Handguns, New Brunswick Military History Museum (NBMHM)
Handguns in the Collection of the New Brunswick Military History Museum, 5 CDSB Gagetown
The majority of the military small arms found on this web page can be viewed in the New Brunswick Military History Museum located with the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, New Brunswick. For details on its activities and collection please view their website: http://nbmilitaryhistorymuseum.ca/en/new-brunswick-military-history-museum-home.html.
This page of selected handguns on display the New Brunswick Military History Museum has been compiled by the author, a volunteer and one of the Friends of the NBMHM. Corrections, amendments and updates to the data on this page would be most welcome. Additional photos of the tanks, artillery and major weapon systems and displays in museums in the province may be viewed in the Armoured Fighting Vehicles preserved in Canada section and in the Artillery preserved in Canada sections on this website. Other military weapons and historiucal artifacts on display in New Brunswick, including Aircraft, Armour, Artillery and Naval weapons and equipment found in the province may be viewed on these webpages under the heading of New Brunswick Military Museums and Monuments.
Photos are by the Author unless otherwise credited.
New Brunswick Military History Museum, 5 Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown, Building A-5, Oromocto, New Brunswick, E2V 4J5. 506-422-1304. Captain David Hughes, Executive Director, and Troy Middleton, Technical Advisor. Website: http://nbmilitaryhistorymuseum.ca/en/new-brunswick-military-history-museum-home.html.
Pistols used by British and Canadian soldiers
Great Britain, Jones Flintlock Pistol, London, ca 1750.
Great Britain, Jones Flintlock Pistol, London, ca 1750.
Great Britain, Scottish Flintlock Pistol.
USA, Starr .44 cal 1898 Army Revolver.
Great Britain, .476 cal Enfield Mk II Revolver.
Great Britain, .38 cal Enfield Revolver.
Great Britain, .38 cal Webley Revolver, Mk IV.
Great Britain, .455 cal Enfield Mk VI Pistol.
Great Britain, .455 cal Webley & Scott Mk V Pistol 1915.
Great Britain, .455 cal Webley & Scott Mk VI Pistol.
Great Britain, Webley & Scott 1918, No. 2, Mk 1 Flare Gun.
Great Britain, Wolseley 1918 Flare Pistol.
Great Britan 25-mm Mk 5M Flare Pistol.
USA, .32 cal Colt Army SPC Revolver.
USA, Colt Model 1878 revolver (in Canadian military service from 1885 -1892.)
USA, Colt New Service revolver (in Canadian military service from 1900 to 1928 and with the NWMP and RCMP from 1905-1954).
USA, .38 cal Smith & Wesson Revolver. Smith & Wesson Model 10, a.k.a. Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model revolver. In production since 1899, it is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights. Over its long production run it has been available with barrel lengths of 2 in (51 mm), 3 in (76 mm), 4 in (100 mm), 5 in (130 mm), and 6 in (150 mm). Over 6,000,000 of the type have been produced.
USA, .45 cal Colt Model 1911 semi-automatic pistol.
.45 cal Colt Model 1911 semi-automatic pistol used by Company Sergeant-Major W.I. Blair of "C" Company, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, Bulford, England, 5 January 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3231124)
Canada, 9-mm Browning Hi Power single-action, semi-automatic handgun. This pistol is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. The Hi-Power is one of the most widely used military pistols in history, having been used by the armed forces of over 50 countries. Browning Hi-Power pistols were used during World War II by both Allied and Axis forces. After occupying Belgium in 1940, German forces took over the FN plant. German troops subsequently used the Hi-Power, having assigned it the designation Pistole 640(b) ("b" for belgisch, "Belgian"). Examples produced by FN in Belgium under German occupation bear German inspection and acceptance marks, or Waffenamts, such as WaA613. In German service, it was used mainly by Waffen-SS and Fallschirmjäger personnel.High-Power pistols were also produced in Canada for Allied use, by John Inglis and Company in Toronto. The plans were sent from the FN factory to Britain when it became clear the Belgian plant would fall into German hands, enabling the Inglis factory to be tooled up for Hi-Power production for Allied use. Inglis produced two versions of the Hi-Power, one with an adjustable rear sight and detachable shoulder stock (primarily for a Nationalist Chinese contract) and one with a fixed rear sight. Production began in the Fall of 1944 and they were on issue by the March 1945 Operation Varsity airborne crossing of the Rhine into Germany. The pistol was popular with the British airborne forces as well as covert operations and commando groups such as the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the British Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment. Inglis High-Powers made for Commonwealth forces have the British designation 'Mk 1', or 'Mk 1*' and the manufacturer's details on the left of the slide. They were known in British and Commonwealth service as the 'Pistol No 2 Mk 1', or 'Pistol No 2 Mk 1*' where applicable. Serial numbers were 6 characters, the second being the letter 'T', e.g. 1T2345. Serial numbers on pistols for the Chinese contract instead used the letters 'CH', but otherwise followed the same format. When the Chinese contract was cancelled, all undelivered Chinese-style pistols were accepted by the Canadian military with designations of 'Pistol No 1 Mk 1' and 'Pistol No 1 Mk 1*'. Canadian Forces continue to use pistols made by the John Inglis Co. of Ontario, Canada as their primary service pistol as it is still in service with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3197326)
Agnes Apostle of Dauphin, Manitoba and Joyce Horne of Toronto, Ontario conduct a final assembly of 9-mm Browning Hi Power single-action, semi-automatic handguns destined for China at the John Inglis Co. munitions plant, April 1944.
Handguns used by other nations
Belgium, 6.35-mm FN 1906 Pistol.
Belgium, 7.65-mm FN M1900 Pistol.
Belgium, 9-mm FN 626(b) 1910 Pistol, .
China, 7.62-mm Type 54 Pistol, copy of Soviet Tokarev TT.
German First World War Handguns
Germany, 7.65-mm Dreyse M1907 semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 7.63-mm Mauser Broomhandle M1916 semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 9-mm Luger P08 semi-automatic pistol, 1918.
Germany, 9-mm Luger P08, Navy, second issue, 26-cm barrel, 1917.
Germany, 9-mm Luger P08, Lange Pistol 32-cm long-barreled artillery model,1918.
German Second World War Handguns
Spain, 9-mm Astra 600 semi-automatic pistol.
Belgium, 7.65-mm FN M1900 semi-automatic pistol.
Belgium, 9-mm FN-Browning 626(b) 1922 semi-automatic pistol.
Czechoslovakia, 7.65-mm CZ vz. 27 semi-automatic pistol, Böhmische Waffenfabrik Pistole Model 27.
Czechoslovakia, 9-mm CZ 85B semi-automatic pistol.
France, 7.65-mm MAB model D automatic pistol.
France, 7.65-mm Unique Rr-51 semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 9-mm Luger P08 semi-automatic pistol, 21.7-cm, 1937.
Germany, 7.65-mm Mauser 34 semi-automatic pistol, Mauser-Werke Oberndorf GmbH, German Navy Model 1934.
Germany, 7.65-mm Mauser HSc semi-automatic pistol, Mauser-Werke Oberndorf GmbH.
Germany, 7.65-mm Ortgies Patent Vest Pocket hammerless semi-automatic pistol.
Poland, 9-mm Radom Vis 35 P35P single-action, semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 7.65-mm Sauer 38H, H, J.P. Sauer & Sohn semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 6.35-mm Steyr Model 1909 automatic pistol.
Germany, 9-mm Steyr-Hahn M1912 semi-automatic pistol.
Germany, 9-mm Model 11 Steyr-Hahn 1916 semi-automatic pistol rebored from 9 X 23 to 9 X 19-mm, showing the clip arrangement feeding the rounds (usually 8) into the magazine from the top. This pistol is in the personal collection of Norbert Strahlendorff.
Hungary, 7.65-mm FÉG 37M semi-automatic pistol, Femaru Fegyver-es Gepygar RT Model 37.
Germany, 7.65-mm Walther 4 Pistol.
Calgary Highlander sniper with Walther P-38 pistol. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3257118)
Germany, 9-mm Walther P38 semi-automatic pistol, 1941.
Germany, 7.65-mm Walther PP and PPK.
Germany, 26.5-mm Schneide AG Leuchtpistole 42 (LP42) Flare Gun.
Germany, 26.5-mm Walther SLD Doppelschuss Naval Flare Gun, Royal Canadian Legion Museum, Bathurst, New Brunswick.
Italian Second World War Handguns
Italy, 7.65-mm Beretta Model 1935 semi-automatic pistol, 1936 XIV.
Japanese Second World War Handguns
Japan, 8-mm Nambu Type 14 semi-automatic pistols with small and large trigger guards.
Japan, 8-mm Nambu Type 94 semi-automatic pistol.
