A trio of Mauser pistols in non-serious calibers, just for fun

What's way cooler than a Walther PPK but lacks the movie fame of "Bond, James Bond"?

That would be Mauser HSc.

Blame it on Tam and Michael Bane, who got me thinking about Mauser pocket pistols. But if I was gonna buy a pocket pistol of .380 or smaller, and I ain't because I refuse to get smaller than my Kel-Tec PF9 9mm, I'd rather have one of the old Mauser pistols than anything I've seen from among the plethora of new .380 pissants now sold.

I shot photos of three old Mauser pocket pistols recently to post them on gunbroker for the gun shop where I work. And they all have much more allure, not to mention being much more shootable, than any of the new pocket .380s I've seen.

The Mauser HSc is the most recent of the trio and IMHO a better .380 than the Walther PPK, which has an awful trigger as well as being a bad hand pincher if you get an old model with the heel-mounted magazine release. James Bond made the PPK cool, but cool don't make it shoot any better.

The Mauser HSc that I shot photos of is a post-war American Eagle version that despite its collectibility is still cheaper than a new PPK.

And then there two golden oldies, the Mauser 1914 model in .32 ACP and the Mauser 1910 model in .25 ACP, or as the Europeans refer to those two John Browning calibers, 7.65mm and 6.35mm. What I found remarkable about all three of these Mausers is their rather ingenuous design for closing the slide.

The slides lock back with no visible slide stop when you jack the slide back, leaving you to wonder, how'd it do that? And then how do you close the slide? Simply remove the magazine, presumably in normal use either reload it or swap it for a loaded one, then reinsert the magazine. As soon as the mag locks in, presto, the slide slams shut and chambers a round. Them Mauser dudes were pretty darn smart, as all German engineers are. There's a feature that got lost in time that oughta be revived.

But I just took the time to show these Mausers off because they're cool and shootable. I have no plans to get any of the three, the calibers are just too puny for my taste.

Maybe one of these days if I ever get around to buying pistols just because they're fun to shoot and have no self-defense or serious carry use.

Two smokin' hot "Big Gun" sales days on gunbroker

You may have heard the big "gun boom" business is over. Don't believe it.

It has slowed down some from the frantic frenzy since shortly before Obama got elected.

But the past two days have been absolutely insane with the 400+ guns listed on gunbroker for the gun shop where I work.

Sales have been steady of a few guns a day with an occasional big purchase sprinkled in among a lot of lesser ones.

But suddenly starting Saturday night, the "big guns," those for $1K and higher, are selling like hotcakes. Very expensive hotcakes.

On Sunday morning, I was amazed to see we sold a matched pair of Ruger Talo Vaquero John Wayne Stainless .45 Colt revolvers that are engraved as John Wayne Commemorative issues.

It's a fairly big deal to sell one of those engraved beauties, but a matched pair? For $2100 smackeroos!

The insanity continued today with the sale of not one but two World War II German P08 Lugers.

First this morning we sold a Luger P08 1938 S/42 Mauser 9mm Matching Serial Nos for a mere $1450.

Then later today, we sold a 1937 Mauser for $2000 after having not just one, but two potential buyers showing interest. One pulled the plug before the other one could get it.

Then as I was calling it a day this evening and checked gunbroker one last time, some fellow gun nut shelled out $1K for a very nice Colt Mustang Plus II Mk. IV Series 80 .380 ACP SA.

Toss in a few sales for other guns of lesser value, like a $400 Walther P22 Nickel/Pink .22LR DA Semi-Auto Pistol and it all adds up to perhaps the biggest day my shop has had yet on gunbroker.

And this follows a pretty good week last week with two $1,000 sales, a Winchester Super X2 12 Ga 3.5" DU, Made in Belgium and a SIG P226R Elite Stainless .40S&W Nite Sights, SRT plus a Weatherby Mark V Sporter 7mm Rem Magnum Bolt-Rifle for $900 and a Armalite AR-10 A4F 308/7.62mm 20" Bl OD Green Stk for $1350.

I don't think the boom's over just yet.