Got to fondle some history...

[Old Ironsights]

I was at an LGS yackking with the counter guy about random gun stuff when this lady comes up asking to talk to the LGS "gun expert" about this "old, little gun given to me"... The LGS gun crank wasn't there, and the clerk had a buying customer so he had to split. But I struck up a conversation with the woman mainly because she was clueless and only wanted a general valuation (she was adamant about not selling).

So, anyway, I ask a couple of questions and she says "it's in this old (crappy home made) holster. I don't even know if it's loaded".

Alarm bells.

So she allows me to handle it (to make sure it isn't loaded)... it's a 90%+ pre-war Baby Browning with only honest holster wear on the sharp edges. She said the elderly gentleman who gave it to her had it as a bring-back.

Low serial number (1920's?) no Occupation Proofs. Only one mag, but everything was tight ans clean. Not even the grip safety was gummy. Even the mag-release safety worked. I'll bet we could have shot a box of .25s and the poor little thing would have been jumping for joy.

Anyway, I gave her my inexpert opinion (which, on Googling, turned out close) and gave her a list of real experts to contact for a true valuation.

Without provenance, my guess put it in the $500-$800 ball park, and that seems to be what similar (by photo) guns are going for. But she went home happy with other contacts to check and I got to fondle a neat old gun.

[gamekeeper]

The DIFFERENCE between your country and mine if that lady had taken that pistol or any other type of firearm to a gun shop in the UK without a license the the gun would be CONFISCATED and the police informed.
I signed a petition the other day to keep a former Sgt. in the SAS from going to prison for having a bring back Glock.
I'm glad you were able to help the lady and get to see an interesting little pistol.

[AJMD429]

The DIFFERENCE between your country and mine

What gets me is that aside from the "gun crowd", most people have NO CLUE that there's any difference between Great Britain and the United States - we speak the same language, watch the same movies, and eat the same fast food, and that's all 90% of the electorate grasps as 'culture' or 'politics'...

I see the same thing in the U.S. - people think nothing of moving from Vermont to New Jersey or Indiana or Illinois, just noting a slight difference in cost-of-living, or some tax rate, and not aware of the HUGE differences in freedom.

As a kid (young adult, technically), a friend of mine had a Baby Browning, and loaned it to me a couple times for CCW when I had to be places CCW wasn't allowed. I was impressed by the craftsmanship and the design, and it served as yet one more example of John Moses Browning's amazing talent.

[Griff]

The DIFFERENCE between your country and mine

...difference between Great Britain and the United States - we speak ALMOST the same language...

Fixed that for ya!

[JReed]

The DIFFERENCE between your country and mine

...difference between Great Britain and the United States - we speak ALMOST the same language...

Fixed that for ya!

Sorry I dont speak English I speak Amrerican

Those Brownings are neat guns. I have never had a chance to handle one but have read about and seen lots of pics of them.