Tweet
Ha! No.
My father was born in 1925 and served with the 36th out of Texas. He arrived in Italy just as things were winding down and they were getting ready for the invasion of the south of France. At that time, he picked up a Model 1934 Beretta in .380. But no fancy grips on that gun. He carried it into battle with his Garand.
The one with the clear grips he picked up in France after the invasion. It's a WWI model Spanish Izarra in .32acp with a long barrel. He made the grips for it, likely from some downed aircraft canopy, which was a common source at the time. The photo is of my aunt, my father's kid sister, who was 15 or 16 at the time. He didn't have a sweetheart or wife or girlfriend at the time so my aunt filled in.
Then after the war when he was living in SF and going to Heald engineering college, he acquired the Luger from a dealer in Missouri for 35 bucks. It included a box of ammo. Apparently he was inspired by his efforts with the Izarra and got creative, laminating different color strips of plastic together before making the grips from them. What you see is the result. He made them about 1947.
I still have the original grips for the two guns. And I also have custom holsters he made for the Beretta and Izarra. I believe he made them from old boot leather. And I also have the bring back papers for those two guns as well as some paper for his Luger purchase.
Oh, and at least three or four CalGuns members have shot all three guns at an evening get-together.
My father was born in 1925 and served with the 36th out of Texas. He arrived in Italy just as things were winding down and they were getting ready for the invasion of the south of France. At that time, he picked up a Model 1934 Beretta in .380. But no fancy grips on that gun. He carried it into battle with his Garand.
The one with the clear grips he picked up in France after the invasion. It's a WWI model Spanish Izarra in .32acp with a long barrel. He made the grips for it, likely from some downed aircraft canopy, which was a common source at the time. The photo is of my aunt, my father's kid sister, who was 15 or 16 at the time. He didn't have a sweetheart or wife or girlfriend at the time so my aunt filled in.
Then after the war when he was living in SF and going to Heald engineering college, he acquired the Luger from a dealer in Missouri for 35 bucks. It included a box of ammo. Apparently he was inspired by his efforts with the Izarra and got creative, laminating different color strips of plastic together before making the grips from them. What you see is the result. He made them about 1947.
I still have the original grips for the two guns. And I also have custom holsters he made for the Beretta and Izarra. I believe he made them from old boot leather. And I also have the bring back papers for those two guns as well as some paper for his Luger purchase.
Oh, and at least three or four CalGuns members have shot all three guns at an evening get-together.
Comment