magazine was removed). (Some feel a magazine safety on a military pistol is of doubtful value, since in desperate situations it would be difficult or impossible to fire the pistol as a single shot.) Anyway the Browning high power was unusual in being about the first high-capacity (13 rounds) double action auto pistol, and the basic design persists in millions of handguns in dozens of variations and modified form to this day. Oddest of all, the Browning was unique in that it was standard issue pistol and manufactured by BOTH sides in the European war. The British issued it along with their Webley (and after the war kept the browning as their standard military side-arm for decades)...., and the Germans also manufactured and issued large numbers of the High Power as a side-arm (using machinery at the FN plants in Belgium that had been captured in 1940).
The first Browning HP pistol was a single action! Specifications: Caliber: 9 mm Length: 197 mm Barrel length: 118 mm length of rifled part: 100 mm number of grooves: 6 direction of twist: right Height (without sight, loaded): 127.5 mm Width (with stocks): 36 mm (without stocks): 25.5 mm Weight (with empty magazine): 0.9 kg (with loaded magazine): 1.060 kg Capacity of magazine: 13 cartridges Modes of fire: Single action Muzzle velocity: 350 m/s v. 12.50: 340 m/s muzzle energy: 50 kgm Safeties: Half-cock notch, manual thumb safety, firing pin block, and magazine disconnect Trigger pull: 7.5 lb Maximum Effective Range: 50 m The first double action model of this wasn't made until the 1980s
I keep pointing that out to posters, but they keep ignoring it. I wish I had either of the SINGLE ACTION Browning High Power 9mms I owned back now. Dang they were sweet little units, even if they were single actions. I also had a nice Bianchi sholder holster for the last one, and I sold it and the pistol, two spare mags, and the RCBS reloading dies for way too little. Oh well, they went to a friend and I still have first buy-back options if Pete ever decides to sell it. He just shakes his head when I ask about that though.
