Your best rarities? Pics encouraged.

[benenglish]

I don't know if this is my best but it's good enough to start a thread.

The Tompkins was an immediate post-WWII attempt at an American-made free pistol. Americans have never been able to make a competitive free pistol. The Tompkins, High Standard, and Green were all failures in the market. Under 300 Tompkins were made. One in Excellent or better condition should run $4K+.

I found one at my LGS in well-used condition with a replacement stock. It was totally out of place in the used-pistol case, having been acquired as part of a bulk purchase of an estate. It should have been priced somewhere north of $1K but they had it marked at $400. They had no idea what it was and, given their focus on defensive firearms and in-shop sales, they had no desire to invest the time to research it and sell it online. I went so far as to tell them what it should be priced and encouraged them to sell it online to maximize their return. They showed no interest in doing the work and after they let it sit in their case for 3 more weeks, I happily took it off their hands.

Yes, for those with a sharp eye, that *is* a trapdoor action on a .22LR pistol.

What rare-gun finds have you managed to stumble across and pounce on?

 

[Sugar Land]

I have shot that one and it was very nice.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Very nice Ben....

 

[Das Jared]

Thats pretty..

sent from my dishwasher

 

[TundraWookiee]

I wish I could say that I have managed to stumble on anything particularly rare but I haven't had the fortune yet.

Brought to you courtesy of Tapatalk

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

That's pretty cool. I saw a rifle at walmart yesterday that operates like a revolver. I've never seen a wheel on a rifle before. Is that rare enough to qualify for this? I could go get a pic of it.

 

[Doc Roe]

That's pretty cool. I saw a rifle at walmart yesterday that operates like a revolver. I've never seen a wheel on a rifle before. Is that rare enough to qualify for this? I could go get a pic of it.

Rossi Circuit Judge, not rare at all, and really not that useful (IMHO, anyway, you'd be much better off with a lever-action). Concept dates back (commercially, anyway) to... IIRC around the mid-1800's, with S&W (possibly Colt as well, I'm not sure right off) making a "revolving rifle". Biggest reason it failed is because the gun was the cap-and-ball style rather than cartridge, and a chain-fire (spark from one round setting off the others) meant that the user would lose his or her supporting hand. Other than that it was just a horribly impractical design. Slow as hell to reload, not much more powerful than a revolver of the same caliber, and only a little bit more accurate.


Swing by the CTD store on 820 and look at the display rack, towards the ceiling, and you'll see a replica of S&W's revolving rifle.


Rarest gun I or a family member has ever found was a S&W Model 3 revolver chambered in .44 Russian. Dad found it in the house across the street from where we used to live, kept it for a few years before donating it to the Texas Rangers museum down in Waco. Dunno if they have it on display or not, unfortunately. Thinking of donating the -one- unfired (though heavily corroded) round that he found with the gun.

 

[tmann]

SPECIFICATIONS
Maker: Lone Star Armament
Action: Short-recoil semiauto
Caliber: .45 ACP
Capacity: 8 plus 1
Barrel length: 5 inches (Nowlin match quality)
Overall length: 8 1/2 inches
Weight: 40 ounces
Serial #: 000175

 

[single stack]

Otto Lang free pistol. The image is from the internet but quite accuate.


image.jpg (9.4 KB)

 

[Paul5388]

This is a pretty rare gun. S&W .357 Mag.

At first glance, it looks like a M27, but it's actually a 1955 pre-M28 Highway Patrolman. Some idiot had it polished and chrome plated with the addition of gold plate in several areas and real Mother of Pearl scales. It's rare because most people aren't idiots that would do that butcher job instead of buying an actual .357 Magnum (M27)! I bought it for a shooter and the price was right for an N frame.

 

[Stukaman]

Looks like a SW Trail Boss is actually an Alaska backpacker 629-4 only one like it I ever seen know its not a Tompkins but its mine lol.

 

[OIF2]

S&W .357 non-registered Magnum, shipped March 1940. Humped-back hammer, Kings mirrored brass bead front sight (Kings sights were a factory option) and a white-lined u-notch rear. Stocks were made by Keith Brown and are exact copies of the Ropers from pre-war years. Unfortunately, the white outline material in the rear sight is long-gone.
Bob

 

[benenglish]

Rarest gun I or a family member has ever found was a S&W Model 3 revolver chambered in .44 Russian.

Those can be very nice. If it was in shootable condition, I doubt I would have been so charitable as to donate it like that.

 

[benenglish]

View attachment 18979
SPECIFICATIONS
Maker: Lone Star Armament

Looks mighty good. How does it shoot?

 

[benenglish]

Otto Lang free pistol.

Nice. I love free pistols way too much. Do you shoot it?

 

[benenglish]

Some idiot had it polished and chrome plated with the addition of gold plate in several areas and real Mother of Pearl scales. It's rare because most people aren't idiots that would do that butcher job instead of buying an actual .357 Magnum (M27)! I bought it for a shooter and the price was right for an N frame.

You might consider them an idiot but now you've got a purty revolver you don't mind shootin'. I'd call that a win all-around.

 

[benenglish]

...an Alaska backpacker 629-4...

I've got a soft spot for large-bore, large-frame revolvers with short barrels. Thanks for sharing.

 

[benenglish]

S&W .357 non-registered Magnum, shipped March 1940.

Wow. Just...wow. Pre-war S&Ws are always special and that's one of the best.

 

[Doc Roe]

Those can be very nice. If it was in shootable condition, I doubt I would have been so charitable as to donate it like that.

To be fair, if I had been able to take a look at the thing, it'd probably be sitting in my bedroom closet (along with the rest of our guns). I plan on heading down there and asking to see it, and -maybe-, just maybe see about getting it back eventually. I know there's a snowball's chance in hell of them saying yes to that, but the way I see it, can't hurt to ask, since the worst they can say is no.

Also, my dad knows precisely jack shit about guns beyond the bare basics of the two or three we own that he shoots (and even then he refuses to learn how to clean them, saying "that's your job" whenever I offer to show/teach him the process), and it wasn't until about two years ago that he even asked me to do some basic research on the thing - AFTER he had donated it. Part of me is still pissed at him for that.

/micro-rant

Back on-topic, I can't decide if that Tompkins in the OP is cool, ugly (aesthetically), or both...


Also, not too sure if this will count, but a friend of mine has an old paratrooper (folding wire stock) M1 carbine with a rather interesting conversion. I'll leave the nature of said conversion to speculation, see what y'all care to guess.


Edit: Ben, you do know there's a "multi-quote" button you can use, right? Not trying to razz on you, just asking for curiosity's sake.

 

[benenglish]

Here's a fun gun representative of a type that's not commonly seen these days.

Back when PPC shooting was common, heavy-barrel comp guns were the norm. They had barrels of 6" or a bit longer. Of course, policemen who had to shoot the PPC course to qualify for their departments had to use duty guns. People who carried snubbies had to use their snubbies, though minimum qualifying scores were often lower and the longer ranges were often omitted from qualifications for detectives who only carried the small revolver.

As in any sport, though, a bit of gamesmanship crept in. The same guys who built heavy-barrel comp guns would compete in snub-nose-only side matches. Defining a "snub nose" for these matches was a problem since, AFAIK, there was never a formally sanctioned series for the little guns. Without formal rules, an informal standard of "3-inch barrel or less" was commonly found. Within that limitation, you could do a lot to make a revolver shoot.

You could, for example, build a full-house racegun but just hack it off at 3-inches, like this:

I have no idea who the gunsmith was but revolvers of this type tend to show high-quality work. Shooters so serious that they'd build full-house raceguns for unsanctioned side matches tend to buy the best. I'd have to dig through my records to get exact numbers but I remember thinking I got this one for a steal of a deal because the seller advertised it on a site that primarily deals with International shooting and most of the site visitors would have no idea what it was.

As soon as I got it, I fell in love. It's glass-smooth in operation and though it may have started out as just a plain old M10 it wound up as maybe the most accurate .38 revolver I own. I own another target .38 that might give it a run, though, so maybe I'll post that one after some sleep.