What is the rarest gun you've ever held or fired?

[Baldrick314]

I have .50 rifle. My buddy has an M2 .50 BMG but it is modified to semi. Still fun, though. We have small trigger cranks for our semi MGs, which work well since we shoot them on tripods. Plus we get the cool ammo. So we always want to see what we can set on fire, punch through, and/or blow up. It's amazing what they can pack in a ~ 700 grain bullet. I have MK211 Raufoss rounds but they are generally not available and thus very expensive. But API/APIT is fun and a dime a dozen (well, not exactly a dime).

Colour me jealous! You guys get all the fun. This one was mounted on the side of a ship so all I felt was a little vibration through the handles

Target was a flare so didn't get to see any effect of the round unfortunately. I'm still amazed by the rate of fire though, the guy conducting the shoot was telling us every 5th round is a tracer and I remember there being less than a foot between the tail of one tracer and the start of the next. Wicked amount of fire power.

[BRNO_Bigot]

Wasn't a gun and not particularly rare if you've been round some of the less orderly parts of the world - RPG7. Guys were practicing by shooting a T34/85

[bladeracer]

For me I guess it would be 20mm Finish Lahti anti tank gun from WWII. It weighed about 50kg but it had skis mounted on the bottom for transport by a two man team . It had stick legs too for firm ground the skis were for snow and such as that . All the ammo was produced back during WWII so when all its gone the 20mm Lahti will be relegated to museums and as conversation pieces.

Surely for the cost of shooting such a beast it'd be viable for an owner to turn up custom brass and bullets for it?

[Die Judicii]

When I was 13 yo I was looking through some ruins of what was a small stone single room building that was built by convicts.
At one end, only the foundation stones were visible.
Under one of these I found a small stone pocket that had what used to be a Winchester .22lr pump action hammer rifle.
It had been cut back to minimum length to form a pistol.
Only an inch of the metal tube mag was left, that could be gripped to cock it and hand feed a single round.
Only the metal tangs that the stock would have been attached to was left at that end, and were bent to form a crude handle.

Apart from some corrosion externally, and a missing hammer spring, it was in pretty good condition.
I cleaned it up, fitted a new spring, and it was able to be used as a single shot pistol.
The bore had been filled with some sort of grease, and was in pretty good condition.

I can't remember the serial number, but it was only 4 digits

I wrote to Winchester USA asking for any possible info, but never received an answer.
I contacted the Sth Aust (was living there at the time) Firearms Branch/Police, and gave them a description of it including the serial number, and they said they were coming out to view it.

But,,,,, no-one ever turned up.

I had it in my possession for many years, and used it with rat shot on a few snakes in my sheds.
Eventually after Port Arthur, I cut it up, and threw it into the sea while working on a cray boat.

[bladeracer]

When I was 13 yo I was looking through some ruins of what was a small stone single room building that was built by convicts.
At one end, only the foundation stones were visible.
Under one of these I found a small stone pocket that had what used to be a Winchester .22lr pump action hammer rifle.

Interesting. On the farm here, which Bob bought in the fifties, there were the very last remains of an old farm house. When he was clearing the rest of it away he discovered an old blackpower pistol hidden on a ledge inside the chimney. Old style "pirate" pistol is how he described it to me, probably flintlock as he didn't think the action was as straightforward as my percussion rifle. Silly bugger took it in to the Police :--(
Nobody even thought to get a photo of it.
I really hope it went to somebody that appreciated it instead of being destroyed.

[brett1868]

For me I guess it would be 20mm Finish Lahti anti tank gun from WWII. It weighed about 50kg but it had skis mounted on the bottom for transport by a two man team . It had stick legs too for firm ground the skis were for snow and such as that . All the ammo was produced back during WWII so when all its gone the 20mm Lahti will be relegated to museums and as conversation pieces.

Awesome looking rifle and if it wasn't a semi-auto I'd be looking to acquire one
Available in the U.S if you have the $$ apparently.


Ammo's readily available, though a bit dear at $35 a round (Loaded)

[Title_II]

I almost bought a 20mm Hispanno full auto cannon. It came with 1400 rounds of high explosive tracer ammo. Never got to the point of of holding it or shooting it, though.

Yes, people reload Lahti 20mm. I know a guy who has one and we want to get to the "range" (more like "proving grounds") but just haven't got it together yet. Like everything around here, they were insanely cheap 20 or 30 years ago and insanely expensive now

For Bret there is the Anzio Iron Works 20mm rifle and also the 20-50, 20mm necked down to .50 for high velocity.

http://www.anzioironworks.com/

I don't think I have ever seen their stuff in person and I don't know anybody that has it but it seems pretty awesome. They don't sell anything that costs more than a good thermal sight. And if you guys ever get to buy cans they have a 20mm can!

[duncan61]

My 1880s greener shotgun

[duncan61]

My 1880s greener shotgun

[wrenchman]

a reminton side by side 10 gauge a guy had it in turkey camp i did get to shoot it.

[bigpete]

IMG_20161028_133941.jpg (1.29 MiB) Viewed 5136 times

my grundmann shotgun. After several years of searching for info on it I've only heard of one other person who's seen one

[pmomd]

Are the blue bullets poly-coated, Brett?

Is that what that is?

[<<Genesis93>>]

Probably just paint.... I believe the blue ones are training rounds(not dummy!)?? To distinguish between AP, Tracer, Explosive, Frag etc etc...all colour coded for ID