[coneten]

This one was made in 1958 and is all matching, including the mag. The bore is excellent. Un-obtrusive tiny import stamp on bottom of grip frame KASC G'BORO N.C. I thought the finish was interesting and the bright blued small parts are very classy. Grips are as good as I have seen and are Argentine.

 

[curly1]

Nice score with the matching mag too. I have Marina de Guerra 102626 no matching mag though.

 

[coneten]

Nice score with the matching mag too. I have Marina de Guerra 102626 no matching mag though.

I guess they both could have seen some action in the Falklands.

 

[Austin]

Very nice pistol. I like these pistols a lot. Mine came from SOG when they were first imported. I should have bought a few more. My mag doesn't match though.. Getting hard to find these days. I guess they could have seen action in the Falklands.

 

[castillo]

Coneten: you have purchased an interesting Sistema pistol. The grips are in an outstanding condition. Are the grips solid, or are hollow on the inside and have reinforcing ribs? Do they have any markings? I am affraid that your Sistema did not see action in the Falklands. The Argentinean Navy troops that were deployed to the island, Marines and Naval personnel, surrendered on June 14, 1982 to the British and they had to surrender their guns. The British did not sell captured Argentine guns in the surplus market, so your pistol was not there. Your Sistema might have served aboard a ship that participated in the conflict, but there is a slim chance that this happened. In the other hand, your Sistema most likely was issued to personnel stationed in continental Argentina during the Falklands conflict. The Argentine Navy was in war footing in the continental bases, specially those where Argentine Naval Aviation assets were based. They were right to do so because the SAS planned but never carried out Operation Mikado.

 

[coneten]

castillo, Thank you for your reply. Another board member is married to a woman from Argentina. Her father will be visiting later this summer and my friend has been finding some nice examples of the Sistema Colts and a few Ballester Molinas. There are a variety of markings that make collecting the Argentine pistols very interesting.

 

[cello1988]

Castillo, what about the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion? BIM-2 took part in the initial Argentine invasion, Operation Rosario (April 2), but the battalion was relieved by BIM-5 and sent back to the main land before the British landings on San Carlos. So, guns not captured by the British could have participated in the conflict on the islands. I would imagine Argentine records may be able to pinpoint the Pistol's location at the time using the serial number... What do you think? Regards, MP.

 

[castillo]

Cello1988 is correct, I totally forgot the Argentinean landings on April 2, 1982. What I wrote before is still correct, but I completely forgot the fact that on April 1 and 2 the Argentinean Tactical Frogmen (Buzos Tacticos), Amphibious Commandos Company (Compania Comandos Anfibios, the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion (Batallon de Infanteria de Marina 2) and the A Battey of the Marine Field Artillery (Bateria A, Batallon de Artilleria de Campana de Marina) landed (and even some of them fought or exchanged fire) in the islands. Many of these troops came ashore aboard Argentinean Navy LVTP-7 and LARC amphibious vehicles. There are pictures taken those days showing crewmembers of these vehicles armed with caliber .45 pistols. After a couple of days these troops returned to their bases in continental Argentina. In addition to this, before the shooting war started on May 1st, there were Argentine Naval aircraft temporarily based on the island (e.g. Grumman S-2E Tracker) and many supply missions were flown by the Argentine Navy. There is a chance that some crew members of these aircraft could have been armed with a Sistema Colt pistol. Therefore, there is indeed a chance that the former Argentine Navy Sistema Colt pistol that has been recently purchased by Coneten could have been in the Falklands/Malvinas. And if this is the case, it happened 30 years ago, almost to the day.