Picked this up last week, it had been on my “holy grail” list for German WWII pistols. Made by Armand Gavage in Belgium, not a whole lot is known about these and they certainly don’t pop up all that often.
It’s believed these were in the midst of production when the Germans marched into Belgium in 1940 and many were taken for German service. There is a lot of variance on existing examples...some are blued, some were left in the white. Some have wood grips, others have the black “AG” grips like this one. Some are Belgian proofed, some German proofed, some have both Belgian and German proofs, and others have no proofs at all. There also doesn’t seem to be much of any rhyme or reason in serial number range between the variations either, as examples of each type are sporadic throughout the known range.
Mine is one of the German proofed examples, bearing three eagle/swastika test proofs on the frame/slide/barrel. These guns were not waffenamt marked and only received the test proofs. Estimates suggest ~1500 or so were marked in this manner making it one of the harder to find German marked guns of the war. Neat little fixed barrel design with recoil spring above the barrel.
Unfortunately when I was bidding on it I failed to notice that the magazine was not correct, as correct mags are nickel plated and this one is not (and baseplate is obviously different). Looks like someone took a longer 7,65mm mag and cut it down to fit into the Gavage. Seems well done and looks to function correctly but a bummer none the less. The likely very long and probably expensive search for an original mag begins...the holy grail hunt continues!
It’s believed these were in the midst of production when the Germans marched into Belgium in 1940 and many were taken for German service. There is a lot of variance on existing examples...some are blued, some were left in the white. Some have wood grips, others have the black “AG” grips like this one. Some are Belgian proofed, some German proofed, some have both Belgian and German proofs, and others have no proofs at all. There also doesn’t seem to be much of any rhyme or reason in serial number range between the variations either, as examples of each type are sporadic throughout the known range.
Mine is one of the German proofed examples, bearing three eagle/swastika test proofs on the frame/slide/barrel. These guns were not waffenamt marked and only received the test proofs. Estimates suggest ~1500 or so were marked in this manner making it one of the harder to find German marked guns of the war. Neat little fixed barrel design with recoil spring above the barrel.
Unfortunately when I was bidding on it I failed to notice that the magazine was not correct, as correct mags are nickel plated and this one is not (and baseplate is obviously different). Looks like someone took a longer 7,65mm mag and cut it down to fit into the Gavage. Seems well done and looks to function correctly but a bummer none the less. The likely very long and probably expensive search for an original mag begins...the holy grail hunt continues!
