Gun Santa Episode 5
Hey guys! And welcome to another Santa video. You know, we used to call these Walk-in Wednesdays and we would talk about one gun, but there are so many guns coming in now we just made them Santa videos. So this is Santa video number five. And this is just clickbait.
I actually went over this, sorry to ruin a secret. I actually went over this in the last video, Santa 4 video, FG42 used by the paratroopers in Germany made by Kreighoff. This is actually a replica made by SMG Corporation. And so if you want to know about this, it's on the previous video. It's just that I only get like once or twice in a lifetime to hold one of these. So I just wanted to show it to you one more time and I didn't get credit for the clickbait because we didn't put it in the thumbnail. Now it's in the thumbnail and so everybody's expecting to hear about this, watch the previous video - Santa video number 4.
I Have Some Other Guns Though
Okay, now as you can see, I have some other guns to go over. I actually already did a Santa video this week. I'm doing two this week, just because I got feedback from some of you saying the videos are a little bit too long. So we're trying to cut down on the number of guns we try to cover. But we're also going to try to do more videos.
It's Thanksgiving! I Have a Lot to be Thankful For
Now tomorrow is Thanksgiving, not for you. Because by the time this comes out, it'll be past Thanksgiving. But tomorrow for us is Thanksgiving. And I just want to say how thankful I am for this year. First of all, if you watch my videos, you know that I'm thankful to be alive this year. Because this year I had a stent put in my heart, I feel great and glad to be alive. Secondly, as a company, we had no COVID cases here. We were very careful and for a period of time, it was a little bit dicey, we had a few scares. But actually, nobody got sick, nobody got COVID within our company or the people closest to us. And the third thing that I'm thankful for is all of you. Those of you who watch our videos, give us a thumbs up from time to time. We've had our best year ever. We've added 40,000 subscribers this year, millions of views and as a company Legacy Collectible had the highest sales, and we turned a profit this year. And for all of that, I'm very grateful to all of you, especially our supporters.
YouTube says Patreon, We Say Supporters
Now YouTube calls this the Patreon program. I prefer to call it supporters. One of our viewers asked the question, if you're selling high-end collectables and making a profit, why do you have to have a Patreon program? The truth is we don't have to have it. We did the videos, we didn't make a dime off of these videos. But the videos are a little bit of a drain on our budget.
Costly, But We Will Continue Making Videos
Let me explain. I've done 140 videos this year. And the average video takes about five hours. Some of them are 12 hours, some of them are two hours, the average video is about five hours. That's a total of 700 hours. Now if I pay a videographer, and actually Randy does all the photographs for our website, and when he's doing this, he can't take photographs. But let's just assume for salary and benefits it's $20 an hour for a videographer, 700 hours. That's $14,000 is what it costs us to do these videos this year. Now I'm happy to do it and we'll continue doing it no matter what. But I'm thankful for those of you who support us because it just helps offset the cost. Now hear me loud and clear, we're going to do it no matter what. So please don't feel like you have to support us. We're not begging you for money. I'm just trying to say I feel very blessed. And I'm thankful to all of you who have supported us.
We must Express Gratitude
One way we're going to say thank you in the very next video we do, I'm going to give away five of these $20 gift certificates to Starbucks. Now I'm giving it away pretty early well before Christmas, because this is the perfect re-gifter as well. Starbucks happens to be one of my favorite places to go. But I know some people don't like Starbucks. So I'm going to give away five $20 dollar gift certificates to Starbucks. And that way you can either use it or re-gift it in time for Christmas. We'll be drawing five names in our next video that we do, and those will be from our supporters as our way of saying thank you with this gift certificate. I'm actually going to do a drawing in this video. So stay tuned for that.
A World War II Medical Kit
Okay, this was on my knee when we started out and we just wanted to show this to you. This is actually a medical kit. And one of the innovations we've done with the YouTube channel is we actually show you items that we have for sale, that won't even go on the website. This is an ideal one not to go on the website because as I unpack this, you can see that it would be a lot of work to take a picture of every item in this medical case. But this came to us on consignment so we didn't set the price. I have no idea what this is worth. If there's a doctor out there who thinks it would be really cool to have a World War II medical kit, we are selling this on consignment for $1200. Again, I don't know what it's worth.
A Closer Look at this Kit
On the front, you can see that this was once a Red Cross insignia. It's faded badly over time, let's do the back first. First on the back, you can see on the strap, you see the maker, you see 43 that's the date and then the Waffen stamp, very clear. So this is from 1943, right in the middle of the war. Excellent craftsmanship!
A Bit of a Challenge to Get into this Kit
Now it's not easy to get into it. If you were in a hurry to save somebody's life this might take a while. There are little snaps here, same on the other side, then here is a... Push that up here, over here it's missing and then this opens up. So as I said, if I'm saving somebody's life it might take a while. Open up and here is the medical kit in pristine condition. Now this opens up and you see all the goodies inside. Sorry I had to take a quick break to put my gloves on, they match my shirt but there are some things in here that especially selling this we don't want to get them rusted.
Inside the Kit
And you can see here this is I guess for bandages and stuff. It's starting to rust a little bit and then we have this, you can see the picture of the guy. This is dressing for a head wound. I don't see a date on it. I don't want to take it all apart because this is actually brand new, never used. We have a lot of bandages. This, not sure why this is in here. But this is Turkish cigarette paper, for rolling your own. That's something every one of you could use for Christmas. Cigarette paper from the Turks.
I'm Showing You but They Are Not Included
It reminds me of something we got a while ago, it's not included. Let me make sure I say it's not included with this because we got this long ago and someday I'm going to do a video of Randy smoking these. Remember when I made Randy shoot the Springfield that was dug in the dirt and all rusted. I got a lot of flack from people - I can't believe that you made Randy do that. Well, first of all, Randy volunteered and I don't want to smoke this cigarette but maybe Randy will.
Waffen Stamped Cigarettes
This is a pack of cigarettes unopened. You can see right here that they're Waffen stamped. And they're made by Turkey. Now Turkey was allied with Germany, I guess they were officially neutral but they did a lot of trade with Germany during the war. So these are Turkish cigarettes. I hear they're pretty nasty. We haven't opened them up but I'd like to do a video where we actually open this up, and we have Randy smoke it and he will tell us how harsh it is. But that's something you can look forward to.
Walther Banner Matches
And then these did not come with it. These are Walter banner matches, I'm sure they were dealer samples that they gave away. And that's what they look like. And that's interesting. We will use these Walther matches in order to light these Turkish cigarettes from World War II. It's no wonder at the end of the war when Germans were surrendering, the first thing they asked for was cigarette cigarettes. And we actually have that on video. They wanted American cigarettes because they were tired of smoking the Turkish.
Back To The Kit
So without going through everything in here, let me just highlight a few things. First of all, we have a lot of bandages and things. These are kind of cool because you do see the Nazi Red Cross. It's an Inigo with a red cross, there's a Nazi marking there, bandages. There's a powder in here. This is dated I believe 1940. Several of them are dated 1940 and we can open them up. There's a powder in here and I had a local doctor came in took and look at this, This is like a sulpher drug that they put on a wound, you see them sprinkle it on, it's like a white powder. At least that's what I think it is. So you have several of those, safety pins for when you actually put on the head dressing. This actually looks like a tourniquet because it has a drawstring. So I guess if you were tying off an arm or a leg in terms of stopping the bleeding, there's a tourniquet and way back in here you can see why the video is really helpful because you can dig this stuff out. Again more bandages. So I don't speak German, but you can tell pretty quickly this is a wound bandage. So that was back in here. I'll put that all back. Oh, here's something interesting. From what I can tell these are little ammonia sticks. When somebody is regaining consciousness, there are little sticks inside you break them and they smell them, in order to revive them. There are lots of other little bits and pieces, which I won't go through. These are interesting. These are dated 1940. And again, they're just generic bandages. I'm sure they went through a lot of bandages.
Let's Check the other Compartments of the Bag
And so up here, we do have manuals in here. There's a medical manual along with more bandages, and there are other items down in there. Again, I don't want to go through everything in here, this will be a surprise package if you happen to buy it. And this is like a... We've been using a lot of these lately. Sanitary wipes, you know, so it would... I didn't open it up, but those would be moist towelettes that would disinfect, same thing. Everybody needs a moist towelette. Next time you get on a plane, you can open that up and wipe down your seat, and everybody will be impressed by the Nazi Red Cross.
Just a Few More Things From the Bag
Okay, just a couple other things. Again, this is a little bigger, but that's dated 1940. I found this interesting. I didn't know what was in it. I thought it might be aspirin. This is actually made by Merck. And actually, the doctor that was here said Bayer made a lot of the medical supplies in Germany. So Merck, Bayer, and so I'm going to open this up, and to my surprise those are charcoal tablets. So I'm not sure, certainly they weren't worried about accidental poisoning but I would assume maybe disinfecting if somebody drank bad water. But also gas - mustard gas, or if you inhaled some kind of poisoned gas, I assume they dilute this into water, and you would drink it and it would make you throw up and get rid of the contents of your stomach.
Why Would a Doctor Need Wax
This just really cool looking, it's very waxy and when you open it up, it's actually wax. Now some bright person out there can tell me why a doctor would have wax. And if you smell it, it's horrid. You know what it smells like distilled pig fat or something. It's just really, really nasty. And then finally these vials. I got two of these vials. I don't know what was in here, they are now empty. I know you guys were looking for the methamphetamines in here, all gone. But these vials, I believe are empty. But when I look at the top, it almost looks like eye drops or something like that. So if somebody had powder burns, you know you see a lot of eye injuries in the war, this would probably be something to disinfect the eyes.
Another Cool Accessory
Alright, so one other accessory that we're going to sell online, and you'll see why it's kind of spread out a little bit, we have a table covering, let's go take a look at it. So here on our Legacy table, we actually use this for gun shows and stuff. And I think the mustard color doesn't go well with the red. But we have this table runner. My wife uses these for decorations, especially at Christmas. So I set it up for you. You can see the table runner, and then the candle borrowed from my wife. Now look inside that candle, look at that, it's on. It gives a great ambience especially at night. This is perfect for you and the missus. This is something I've never seen before. I would say that it's very rare. And here we see it says the German colony of Tunis.
A Bit Confusing!
That confuses me a little bit because actually, Tunisia was a French colony. So during the war, Tunisia went to the Vichy France government which was actually dominated by the Nazis, it was kind of a puppet government. So maybe this was some event at the consulate or the embassy. But basically, at that point, they called it the German colony of Tunis, it has to be very rare. We're selling this only on YouTube if you're interested and that is $200. Again, it's consignment we're passing it along. But let's get some guns.
Now For the Guns
So if any guns that you see your have interest in I'm going to do them by the numbers because people have been calling in and saying I want that Walther PPK. Well, I've got three of them.
Gun #1 - Walther PPK
This is gun number one. And this is a very rare 9-millimeter PPK. We don't get too many of these, I've done videos on them before. Here you can see the serial number it is in the 9-millimeter range. And the way you can tell right away is the bottom release magazine. They did that because the frame was too weak for the 9-millimeter and push button. So they put it bottom release. It does mean there's a little cut out in the grip. So if this grip is cracked, you can't take a regular grip and use it. You have to find a 9-millimeter grip and these are very, very rare. So this is gun # 1, 9-millimeter PPK.
A matching Pair for Gun #1 - Walther PP
Also, to go with it as a matching pair here is a 9-millimeter PP. Also very rare. I'd only about 1% - 2% were in 9-millimeter, the vast majority are 7.65. Again, there's no cut out at the bottom because it's a two-piece grip on the PP. But you can see the bottom release magazine. And again that was due to strengthening the frame and then the magazine is marked 9-millimeter. This by the way is gun # 2
Gun #3 - The Femura
Gun number three, one of my favorites. I just love the femura we did a whole video just talking about the Femura and the prices have gone up. Since then, prices on all guns have gone up since then due to COVID and political changes. But this is dated 1941. JHV is actually the factory code and you can see Waffen stamps on the gun. The barrel will have a Waffen stamp, the barrel will be numbered to the gun and sometimes the magazine is numbered to the gun. In this one, the magazine is numbered to a different gun, but it is a proper magazine.
All of These Went to the Luftwaffe
30,000 of these were made in '41 and all of them went to the Luftwaffe. So that makes this a very cool gun. Plus it works a lot like a 1911 in miniature. And I just love the way this thing works. Ready to go.
Yes! We Did it Beforehand
Obviously, we checked it ahead of time to make sure it wasn't loaded. It does have a grip safety again, just like the 1911. This is a Hungarian pistol. The factory was taken over by the Germans, and they produced 30,000 guns for the Luftwaffe in 1941. This is gun # 3.
Gun # 4
Gun number four. And this is an inexpensive German pistol compared to most others. Obviously, it's an Italian Beretta. It comes in 7.65, although a lot of them came in 380. So 9-millimeter and 32 caliber. What's interesting about this one, first of all, under the Italian rule, these would be RE marked that was the proof mark for the Italian Army.
The Italian Coup
But as you remember, the Italians rose up had a coup got rid of Mussolini, Hitler sent the paratroopers in. And by the way, he brought with them the FG42. Paratroopers showed up with FG42 and rescued Mussolini. So they put him back in power, but then they took over the country because they really felt like Mussolini couldn't hold the country anymore. And that was evidenced by the coup. And they also took over the factory. And then the German code under German rule was actually a 4UT in an oval. So that 4UT means this Beretta was made during the German occupation. And if you look at the date, you can see it is 1944.
A Closer Look at the Parts
Once again, if you take this apart, the slide is numbered, the frame is numbered, and the barrel will be numbered to the gun. Now one unique thing about this gun that makes it for me, a desirable collector's piece, is the fact that even though it was made in 1944, it still has a high polished finish. Now think about that every other gun, all the German guns had gone to a low luster blue, what I call the milled finish. Sometimes they were a phosphated finish, if you think about the Radoms in '44 they had a dull finish - a phosphate finish. The Italian Beretta 1944 in a high polish finish, it just means that they were still putting out quality guns even at the end of the war.
Gun #5 - SS Contract Gun
Here is gun number five, it looks like a standard Walther PP in a very nice condition, but this one is special. If you watched when I collaborated with Ian about SS contract guns, this is one of the SS contract guns. So they didn't put the serial number on the slide until about 240,000 or 50,000. So 240,000 they started numbering the frame and the slide. But on the SS contract, they had a special contract with the factory to number the slide before they normally did and then they also numbered the magazine. So you can see the numbered magazine, numbered slide. This is an SS contract gun. Now it wasn't just SS like Waffen SS, this went to security forces. So some of these were Gestapo or Security Teams. Actually, this went to some bad dudes. So this is an SS contract gun and we know that from the SS records.
Verified by the Records
When they went into the SS offices in Germany, they did find the records and so this is known to be an SS contract gun, as opposed to most of the time, we actually don't know where that went. So once again, gun number five and this comes in 7.65.
Almost Done
Okay, just two more to go. And then we're going to do the raffle, we have the P.38 book going out to some of our supporters. So I hope you win. So stay tuned.
The Box and Gun are Separate Pieces - These were put together
This came in this box, this is actually an engraved PPK. But let me just back up a minute and say, these did not come together. The person that sent me this gun, he told me that he put it together this. First of all, this is just a nice silver box to commemorate, I would say because it says '65, it has initials. It's the eighth Machine Gun Company, veterans from the war, this may have been from a reunion. And he had this case so he just put these together, I can certainly sell the gun without the case. But I'm just showing it to you because it's very cool. I can't translate that exactly but I do know that this is from the eighth core Machine Gun Company. And this is probably a guy's initials and that's why I think it was a reunion of a German unit. Now, of course black felt inside and let's take a look at the engraving.
An Engraved PPK
I did a whole video on German engraved guns and this actually is in the correct serial range. So there is a solid block of engraved guns so I can therefore state, due to the quality of the engraving and also due to the serial number. If you look at the serial number, this one was actually made in about 1935. Probably by the time they engraved it, it went out the door in '36. I'm sure it was... Well, it could have been a private purchase or a special presentation. There's no initials on it. Sometimes they have initials here. As you can see it's oak leaf and acorn, and you can see even the grip screw, the escussion has an engraving, slightly engraved on it. And you get an idea here in the ejection port, you see the checkered engraving and it does come with a standard brown PPK grip.
Rare and Expensive
This is not for the faint of heart. This will go up on the website and it will be very expensive. So I don't want to scare you off but this is a very expensive item. Very rare item. And I'm just proud to be able to show it to you.
Last but not Least
Last but not least, is this Luger. And I wanted to show you this just because this has a very rich history. If you remember I did an epic video of all the Lugers that were made - DWM, Erfurt, even The Simpson and the Kreighoff and some astute watcher said you didn't mention the Vicar's Luger. And I said you're right. I didn't mention the Vicar's because I've never had a Vicar's Luger. And some people don't consider this a true Luger variation. And let me explain why.
Is it a True Luger Variation?
So first of all, there's very little written about these. And so some of what I'm saying is going to be conjecture. And if you read them on the internet, you will actually see conflicting information. But I believe these guns were made by DWM, but put together by Vicar's limited. Now one of the board of directors at Vicar's was good friends with one of the board of directors at DWM and they worked out a compromise to a contract problem. And this is the way it happened.
The Contract
So before World War I, the Dutch government ordered about 4000 Lugers. And they were delivered before World War I. So there's 4000 Dutch Lugers that were issued before the war. And again, that's World War I. How can I tell it's Dutch? It says rust and that actually is a precursor of what was about to happen because many of these ended up rusting. Actually, that's Dutch for safe. So instead of saying safe, it says rust. So the second contract was issued, right about the time the war started. So the Dutch ordered 6000 more. But because of the war, the contract was not honored. Basically, they weren't going to sell any guns because they needed them all for themselves and they weren't sure that the Dutch wouldn't end up using them against the French. So the contract was never honored. So 6000 DWM Lugers were ordered by the Dutch before World War I.
Let's Strike a Deal!
At the end of the war the Dutchers then said what about our contract, they must have had a deposit or maybe they paid for the whole thing but they basically said what about our 6000 guns, and DWM under the Treaty of Versailles was not allowed to assemble Lugers anymore. So most people believe that what they did they worked out a deal with Vickers. They said we can't sell these but you can. They shipped them in parts to the Vickers company who then assembled it, put their logo on it. So 6000 were delivered in the early 1920s.
Slight Modifications
They're somewhat unique due to Dutch specifications. One reason they're unique is because of the language used. Also, the grips are slightly different and we believe that these are British made grips. The magazine is a little bit different, I thought there's something wrong with that magazine. Again, I never see these guns. They are very, very rare. The magazine is different in that most of them will have a pin that you have to punch through, in order to take the bottom out and clean the spring. Under their contract, they wanted an easier way to get to the spring and clean it. And they used this button, which you just push the button down, the bottom comes off and you have easy access to the inside. I'm not going to do that because it's very sensitive. And just to find another one of these would be near impossible. And then just briefly, you do see the grip safety, which is the model 1906. But there's no stock lug. So again, their contract did not specify the stock lug. You do see British proofs, there are tiny British proofs on the gun. And the Dutch had unit markings, brass plates were put on the left side of the gun, or sometimes they're on the trigger guard. This one, the unit is SUM, which means this went to the Dutch East Indies colony of Sumatra.
The Invasion of Sumatra
Now we actually did a video about the invasion of Sumatra and it was basically the Japanese. We were talking about Japanese paratroopers. Well, here's here's a little clip from that video.
In the Battle of Sumatra, the Japanese used that tactic. The ports were all heavily fortified and what the Japanese did is they dropped paratroopers behind the enemy lines. Their mission was to blow up oil storage tanks, to blow up munitions, but most importantly, to take over the airport so that the allied armies could not use air cover.
So this this one went to the Sumatra colony and that's where the story about the rust comes in.
We Never Find Them This Nice
Indonesia very hot and humid, jungle type atmosphere. Most times when you find a Dutch colony Luger and they don't show up very often, they're in terrible condition. They're covered with pitting and rust. You only see a little bit of that on this side rail, a little bit of pitting, but that's about as good as it gets. You just never see them this nice, they're usually really junky. I've actually seen them really junky but also Japanese writing on both sides of the grip. I didn't translate it but you can see Japanese characters on the side of the grip, which obviously when the Japanese took over Sumatra, they captured all the guns, kept them for themselves. They actually love the German pistols and that's recorded. Historically they bought a lot of pistols. They bought Browning's and other guns, not very many Lugers but in this case they captured Lugers and used them for themselves.
Gun plus a Holster
The gun comes in 9-millimeter and it also comes with this original style holster. However, I think it might have been made later, I'm not sure. This is the Dutch style holster. It does come with a loading tool, and a unique oiler and cleaning rod. So this is an oiler and cleaning rod all in one. So a very rare Luger, one that I didn't even have when I did my review, but this will be available on our website or you can buy it. This is gun # 7.
The Giveaway
Okay, that was real quick. I was talking as fast as I could. I'm thinking we're approaching a half an hour I apologize. I want to make these as quick as I can. But it's time to give away a book. This is the P.38 book it sells for about $100 plus shipping. This is authored by Alex Krutzek check. I've met Alex, great guy and I believe this is the best book out there, the best resource out there on P.38s. Now we did a random drawing and I'm happy to say that our patreon named Nathan is the lucky winner. Nathan if you're watching we will be in touch and make sure you get your book for free. My goal is to give away thousands of dollars worth of free books and accessories and just fun stuff because we're going to have a great year. This year was the best one yet, but will not come close to 2021.
More Interesting Videos Coming your Way
Alright, thanks for watching and make sure you like and subscribe to our channel because I have a lot more really interesting videos coming your way.