New C&R holder, what should I buy first?

[Threeband]

You might keep an eye out for a Beretta M1951, sometimes called a Brigadier. The Egyptians made licensed copies called Helwans. Anyway, they are nice single stack, single action 9mm pistols with an odd cross bolt safety and a peculiar magazine release. Nice pistols, though.
The locking mechanism is based on that of the P38, but if anything, it's a bit slimmed down, so less robust. I would stick to a modest diet of standard pressure 115 grain loads.

Beretta M1951 – An Italian Semi-Auto Pistol

It’s a well-known fact that certain countries produce military small arms with distinctive features, ones that immediately identify their nation

www.tactical-life.com

 

[Fushigi Ojisan]

From what I remember, Danshway are C&R, not sure about Helwans.

Berettas are either date-coded or proofmarked.

Sent from my SM-T733 using Tapatalk

 

[lazarus]

Go to simpsonltd.com and search under handguns > C&R. They always have a nice collection of High Standard 22 pistols and yes, they ship to your door! They also have a huge collection of lugers and some real valuable pieces like Russian contract 1911 Colts for $15,000 - $30,000.

Hmmm, buy the machine gun I've always wanted, or get an incredible Russian contract 1911 or send one of my kids to college for 2-3 semesters and not get a divorce.

I am going to need to think about this one a little more

 

[lazarus]

Some great advice in this thread, I'm loving it!

To be clear, I'm not looking for anyone's "honey hole" auction site. I'm not looking for $69 cosmoline deals. I'm looking to start a small collection of descent (mostly pistol) firearms that I'm able to take to the range and shoot (if I want) but that will also maintain value.

Following suite to the advice that has been offered, I picked up my first piece of literature that I can use for research as I start this journey...

My two suggestions are to go to out of state gun shows and auctions. Your C&R gets you walking out of there 5-10 minutes later and a much lighter wallet.

Bring as many copies of your C&R as you can afford to buy firearms plus one extra.

Not sure how often you get out of state or even just poking around shops here, but I'd leave a copy of your C&R in the glove box of every vehicle you drive. A reminder, you don't have to "use" your C&R to be buying the gun. If it is a curio and relic you are supposed to provide a signed and dated copy of your FFL to the person selling it and they, if an FFL, are supposed to provide a copy to you.

I've bought and sold a few C&R handguns within Maryland's boarders and the buyer and seller if an FFL still needs a copy of my FFL, even if I can't skip a 7-day waiting period.

You can skip the background check in MD if you are an FFL-03 buying a C&R long gun still. It ain't much, but it does maybe save you 5 minutes by not needing to do the background check form.

Atlantic firearms right now has some Yugo M48s in what looks like nice shape. C&R. They've sure gone up in price, but one of the nicer Mauser based military rifles and one of the last ones made.

 

[sabreman61]

I like my Walther P1. Also my CZ-52. Both shoot well and are interesting aesthetically.

 

[sabreman61]

Got any recommendations for reference books?

"Walther Pistols Model 1 to PPX, Factory Variations and Copies" by Dieter H. Marschall is a fantastic reference book.

 

[noahhh]

You know your C&R is good for a whole world of stuff beyond just milsurps, right? I've bought around 20 guns with mine so far and not one was a milsurp of any sort. Expand your horizons and maybe settle on something you can afford that may require a little TLC on your part - it's one way to snag stuff that the "collectors" turn their noses up at.

 

[somd_mustangs]

"Walther Pistols Model 1 to PPX, Factory Variations and Copies" by Dieter H. Marschall is a fantastic reference book.

Indeed, especially for the PP/PPK and post-war P1/P38/P4.

Walther Pistols: Model 1 to PPX

Exclusively from Legacy Collectibles: Walther Pistols book by Dieter Marschall

www.legacy-collectibles.com

 

[lazarus]

You know your C&R is good for a whole world of stuff beyond just milsurps, right? I've bought around 20 guns with mine so far and not one was a milsurp of any sort. Expand your horizons and maybe settle on something you can afford that may require a little TLC on your part - it's one way to snag stuff that the "collectors" turn their noses up at.

I ended up picking up a Colt Official police that needed some work. Sadly, it had the Colt Pony just about completely removed at some point when it was reblued. But it is New Jersey State police barracks engraved on its heel which is cool. It needed a new hand and retimed, but works great now. Though if I'd needed a smith to get it timed properly it wouldn't have been that good of a deal as it probably would have cost as much as a good condition, unrefinished Colt OP that was still in time at that point :-)

But $15 of parts, a $20 book and a few hours of gunsmithing (it did require welding the new hand, filing and profiling it). and research got her runnning great.

 

[K31]

I'd say in this climate you'd be better of buying any C&R semi-auto rifles. They may get labelled as evil assault weapons.

 

[sabreman61]

Indeed, especially for the PP/PPK and post-war P1/P38/P4.

Walther Pistols: Model 1 to PPX

Exclusively from Legacy Collectibles: Walther Pistols book by Dieter Marschall

www.legacy-collectibles.com

Thanks for the direct link. It's a great book just to look through. It was very helpful identifying my P1 marks.

 

[54rndball]

Just sent in my renewal for my C&R today. Although I bought only 1 piece over the last 3 years, I think it is well worth it. I got a Colt Challenger and it really a nice pistol. Maybe I will look at some S&W lemon squeezers next.