Browning 30 cal pistol grip

I picked up this 30 cal grip last year at a militaria show because I considered it to be an interesting curio. It was covered in thick muck and grime but it has cleaned up really well and it doesn't appear to have actually been used. There is no way of knowing how much truth there is in the story attached to the label and so I only bought the item, not the story that went with it. When cleaning it up there appeared to still be remains of Cosmolene on it which may explain it's good condition. Any observations on this item are greatly appreciated, thanks.

As you said, it's a new item. It may have been bought from a surplus store in the Ardennes but defo not a relic! If you want to see a 50 year old browning relic I'll send you some photos.

The item it's self is a late 1919a4/6 armasteel (I think that's what it was called) grip. The earlier grips for the A4 were the 1917 style with ally grips instead of wood/paxolin and had the screw for the clip. The later A6 style didn't have the recess for the clip and I think these were often fitted to the 1917a1.

Yes, new and serviceable. It could have been somewhere out of battle and sitting somewhere safe for 65/70 years though, so technically...in the Ardennes. Not right out in the field.

Just like the ones I used. We did have a few with the Paxolin(?) grip, some looked like pearl handles off Patton's revolvers. Some dark.

As BAR has said. We had several sorts of these grips for our M1919A4's stored in the turret bins for when they might be used in the flexible role and flex role 6's plus our rear sear/awful L3 versions. Wood, plastic alloy...... As for being found in the Ardennes....... how do these traders sleep at nights?

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

how do these traders sleep at nights?

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Plenty of Alcohol and a vivid imagination........

I did wonder if it could have been picked up shortly after the battle and then stored in a barn for 60+ years. However, this theory wouldn't really make sense because it appears unused and it still had traces of Cosmolene on it when I cleaned it up.

Buy the gun and not the story I say. Or in this case, believe the tag or the item you see before your very eyes!

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

it appears unused

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It's been on and off a gun but not used. There would be signature marks on it.

It’s a post-war simplified version. The m1919 I used to have came with one. It was an “upgrade” that had been done at some point. I liked feel of the older grips better.

There’s more info here.

The complete assembly like that sell for around $150 here.

Thanks for that information, Vincent, it looks interesting and I will study it in more detail later. I paid £60 for the grip in post 1 at the end of the day of a militaria show. I think other "punters" may have been put off because it was caked in muck and dirt, although I wasn't expecting it to clean up as well as it did.

Talking of these buffers....... I often used to wonder just how effective those fibre buffers were at anything - especially buffering! I mean....., they were pretty damn solid and the notion that they would absorb the/any energy from that flying heavyweight breech block always baffled me. I can see that some of the steam will have been taken out of it by the belt feeding and cocking lever action but even so, when those 3x mechanical advantage accelerators had worked their stuff, that breech block was in orbit!

Does anyone remember the buffer assembly used on the early Cents and Conquerers(?) - where turret space was short - where the buffer tube was angled top to bottom across the rear

Peter--

I have seen two styles for fixed Brownings one that angles up and a short straight buffer. Originally the design called for stiff coil springs and later the US went to the buffer disks as they were cheaper to produce. The fiber disks do not have much spring back and but do absorb the recoil of the breech bolts. The coil spring which I have several in my guns provide a little extra power to assist the breech bolt in the forward motion.

--fjruple