Mystery Gun

[suspiciousmind]

Hey y'all..

My uncle passed from ALS a few years ago and left a bunch of guns. My mother kept only one of them.

This gun has some interesting stories associated with it. My uncle kept it in his boot and supposedly had to draw on some Bandidos that forced him to pull over on his motorcycle in Texas. They kicked the gun away and beat him senseless.

Anyway, what is this thing? I know it's Made in Italy and has some good age on it.. But what is it besides worn out and in need of some TLC?

[suspiciousmind]

By the way, my mother took these pictures and sent them to me. I apologize for the camera work. :O

[dawgdoc]

It looks similar to gun one of my co-workers inherited.  When we researched it, we found out if was a Saturday night special that had a reputation of sometimes firing when you pulled the trigger, and sometimes firing when you didn't.  I suggested that she take it to a gun buyback.  It was made by some company in Florida in the 80s, I think.

 

I'm no expert, and I can't say what your gun is, but it had a similar appearance, for what it's worth.  My co-worker's inherited gun had a funny magazine release on the bottom, also.

[bigun]

It looks almost identical to the Bryco '38 I am holding in my hand right now. These were made in Costa Mesa, Ca. A true saturday night special from what I have read. Did not always work. And supposedly some even blew up. I bought this one from my nephew who was short on funds to help him out. He carried it all the time and shot it a lot without any problems. And may I say never cleaned it by how it looked when I got it. But he said It worked like a dream with no problems. I have not shot it myself because like I said I bought it to help him out. Besides everybody needs a saturday night special. Google it for more pic's and to read about them.

[suspiciousmind]

Haha, yes.. Everyone needs a Saturday Night Special. :lol:

I don't know what it is. It looks like yours and many other SNS but I know it says Made in Italy on the gun. It's real solid and quite heavy.

It's not a .380 either.. It's a smaller caliber.

Next time I return to Mississippi I'll grab it.

[UncleJak]

http://www.soldusa.com/rainworx/detail.asp?id=33389

Sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[Guest kingarmory]

Its a Galesi 25ACP, decent little pocket gun from back in the day.

[suspiciousmind]

Wow!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!

[LCPfraTN]

It's definitely one of the Italian variant .25 acp pistols mentioned above that were imported prior to GCA 1968 or assembled in the USA with some Italian imported parts after that. It is definitely not a Bryco M38. Sterling also had a model that was patterned after the Italian guns. In really good condition they might bring $150-$200 to the right buyer, but this one would be lucky to bring $100 due to condition. They are all steel guns, not zinc alloy like the M38 mentioned. The biggest problem with these guns is usually crappy magazines, but if the magazine is good, they are pretty reliable shooters.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Guest kingarmory]

AFAIK all the Galesi guns were 100% Italian and pre-'68.  There were guns like the Excam/Tanfoglio guns made later that had a mix of US and Italian parts to get around GCA '68.  I've restored a few of those Galesi guns, they clean up nice.  The biggest problem they have is the steel they're made from rusts really easy so they are often found with really bad pitting if not well maintained.