"BUFALO" 6.35mm (.25 ACP)

[cantstop]

People make a lot of stupid, stupid jokes about the French, but just imagine the Poilus who used to raid the German trenches with nothing but a few hand grenades and a Ruby .32.

Or the cojones it took to sneak around France fighting for the resistance, trusting your life to your wits and one of these little .25 ACPs.

 

[somd_mustangs]

The Spanish proofs with "PV" I've seen are always "vertical" like this... with the Eibar shield on left and "Hope" proof on right. Not sure what they would have used prior to 1927 but the Star Model 1920, 1921, 1922 I have don't have proofs like this - they have a circle P IIRC. (First pic is a mid-20's Star Model A carbine).

The Belgian proofs use a PV as well but laid out sideways like the Bufalo herein. This is from a late 30's High Power.

The Unblinking Eye site has all sorts of good references...

 

[Machodoc]

As I keep searching... I've come across some macabre facts about these little .25 ACPs. It seems that Vasili Blokhin used a German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol as senior executioner.

If memory serves me right, the early James Bond novels had 007 carrying a Beretta .25 ACP (or some other make in that caliber). The general rationale, given to Ian Fleming by his firearms adviser friend, was that it was accuracy, rather than caliber, that someone in Bond's position would have needed.

 

[BigDaddy]

I always heard you should coat your .25 with vasoline.

After you shoot the bad guy, he is going to be pissed and take that gun and shove it up your............

 

[Machodoc]

I always heard you should coat your .25 with vasoline.

After you shoot the bad guy, he is going to be pissed and take that gun and shove it up your............

That, and file down the front sight.

 

[cantstop]

I always heard you should coat your .25 with vasoline.

After you shoot the bad guy, he is going to be pissed and take that gun and shove it up your............

LOL... That's why my Winchester model 94 is my EDC.

 

[cantstop]

I think it's also important to remember that when JMB invented the FN M1905 (wikipedia) there were no McDonald's and the average adult male weighed 145 lbs (and was 5'7").

In the past 100+ years, we've super-sized quite a bit.

That's the genius of JMB. He built weapons that were appropriate for the time.