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Old school cool

Hammer

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
448
Location
Skagit Valley, Washington
DSCN2524.jpg


This is a 1903 Colt pocket pistol. I came by it when my FIL gave it to my wife. It seemed to make a good piece for her, as it is small, easy to conceal (she won't be OCing- leaves that to me) and of low recoil. It is .32 Auto caliber.
She was all excited to have one "her size" to carry. She's been wanting me to show her (again) how to use a home defense arm. Try as I might, she isn't interested in the 870. That's my choice in the house.
Anyway, thought you might like to see an old school auto. This one has some provenance attached, which I'm not going into here, but makes for an interesting story, anyway.
What slays me about this is that when these were made, they were deemed adequate for police use, and were apparently popular in Europe.
To me it is a pipsqueak of a cartridge, and one of which Dad used to say
"If'n ya git one o' them little-bitty belly guns, make sure to file the front sight off"
To which I would ask, why, do they shoot low?
And he would answer, "No, so if ya shoot somebody with that and pi$$ them off, it won't hurt so bad when they shove it where the sun don't shine"
It's prolly enough gun to dissuade the fearful, but not enough for me to bet my life on....
 

gogodawgs

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
5,669
Location
Federal Way, Washington, USA
.32 auto

One of my trusted and always present & with me firearms is my .32auto Keltec.

What I tell people who think the caliber is small.....

the .32 auto started The Great War (WWI) (.32 Browning Automatic Pistol)

If it is big enough to put the whole world at war, it is big enough to help me.
 

Hammer

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
448
Location
Skagit Valley, Washington
If it is big enough to put the whole world at war, it is big enough to help me.

Well, the world has gone to war over a good deal less than a .32 Auto ctg
Hell, there are wars started all the time with nothing more than a few words.
I keep plenty of those on hand, but rarely do they get me out of trouble. More often into it.
But if yer happy with a .32, more power to ya.
I have a deep BUG in .22LR
If it's all ya got, it's what ya got.
File the front sight off! :)
 

amlevin

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
5,937
Location
North of Seattle, Washington, USA
That pistol looks like it's in pretty decent condition. If the inside is in good condition I'd consider sending it to a good 'smith to have it re-finished. A good polish and re-blue would make it a fine looking pistol.

Don't worry about the .32 cal. It'll get the job done. Far better than a stern look or harsh words.
 

sudden valley gunner

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
16,674
Location
Whatcom County
One of my trusted and always present & with me firearms is my .32auto Keltec.

What I tell people who think the caliber is small.....

the .32 auto started The Great War (WWI) (.32 Browning Automatic Pistol)

If it is big enough to put the whole world at war, it is big enough to help me.

Interesting, it was a .32 that shot the Duke? Never knew that.
 

Hammer

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
448
Location
Skagit Valley, Washington
Don't worry about the .32 cal. It'll get the job done. Far better than a stern look or harsh words.

I've seen enough terminal ballistics to know better than to trust my life to a .32 Auto.
And it pales by comparison to a .45 Colt in a Ruger loading, or a 10MM and XTPs, which are some other choices available to me.
No, it's just a curio to me- but one rarely seen, I think, thus why I brought it up.
 

MrGray

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
54
Location
, ,
All that, and your wife gets the carry the handgun Philip Marlowe carried.
 

heresolong

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
1,318
Location
Blaine, WA, ,
That pistol looks like it's in pretty decent condition. If the inside is in good condition I'd consider sending it to a good 'smith to have it re-finished. A good polish and re-blue would make it a fine looking pistol.

Thereby destroying any residual historical value the gun might currently have.
 

Mortech

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2007
Messages
56
Location
Shelton, Washington, USA
Do NOT refinishsas per the pervious posters observation , they are great pistols with lots of character . The one I used to own was quite accurate and reliable , the low recoil made it a lot of fun to shoot .
 
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