So... any of our members here have an interest in firearms?

Hmmm ... so no one believes that I own Baron von Richthofen's personal Luger?

Would you instead believe that it's a VoPo rework, probably with a sordid history compounded by a series of political events that transpired since it was first manufactured before or during World War I?

Was picked up for little cash outlay in the mid-1980s from a wholesaler's ad appearing in the "Shotgun News."

A fellow member of a private firearms forum to which I belong sponsored a forum contest 7 - 8 years ago. Rules were: ten shots at 50 yards and ten at 100 yards, any pistol chambered for 9mm, any ammunition, off hand or rested position. Only one effort with no re-shoots. Target results photographed and posted on the "honors system." Prize was a Russian Nagant revolver.

I surveyed the 9mm pistols on hand and selected the Luger just for funzies. Winchester "White Box" isn't the best quality ammunition ever produced but I wasn't taken it all so seriously anyway. Shot the targets from sand bag rest placed on the roof of the pickup out at our old family place on the lake, at 50 and 100 yards and posted the results. Added the "Red Baron" clipping from a pizza box just for laughs.

Surprisingly, in the event, the 50-yard group was only a half an inch tighter than the 100-yard group.

50 yard group


100 yard group


The groups were good enough for me to win the revolver. Didn't know I wanted a Nagant revolver, but the gun's been a good study of the design features and of Soviet wartime manufacturing characteristics. On an "Enemy At the Gate" scenario" I believe I'd rather have a Colt Police Positive .32 I have than the Nagant revolver.

I do like 4-inch big-bore N-Frames voere. Don't currently have one on hand. Used to have a 4-inch Model 29 but it got away. Have mourned it ever since.

Then there's the N-frame Model 57 .41 Magnum, this one with 6-inch barrel. Took this photo just yesterday to include in a discussion on the topic of 10mm on another forum. It's frequently claimed that the 10mm can duplicate the .41 Magnum. The 10mm is potent however the .41 Magnum is potent on a whole 'nother level.

I'm a big fan of my 10mm, I'd say it's more in the same class as a .357.

Oh you bet! The 10mm is the cat's meow. Its power and utility are in a real sweet spot.

Thanks, they were a Christmas gift from my kid's last year.

My son has a K31. It appears so well made. It's an accurate rifle as well. The thing runs like a ... Swiss watch!

JPepper1, you really need a 1903-A3. You owe it to yourself to own an '03A3. It's a tough, accurate rifle.

Took my first two deer in fall of 1975 with an '03A3 I'd purchased in a pawn shop, Prince Jewelry and Loan in downtown Fort Worth. I think it was $85 dollars then and not that that much of a bargain. Hunted with it, began a career of high-power competition with it and still have it.

JPepper, I'll second the 03A3. It is the gun I learned to hunt with and they are everything Noelekal says.

Yeah, I shot that '03A3 every forth Sunday afternoon through each match season from 1982 to 1987 when the M1 arrived from the DCM in March of that year. In the early 1990s an M1A was added but the M1 continued to enter most often. Never have really adopted the AR 15 for High-Power but only played around with it.

Long after I retired it I'd infrequently bring the '03A3 out of retirement just to see if I could still run it. It was like riding a bicycle. By then the rifle would draw a crowd for the rapid-fire stages and I felt like I was making a spectacle of myself.

Back in the 1980s I'd mix things up a bit just so I could sample my other U. S. military rifles of bygone times. I've also shot my pre-World War I Model 1903, Model 1917 Enfield, and on two occasions the Model 1894 Krag Jorgensen. I even managed to get the shots off in rapid-fire with the Krag and all the shots scored, but felt a little "hoo-doodled" about the speed of the reloads. I never was brave enough to attempt to drag the Trap Door Springfield Model 1884 up to the firing line. I thought about it often, even dreamed about it at night, but excused myself from the attempt by telling myself that High-Power competition as we know it was developed after the Krag was adopted as standard issue.

Also aired out both the World War I SMLE and a keen post-World War II No. 4 mark 2 on the firing line in local matches. The .303 stripper clips were ever so much more clumsy and difficult for me to perform with than the '03 stripper clips. Much is claimed about the speed at which the Enfield's bolt-action design could be operated, but I found it to be awkward to use in the rapid-fire stages. I guess it's all in what one is accustomed to.

That is a pretty stock on your Polytech and it would be fun to see a photograph where the lighting brought out the figure in the wood. I love looking at pretty wood!

Have had my M1A up before in here. It has a figured stock that would be gorgeous if one was to sand it and oil it to a fine sporting grade finish.

The rifle is a 1 MOA rifle from a bench rest with prepared handloads when I'm in a shooting humor. Nothing is 1 MOA if I'm not in a shooting humor.

I knew that the government bought those rifles that resulted from the defaulted Russian contract, but didn't know that the contracts were large enough to sink the companies. Sands to reason that they were hence government involvement.

Weren't some of the American produced Mosin Nagants used to arm the AEF expedition to Russia in 1919?

My brother-in-law has a Westinghouse Mosin Nagant. I covet it.