Love firearms made in XIX-XX centuries? Fascinated by the opportunity to hold in your hands a famous gun that your favorite character fired? Unfortunately, now such samples are extremely difficult to get – only in antique shops, if you will be very lucky. However, for fans of historical weapons there is another alternative: to buy miniature replica guns. For sale they are offered in limited quantities, as they are not produced in bulk. Miniatures manufacturing is usually handled by private craftsmen or small firms, where replicas are produced in limited editions. Usually every manufacturer specializes in chosen directions, makes and sells his favorite models, with his distinctive features. Let’s consider some of them.
Luger Parabellum
In 1900 the German designer Luger decided to improve the pistol of the Borchardt system and develop a new scheme for such weapons. The result of the collaboration of Luger and Borchardt was the world-famous automatic pistol of the Luger system or, as it is also called, Parabellum. Its principle of operation allowed the maximum use of the energy of the powder charge for bullet throwing, while a minimum amount of energy was used to recharge the weapon. This result was achieved by installing a shutter with a small mass and its specific interaction with the rest of the moving parts.
Luger has made the following changes in the Borchardt’s drawings:
• the handle of the pistol was conveniently adjusted to a shooter’s hand and had an optimal inclination angle (120⁰), there was a return spring and a detachable magazine inside;
• The barrel was made lowered along the axis as much as possible, its locking system was realized using levers on a hinged joint;
• the spring of the locking mechanism of the barrel was fixed to the shutter by means of a joint lever.
The earliest model of the Borchardt-Luger pistol was released in 1900 and was used by the Swiss army. Its characteristic features were: a spring ejector, located on the upper surface of the shutter, a frame fuse blocking a receiver box. This model had a barrel length of 122 mm and was designed for 7.65 x 21 mm caliber.
The pistol had very good linear and ballistic characteristics, demonstrated excellent accuracy of shooting, good bullet penetration and high speed of fire.
Luger 1902 was created for a 9 mm cartridge, so the muzzle was made thicker and shorter, its length was 102 mm. The number of rifled lines in the barrel canal was increased from 4 to 6, the length of the receiver and the frame became equal.
The artillery model of the Parabellum gun P08 (“long pistol”) was produced by the German arms company DWM in 1913 and was intended for non-commissioned airborne officers, field artillery and machine-gun crews in Germany. A long pistol Luger-Parabellum also had a caliber 9 mm. Since 1917 it had been equipped with an attached disk magazine with 32 cartridges and a flat holster-butt. These firearms had an increased speed of fire. They also had another specific feature: an obliquely installed sector sight slat, which automatically took into account the lateral deflection of a bullet during the setting of the shooting distance. The adjustable sight was placed on the barrel in front of the chamber and was designed for the shooting range of up to 800 meters.
Collector samples (replicas) of Luger-Parabellum handguns are still produced today. In some online stores you can find miniatures made by modern masters, which are exactly the same as their originals. They repeat precisely both the appearance and the internal mechanism of this weapon.
Fully functioning Luger Parabellum, made by an unknown master on the scale of 2/5. Its length is 9.16 inches, caliber .139, material – blued steel. Complete with a holster, a spare magazine, accessories and a storage box, it was sold for $ 2500.
The famous French miniaturist Michel Lefaivre has created the highest quality copy of Luger on the scale of 2/5. It took more than 600 hours of hard work. Unfortunately, this sample is not available for sale, but it is recognized to be one of the most perfect mini-replicas of this weapon model.
TT (Tulsky Tokarev)
This is a legendary weapon, the first Soviet pistol. In 1930, a group of weapons designers headed by Fyodor Tokarev presented a new 7.62 mm self-loading pistol on tests. At that time no one knew that this gun would become a legend and a champion among long-livers, having earned the reputation of the most reliable pistol in the world. 85-year-old “Tulsky Tokarev” was together with the Russian army throughout the Second World War, it was used in all conflicts of the post-war period. It is popular in Russia even today. Despite the fact that its production was stopped in 1955, some exemplars still are in circulation – unfortunately, mostly in criminal circles – and work great.
Tokarev handgun combines the design features of various weapons: the JM Browning lock system, the Browning M1903 design and the cartridge originally developed for Mauser C96 pistol. This weapon is relatively small, it doesn’t have large protruding parts, so it is convenient for concealed carrying. Although there are complaints about the ergonomics of the gun: the angle of the handle is small, the cheeks are thick and coarse. Its popularity was gained mainly due to its low cost, handling simplicity, exceptional reliability and high shot power. Not every bulletproof vest can protect from TT.
Almost 2 000 0000 units has been produced in the USSR. In addition, other countries also were producing the famous Soviet pistol. Yugoslavia, Hungary, China and North Korea even bought licenses for TT production, as well as ammunition for it. In Russia, many miniaturists actively offer its small copies for sale.
On the left: A miniature TT (Tulsky Tokarev) made by the Russian master Valery Sosnin. The scale – 1:2, the length – 100 mm, the height – 65 mm.
On the right: A set of two Tulsky Tokarev guns: a full-size version (deactivated) and a replica that fires 2.5 mm cartridges (the scale is 1:3). On sale such a set is offered for 4000 dollars.
Nagant revolver
The prototype of this weapon was created in the Belgian city of Liege in a small family workshop with the proud name “Armory Factory by Emile and Leon Nagant”. The factory was founded in 1859 by the Nagant brothers, who repaired Dutch revolvers and developed their own models of firearms.
In 1878 the eldest of the brothers, Emil Nagant, presented to the Belgian military department a six-shot 9 mm caliber “revolver of 1878”, equipped with a so-called “double-action mechanism.” The gun could be cocked either automatically when the trigger was pressed, or manually. This allowed the Belgians to have two models of a revolver: senior officers used weapons with a “self-cocking” mechanism, and non-commissioned officers, infantry, cavalry and assisting personnel had to cock the trigger manually after each shot. The latter variant was called the 9 mm revolver Nagant M1883.
The Nagant revolver was widely recognized by the armies of various countries. The Belgian model M1883, converted to a Swiss 7.5 mm revolver, was used in the army of Luxembourg. And the Swedish army not only bought Nagant 1886 revolvers with 7.5 mm cartridges, but also began to produce them in 1897 in the city of Husqvarna. Only in the period from 1898 to 1905 the Swedes produced 13732 units of Nagant M1887 revolver. Serbs and Norwegians also began to provide their armies with “model 1893”, already modified by the Swedes. 12,500 revolvers for Norway were produced in Liege, 350 units in Husqvarna and several units in the Norwegian Kongsberg. Even the Argentine Navy ordered Nagant revolvers fitted for American caliber .440 at factories in Germany. In Russia, the word “Nagant” became a common denotation of any revolver. And there this historical type of weapon is most often reproduced in miniature.
Nagant revolvers – replicas, produced by the “Klinok” company (Russia), the scale – 1:2.
Glock 17
This gun was a real landmark event in the development of short-barreled firearms. Glock 17 uses 9×19 mm Parabellum cartridges, its mechanics works on the principle of the barrel with a short recoil.
The history of this pistol is very interesting. In 1980, a competition was announced for the creation of a self-loading handgun for the needs of the Austrian army and police. Among others, the unknown Glock GmbH company took part in it. It had previously sold bayonet knives, sapper blades and other ammunition, but it had never been associated with firearms. Nevertheless, according to the results of tests, it was the Glock 17 pistol that was recognized as the best. Since then, four generations of this weapon have been created and put into batch production.
In addition to Austria, Glock 17 is in service of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies in more than thirty countries.
The design of the gun actively uses impact-resistant and heat-resistant plastic (polyamide), which makes Glock 17 very durable and lightweight. Also, due to this, the gun is very resistant to corrosion, but during prolonged and intensive use, plastic inevitably gets mini-cracks.
The gun has an excellent shooting accuracy, it is very convenient, easy to disassemble. A distinctive feature of this pistol: it doesn’t have a fuse at all. Therefore, the time of bringing it into combat position is minimal. Having a Glock 17, you can even shoot underwater, and its barrel will not be torn apart or inflated. Although, you need to use a special hammer for this.
In miniature this pistol was repeated by a Portuguese master Luis Pita. You can see his replica in detail on this video:
Derringer – the weapon of American cowboys
This inexpensive, compact, easy-to-handle and very reliable gun was the most typical self-defense weapon in the late XIX century. It should be noted that the popularity of derringers in particular and self-defense firearms in general in the United States was higher than in Europe. It is due to the era of rapid development of the Wild West, the American gold rush, and the specifics of the American population of those years. It consisted almost entirely of immigrants who went overseas searching for a better life, and often they were ready to fight and kill for this better life. Accordingly, even those who did not seek to build their future on the other people’s bones, nevertheless, needed to protect their own future. And often a cheap single-barreled handgun was almost the only effective tool for self-defense.
Miniature versions of derringers are widely represented on the market – of course, they are made mainly by American masters.
One of the derringers, made by Daniel Ostermann of Oregon in the scale of 1/2 (the length of this replica is 2 7/16 inches).
Miniature derringer with a flint type mechanism. It has a wooden body, the metal parts are made of blued steel, there are also silver inserts. The master’s name is Tom Weston. His works, as those of the previous master, can be rarely seen on sale.
And this derringer is made of precious materials: to create it two types of 14k gold and mammoth ivory were used. As for the size, it is a kind of record-holders among miniature replica guns for sale: its length is only 1 inch, and the caliber is 1 mm. So it can be used not only as a collectible item, but also as an original piece of jewelry.
Another distinctive feature of this replica – it works not only theoretically, but also practically. There are 10 rounds supplied in the kit with this gun. The rounds are only 5 mm long and have hardened steel bullets. The power of its shot is high enough to hit even a metal target. You can see the gun in action on the video below. If you are interested in buying this model – make an order here.