Papered Bringback Femaru 37M

Picked this up yesterday at the Gettysburg show. Apparently it recently came out of an estate. I've never dealt with Femaru's much, so it was more of an impluse buy.

Seller had a decent Mannlicher M.88/90 that I missed out on because some guy bought it right after I put it down to look at the Femaru. I put the Femaru down for a second to look at something else, and the same guy ran over and wanted to buy it. I didn't want to get screwed by the same dude twice so I whipped open my wallet and told the dealer it was mine now.

I paid a bit of a premium at $899 plus tax, but I hardly ever see these, especially with the original holster and bringback paperwork. My birthday is coming up too so I figured what the hell, it's only money.

These were Hungarian issued pistols in .380/9mm short. The Germans issued a variant in 7.65mm.

Finish is a tad bit worn (looks better in person than in the pictures). Holster and paperwork are in pretty good shape too. Field stripped it and cleaned out a tiny bit of grime but other than that it's spotless.

Paperwork looks like it has two names on it. One is a "PFC Charlie C. Phillips" which was crossed out and another PFC's name written above it. I can't really make out what the name says though. Paperwork looks to be signed by Captain Robert L. Plank Jr. of what might be the "199th F. FL Bn.". Somebody else might be able to make out the letters better than me though.

When I got home and field stripped it to clean it, I nearly had a heart attack. I saw what appears to be a crack right through the slide rail on the frame above the slide release. I called the dealer (real class act gentleman) and he offered me a full refund. It seemed a bit fishy to me though, so I asked Somd_Mustangs about it. Apparently it's some sort of relief cut to keep it from cracking. Mine was just crudely cut. Needless to say, I will be keeping it.


Let me know what you guys think!

Nice!!! Love me some M37s, cool guns. Neat papers as well. Maybe the second guy won it in a poker game or bought it from the first. Looks like the name may be of this guy to me:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71717392/ircel-l-jellison

Also looks like the Capt that signed it was 199th Field Artillery Battalion (I think that’s an “A” not an “FL”). Great pickup!

Neato!

Nice rig, the holster is pretty cool too with the two spare mag pouches.
IIRC the Hungarian magazines were not numbered?
Kind of an overlooked pistol, made very well and a tank of a gun.

BTW the Star Model B has the same style cut (although earlier models don't). I guess it was to prevent uncontrolled cracking on what is a pretty thin piece of metal. It might also have been a way to get a cutting blade in there to cut the opening. Second pic is of a jhv43 Luftwaffe M37 with the same cut as Dan's.

KH195 said:

Nice!!! Love me some M37s, cool guns. Neat papers as well. Maybe the second guy won it in a poker game or bought it from the first. Looks like the name may be of this guy to me:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71717392/ircel-l-jellison

Also looks like the Capt that signed it was 199th Field Artillery Battalion (I think that’s an “A” not an “FL”). Great pickup!

Click to expand...

Awesome! That’s gotta be him!

Here is the Captain who signed it. Robert Plunk.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23732529/robert-l_-plunk

I think I actually found Mr. Jellison’s son on Facebook. I’m tempted to send him a message and see if he can tell me anything about him. Be interesting to see a picture of him in the service.

The unit is the 199th F(ield) A(rtillery) Battalion.

I was trolling a NY online auction yesterday that had a German issue Femaru in immaculate condition. It got a fair amount of interest, ended up hammering for $850 OTD. No neat-o holster or capture papers like Dan's. These are starting to rise in interest and market value. That same gun just 3-4 yrs ago would have sold for $500-600.
Gotta say I've never had your experience at a show. That's crazy that he would jump in not once but twice to scoop up something you were considering. I'd be supremely p*ssed t'wer I in your shoes. But you do have a bit of a 4 leaf clover luck thing going for you at shows. You always seem to find that one killer deal.

somd_mustangs said:

Nice rig, the holster is pretty cool too with the two spare mag pouches.
IIRC the Hungarian magazines were not numbered?
Kind of an overlooked pistol, made very well and a tank of a gun.

Click to expand...

Now you made me go and check mine. Dad came back with a Femaru and 3 mags, and they just say "37M" on the bottom. No bringback paper, or if there was one, he trashed it long ago. I wish he'd come back with a holster, too, but seeing this one explains why he got 3 magazines. And, yeah, probably won in a poker game.

Nice score Dan

That's really nice! FEGs have always had a special place in my heart.

Frommer Stops, Baby Stops, Roth-Steyr 1907s, 37Ms, PM9, AP9 and PA-63, all interesting and quite frankly well-made pistols.