Best looking firearms

Didn't see a thread for this yet.

I'll open with a pair of Katherine the Great's pistols



These pistols are part of a deluxe garniture of ivory-stocked hunting arms made for Empress Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–96), whose intial (E for Ekaterine) is on the escutcheons of the grips. The garniture, which originally consisted of these pistols, a fowling piece dated 1786 (National Museum, Warsaw), and a rifle (whereabouts unknown), was later given to her favorite, Prince Stanislas August Poniatowski (1732–1798), whom she backed as king of Poland (reigned 1763–95). Firearms with ivory stocks, generally out of fashion in western Europe by the eighteenth century, were in vogue in the ostentatious Russian court during the last quarter of the century.

 

I like its younger sexier sister better


Looks like a hunting rifle.

 

She preferred Potemkin's pistol.

 

Yup, I own one!

 

Civilian 7.65mm Luger

 

Martini Henry

 

Continuing the Enfield love-in:



Modern Firearms - Enfield EM-2

 

How about a pair of these? The chap with a fag in his hand always liked a smoke.. I'm not sure what mark it would be, but one thinks it could fire up to three miles( possibly more). Some smart chap will have a answer.

 

Tower Sea Service Pistol. A simple classic from Napoleonic Wars. I sold one last year (and a Martini Henry from the Zulu Wars).

Mike

 

When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are - you treat her as sich,
An' she'll fight for the young British soldier.

Poems - The Young British Soldier

 

Over my cadet career, I had access to a .22 Martini action target rifle. Most balanced, accurate firearm I have ever fired. Human? That beauty had a soul.

I can not say any best looking firearm, just a shell for the fireing mechanism and barrel held together with the stock and grip. The outer skin to hold that inner beauty.

 

There are so many handsome ones to choose from in WWII. I don't care for Soviet, Jap, or Italian stuff, but much of the rest is lovely. Here are some I particularly like:

US: All Browning MGs, BAR, M3 SMG, Thompson M1928 (the one with two pistol grips), Johnson LMG, Colt and S&W revolvers, M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, M1917 Enfield, Winchester M1897 shotgun, Stevens M520A shotgun
British: SMLE, Vickers, Webley Mk VI, Lanchester, Rifle No. 5 (jungle carbine), Lewis. The Hi-Power and Bren aren't bad either.
German: Luger, MG 34, MG 42, all the SMGs.
French: FM 24/29, Hotchkiss M1914, Lebel revolver, MAS 36, Berthier rifles and carbine.

Of course, this German handgun is the most beautiful of all:

 

This gold damascened Astra Model 902, Serial No. 22483, was purchased in 1932 by Othon León, then-military attaché to the Mexican Embassy in Spain. His signature appears on the right magazine well. The seal of Mexico was placed on the left side of the magazine well, while views of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, adorn each side of the magazine extension.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | The Art of Gold Damascening