Inherited Radom VIS35

[cipherk98]

Both my grandfathers were veterans of WWII - one was in the 49th AA Brigade, and passed about 12 years ago. I inherited his G29/40 Mauser and am thrilled to have it, even if I am not 100% sure it was actually brought back (I go back and forth on this, subject for another post). My other grandfather was a flight engineer in 8th Air Force and passed away about 15 years ago, and I was happy to receive his medals, ribbons, and patches/badges. However, recently I got in contact with a family member, the subject of guns came up, and asked if I would like his VIS35 he may have brought back with him. Well of course I said yes!







Pictures suck, I know that. Will solve this later.

Not sure how he came into it beyond speculation it was a bring back or how it got to it's current condition. My guess is he maybe traded for it while over there but who knows. Weirdly it came in a Walther P38 shoulder holster so there is some story there, but it's lost now. Unfortunately you can see the finish has been stripped. I honestly don't know if he did that or not, my inkling is not because while quite handy he never did that kind of stuff at home. There is a bit of blue left behind the decocker (along with a number, 0345 which I can't explain and a W)

It is non matching... frame is a C block serial, slide is an H? Hard to tell if that H in the slide is part of the serial or not, barrel matches the slide. Everything on it looks late, the machining on the slide in particular is extremely rough, including a few things that stick out to me as mistakes. Frame isn't much better, grips are a bit crude too. Bore looks serviceable, gun cycles snap caps okay but the decocker doesn't work.

Plan is to clean it up, beyond that I'm not sure. Maybe just clean the metal with some oil and 0000 and leave it. I don't see the point in having it reblued as it won't look that great due to the mediocre surface finish, nor do I have any desire to finish what someone started by polishing it completely or having it nickel plated. Stamps are all still pretty sharp, surprisingly. I will replace the grips with repros though if I decide to shoot it, one is cracked at the bottom.

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[Rhpd201]

Nice piece of family history. I picked my first P35 up in Tulsa last weekend and am looking forward to shooting it. Yours appears to be a late war without the take down lever.

[browningautorifle]

the finish has been stripped.

I thought my eyes had gone wonkey...looks like a liquid strip like navy jelly or lemon juice... Thing is, a good strong blue salts would cover that nicely. A nice fresh bath, then strip and drop it in. It would come up looking almost original I think.

[philb]

yep used have one in my collection ...until stupid laws changed here.....gggrrr

[Peter Laidler]

I agree with BAR, thread 3. Now it's been stripped to an almost bead blast/satin finish, why not just have blued like that - like original. Nothing flashy - just functional. At least that way it is protected partially against the elements. Left like that, it WILL rust, believe me!

[browningautorifle]

Just for the spots of rust or discoloration I see, it would be prudent to do a complete strip and examine, once more with the navy jelly on the spots. Then in she goes...after a boil and quench.

[cipherk98]

What kind of blue do you guys suggest? I know someone who had a lot of luck with Brownell's Rust Blue products and the price is certainly right. There is also a gunsmith locally who would probably do it for me but at what cost I don't know.

I currently have it field stripped again on my work bench, I found a video with detailed tear down instructions to follow as well. The mag release has some rust and corrosion so I went ahead and hit it with a touch of oil to help getting it out easier. Interestingly the grip on the right hand side does not appear to be plastic like the one on the left, it's like it is some kind of wood with fiberglass on the back or some alternative plastic. There was also another number on the left hand grip, not sure what it is for. The grips will be replaced with repros for the purposes of shooting it, the left one is cracked and the right is rough.

They struck the waffenamt on the on the left hand side rail so hard it actually dented the interior of it! I've seen a few examples online like this too. Also fascinating to me is a machining mistake on the barrel bushing/cutout on the slide... it's not concentric, it appears they actually milled it out and then had to go back and fix it when it didn't line up. In addition the top of the slide is virtually unfinished machining wise. It's amazing though that despite all this rough work that was probably due to horrible working conditions and desperation due to the coming end to the war, the action seems to run really smooth on it. I'm also impressed how well it fits my hand, it may dethrone my CZ75 as the best "fitting" hand gun I own.

[browningautorifle]

What kind of blue do you guys suggest?

I'm talking about a gunsmith with a proper bluing set up of propane fired tanks and experience in the job. That man may want to beadblast and blue as Peter suggests. If I was instructing him, I'd have a strong, new bath and just wire it and drop it in as is. Don't use a cold blue or second rate job. Have a man do it professionally and it will last forever. Cost can be determined with conversation to a couple of gunsmiths, also Brownells publishes a list of what you should charge as a gunsmith.

I only handled one overseas decades ago in the holster of a Swedish MP. I was in a bar and asked him, he handed it to me... It fit my hand too, like you suggest.

[Calif-Steve]

I would find a good gunsmith and have it hot blued. DO NOT polish or buff it, merely drop it in the tank. That is what the Germans did. Somebody stripped the finish, no idea why. Not issued that way as the Germans blued and then began parking everything, even in late 1945. A nice story on the VIS pistol in American Rifleman magazine 4-6 months back.

[browningautorifle]

Somebody stripped the finish, no idea why.

I'll bet they had the ides of bluing but once they realized what was involved, the stripping was the easy part and they fainted...