My Dad's WWII pistols

T

thirtysixford

New member
My Father was an officer in the Navy during WWII. He was a commander in charge of an LCT, not a LST (huge difference) in the New Guinea area of the Pacific.

Anyway he passed these on to me.

1940 M1911A1

and I think a 1943 Japanese Nambu Model 14

Kind of interesting the 1911's slide has a serial number one didget higher than the frame. Maybe they got them mixed up cleaning them who knows.

I wouldn't want to get shot by either, but the .45 puts the Nambu to shame

Mike

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bay4q0e2nyifvmb/IMG_1973.jpg?dl=0
 
❤️❤️❤️

As my father ages I look at his possessions and I ponder "which one best represents him" and which one I would look at the most and remember him in his prime once he's gone.

Cherish them, brother.

[emoji1431]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Seven High said:
You are a very lucky person to be able to inherit your fathers WW2 pistols. Lot of good memories there.
Click to expand...
What Seven High said, except the memories for the original owner of that Nambu may not have been so good. :D

But yes, cherish both those heirloom treasures.

My brother has the Colt 1903 our Dad carried as a backup to his service 1911 in France (1944-45) and the Nambu Type 84 he took from a dead Japanese officer after the Battle of Attu during the Aleutian Campaign of 1943. Dad would've picked up that nice warm pair of fur lined Japanese boots he found, but the previous owner had left his foot in one of them. :eek:

I have his mess kit (stamped 1942), canteen, and old style trench shovel.
 
Chui
Your reply most welcomed.
Dad is 95, I live in California, parents are in Las Vegas. I take turns with my sister going to their place every 2 weeks or so to care for them. Was there 10/01 when idiot shooter put back gun ownership 100 years

I have another sister and a brother could care less. Sad for them.
 
The mismatched numbers, If I understand properly, are XXXX1 and XXXX2, for example, an in sequence difference of one? There's no possibility that that error happened anywhere but the factory. As soon as those things were assembled they sent for testing, boxed, crated, sent. Unless there was a problem, I don't believe that they would be tested, cleaned, and reassembled in the exact order of coming off of the line, so it's unlikely that any two sequential numbers would wind up being tested and then cleaned and accidentally mismatched by whoever was cleaning the probably corrosive priming ash out.

It is a lot more likely that the slide and frames were stamped as the pistols were assembled, and assembly was goofed somehow.

That must be a wonderful feeling to see his war trophies.
 
As has been said, you're very blessed to be able to inherit those priceless pieces of family history. My grandfather fought in WW2, but wanted nothing to do with guns when he got home. Heard a few of his stories, he had some brutal experiences over there and I guess avoiding guns was part of his coping.

My father is not a shooter either, and doesn't own any guns (beside the shotgun he bought during Y2K). So, no heirlooms in the family...

My kids will have a different story, of course!
 
Your father must have been in charge of a group of

Landing Craft, Tanks, a division from, off an Assault ship.

A LST was refer to as Large Slow Target, which was manned by 9 Officer and 90 crewmwn. They were able to beach themselves on beachhead and deliver multiple tanks, personnel, etc. once delivered the cargo, kegded up their stern anchor and pulled to deep water to start the "screws"

He was in the THICK of things.

Enjoy his gifts and treasure him.
 
Nice family heirlooms. Try to find out as much as you can about your father's experience during the war. So many untold stories by the men and women who experienced them.

My dad was a paratrooper in the 509th PIB. He didn't tell me much about what he experienced so I have been doing my own research. I have the PO8 and 98K he brought back from the war. One of the most informative items is the box of letters he wrote to his mother during the war.
 
I'll share a short sob story. When I was a kid (15ish) my grandfather gave me his old .300 savage model 99. It had the round counter on the side and everything. I'm not an expert in these but I've been told it was desirable.

Anyway, a while after I had it a neighbor of mine saw it riding in the rear window of my pickup one hunting season and asked to look at it. I brought it into his little garage and he pawed over it. He started pointing out everything that was wrong with it. One of the ears on the butt stock was broken off and glued back on, the iron sights were missing, the action was far too loose, the barrel was shot out, on and on and on.

By the end of it he had me scared to shoot it. He offered me a piece of junk rifle and told me it was way better and ready to go. I took it without a second thought. Being a kid I figured I'd be out from under a terrible rifle that was gonna blow up or something the next time I fired it and have a working rifle in exchange. I didn't realize the sentimental value until shortly after I accepted the proposal and went about my business, let alone the monetary value.

I later asked him about buying it back and he said "already sold it kid" for what I'm sure was a pretty penny. Now that my grandfather has since passed I still think about that rifle and how stupid I was to trade it off. I'd do anything to get it back.

I didn't post this story for any kind of pity. Simply saying you and everyone else should cherish those kinds of firearms or any other items. Take it from someone who regrets not doing that every day.
 
What you pistols have is "provenance" Those guns are pretty valuable nowadays, I know that I could have gotten an excellent Remmy .45 back in the 90s at a price I could afford, now they are off the charts/beyond my price range, and too valuable to shoot. And the provenance of the guns adds value, if documented carefully. Just for insurance value, in your case, I would assume. Write down the stories to go with the guns! Keep any additional stuff like photos or paperwork too. All together.
 
Kwik, there is a special place in hell for that sort of person, that double dealing lying XXXX. he was a neighbor, supposed to be a friend, screwed a teenaged kid like that? that puts him in the level of the betrayers and liars, the deepest pit, right next to the dork of satan.

The people who run around bragging about snagging a piece for a microscopic fraction of what it was worth sort of make me sick. Getting a bargain is one thing, but talking a widow out of her husband's entire collection for $100 per piece because "none of these things is worth more than that" is just plain sick. My brother in law just scammed the family out of his father's collection, despite the will's conditions. That collection is probably worth more than her house. The rest of the family is going to be left footing everything, and he is laughing about owning a collection of fine guns. He has a matched sequential set of colt saa, a model 70 in .375, a p38, ancient colt woodsman, sw .22 jet, just a very nice set.

I'd kind of like to have had one or two to remember the old guy by.
 
thirtysixford, great heirlooms to keep in the family, from a very historic time, to pass down with pride.

My dad told the story of his return to the U.S., and it's a heartbreaker. He had in his possession a Thompson, a 1911, a banker's special and a Winchester shotgun. Two were issued and two he considered personal property. At some point he also picked up some excellent Zeiss binoculars. He was scheduled to return by ship in December 1945 from Hawaii. He was offered instead a last second plane ride. He took it but had to dump all of the guns due to weight restrictions. My two brothers and I were of the same opinion that underwear and uniforms should have been dumped... not the good stuff. "Dad, what were you thinking!!" His answer; " I just wanted to get home."

God bless these vets.
 
Briandg,

I'm sorry to hear about that and I appreciate the sentiment. I hope you do end up with a couple down the road. Seems even family isn't immune to greed sometimes which is unfortunate. I didn't mean to draw attention away from the OP's post so I apologize to thirtysixford if I did.
 
Great family heirlooms.
Now, to be crassly commercial for a moment.
That Colt is worth a good deal of money, thousands of bucks.
They made fewer than 5000 1911A1s in 1940 and Dad's is from early that year, only a few hundred into the serial number range. This was the period of the "phoney war" in Europe, England had declared war on Germany upon the invasion of Poland, but had not actually started fighting.
The collectors and speculators have several excuses for small serial number mismatches, so as to preserve the resale value of their treasures. Like I said, some thousands.

Of course you should not store pistols in their leather holsters, a little humidity can cause rust. I would oil them well and put them on a hard dry shelf.

I would not take out a case of shells with it. These old mild steel guns have a limited service life and you would want to reach it. Shoot it a little just to be able to say you had, then clean and retire it.
 
Holy Cow
1000s of $ Are you sure Jim? How many 1000s.. ha ha. I would never sell it, but maybe list it on my insurance policy. By the way we had a big fire here in 1996. Thank God for Farmers "replacement value" insurance. If you don't know what that is google it.

The Nambu has a magazine retention spring that's mounted on the outside of the pistol grip. Its right where your hand goes . First time I picked it up i cut my hand on the stupid thing.

I have both guns in a really heavy fireproof safe

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rgrmg4kjv26g6o2/IMG_1976.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8glnnpbu78fyyuz/IMG_3929.JPG?dl=0

oops I think I got a pic of my car in there

Thanks everybody

Safe for hand guns
 
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