Introducing Me

My name is John Anderson. 

I am a firearms enthusiast and have a keen interest in all things related to military history and weapons.

See some further information about me, my background and what makes me tick is set out below:

John Anderson

Site Owner / Author

I was born in the North East of England, in 1959.  As far back as I can remember I have been interested in all things military.   It started with military uniforms and progressed to weapons and tactics.  

As a young teenager, I built plastic (Airfix) models of tanks and ‘planes.  This lead on to an interest in Wargaming.   I dabbled in all periods, from Ancient to Modern warfare, but the majority of my time was spent fighting Napoleonic battles and skirmishes.   I also enjoyed painting the figures and building elements of terrain and features for the gaming board.

I spend a lot of time reading about various periods in Military History.  My favourite was anything related to WW2 and this is where my fascination with 20th Century firearms is rooted.

Throughout my 20s, 30s and 40s I was mostly focused on family and career.  My interest in militaria and weapons was confined to reading and watching films / documentaries etc. .

There was a period when my two teenage sons were briefly consumed by the Warhammer craze.  I dusted off my paint and brushes and started to fight battles again using armies of Orcs, Elves and Dwarfs.  This was the first of a number of crossovers into the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy which is another long held passion of mine.

Unfortunately, my teenage boys quickly lost interest in Warhammer, and I did not really want to become involved in the very strange world of ‘adult’ Warhammer Wargaming.

United Kingdom 

I have a degree in Electronic Engineering and spent all my working life in Computer Systems.  Initially, I was a Software Engineer, writing code for real-time aircraft navigation systems then control systems for the Oil and Gas and Nuclear sectors.  I progressed into Computer Systems Management, taking European and then Global roles.

As an Engineer, with an Engineers mind and perspective, I have always been fascinated by how things fit together and work.  One of my key  initial fascinations with firearms was purely mechanical.  The various mechanisms involved in making a gun work and how they interact, and those mechanisms evolved over time. 
 
As I turned 50 I decided it was time to scratch an itch that had been growing for some time.  I decided it was time to own and shoot my own firearms.

Living in an urban area in the UK, this was not an easy thing to do.  I joined a local Clay Pidgeon Shooting Club and took lessons.  I after I completed the beginners course, I applied for my UK Shotgun Licence.  The process involved completing forms, having someone of a professional standing vouch for my character, buying and installing a suitable gun-safe , and being interviewed by a police firearms officer, in my home.

The whole process took around four months, but in the end I was the owner of my first firearm, a Lanbar Sporting Over & Under 12 Gauge Shotgun.  The Lanbar was a Spanish made, entry level gun, which was a good starting point.  It served me well for a couple of years.  I believe the company went out of business a few years later, but you can still pick them up very cheaply on the second-hand market, for not a lot of money.  

There followed three or four years of happy sporting clay shooting.


Image by Karsten Madsen from Pixabay 

an aside –

My Favourite Film – Zulu

My favourite film is Zulu! A fascinating and heroic tale which demonstrates one of the first uses of devastating firepower, deployed by a small, well lead and disciplined force against overwhelming numbers. One of my favourite lines from the film is from Lieutenant John Chard after the battle, “if it’s a miracle, Colour Sergeant, it’s a short chamber Boxer Henry point 45 calibre miracle.”, referring to the large and heavy hitting cartridge used in the single shot, breech loading, lever action, Martini-Henry rifle. Colour Sargent Bourne’s immediate response is equally profound, ” …and a bayonet, sir, with some guts behind it.”



Image by Albert-Paul from Pixabay

Switzerland

At this point, my wife and I had the opportunity of moving to Basel, in Switzerland.  From a general lifestyle perspective, the move was great.  In terms of my interest in Firearms the move was absolutely fantastic!

Switzerland has a very strong gun culture.  All Swiss men are required to undertake two years of military service.  At the end of this service they are encouraged to take their rifles home with them.  In addition, many Swiss, practice target shooting.  Most towns and even small villages have shooting clubs and shooting ranges.

The Swiss system of firearm ownership is reasonably straight forward.  Any Swiss Citizen can apply for a Weapon Acquisition Certificate or Waffenerbershine (WES) from the local Police.  This coverers the purchase of up to three weapons at a time which along with a Criminal Record Check, available from Post Offices,  and the obligatory 50 CHF processing fee, is all you need.

As a non Citizen, it is slightly more complicated.  For the first five years you will probably like me have a B Permit.  After five years, this changes to a C Permit.  Once you reach the C Permit you are treated exactly the same a a Citizen, in terms of gun ownership.  However, with a B permit approval of the WES, by the Police, is discretionary, rather than obligatory.  In most cases the Police are looking for proof that you are entitled to own firearms in your country of origin.  

In my case, my UK Shotgun Certificate was all that was required for approval of my first WES which was limited to one Firearm.  Subsequent WES’ were granted for multiple weapons without question.  Although, I was told by the local Firearms Officer, to be sensible and only apply for one WES per year.

Over my time in Switzerland, I was granted four WES’ covering the purchase of ten weapons.



Image by Esther Grosjean from Pixabay 

Switzerland – Continued

My first Swiss purchase was a German Rottweiler 12 Gauge Over & Under Shotgun.  The purpose was to continue my interest in Clay Shooting.  The Swiss are not really into Clay Shooting, but I lived close to the French border, so I joined a nearby French Shooting Club, the French Shooting Federation and applied for a European Firearms Licence.

My next two purchases were new handguns.  I bought a Remington R3 1911 in .45 Calibre and a Smith & Wesson 8 Shot Revolver in .357 Magnum / .38 Special. I used both of these firearms on the local firing ranges aiming at paper targets at ranges from 5M to 25M. 

I also acquired a Schmidt-Ruben K31 Rifle in 7.5 x 55 Swiss (GP11) .  This had all matching serial numbers, even down to the accompanying bayonet and dated from 1941.  The wood was not in good condition, with lots of dings and some water damage. However, the internals and barrel were in good condition. This was my first historic weapon and sparked a further interest in acquiring original historical firearms.  I was told that if I removed the steel butt plate there was often a small piece of paper documenting the owner of the Gun.  Of course I eagerly removed the plate and wow, there was a strip of paper.   Unfortunately, due to the water damage the writing was mostly illegible.

Following the Swiss theme my next two acquisitions were also historical Swiss guns.  

I purchased a SIG P210 Model 6 in 9 mm.  The Model 6 identifies it as a ‘Target’ version and is a favourite with the traditional Swiss target shooting fraternity. 

I also acquired an original Swiss Military Luger chambered in 7.65 mm. This had all matching serial numbers and an original leather holster.  The Swiss Military were the first to adopt the Luger, pre-empting the Germans by a number of years.  There are also a number of distinctions, most notably the Grip Safety and of course the calibre (the Germans preferred 9 mm Parabellum). 

I then had the opportunity to acquire an original Chinese Norenco Type 56-S-2 AK47.  This came to my local gun shop as part of a huge collection of firearms which were being sold by the widow of an avid collector. The AK47 is probably the most iconic and definitely the most numerous rifle in the world.  This Chinese variant had red bakelite ‘furniture’ and a side folding stock. 
 

Switzerland – further Continued

After all those old historical steel guns, I decided to change tack and try  some brand new modern  ‘black plastic (polymer) guns’.  This is what I call my ‘tactical’ phase.

I purchased a CZ Scorpion Evo S31 Semi-Auto Carbine and a Walther PPQ Q5 Match Semi-Auto Pistol both in 9 mm Parabellum.  I fitted out the both with Red Dot sights and attached lights.  The Scorpion had a 3 point chest sling attached to it and and the PPQ was held securely in a Kydex holster.  The Scorpion accepted 20 or 30 round magazines and the PPQ had an 18 round magazine.   All very ‘tactical’!

While both of these guns were great fun to shoot on the range and always illicitated  admiring comments from fellow enthusiasts, they were not really me.  I much preferred my historical weapons. 

My final Swiss purchase was an original Walther PPK chambered in 32 Auto / 7.65 mm Kurtz.  This came in its original cardboard box and German User Manual.  The PPK is of course famously the original James Bond gun.




Image by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay 

Another aside –

My Favourite Book – The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I think I first read the Lord of the Rings when I was eleven.  I don’t think I had come across anything quite like it.  Up to that point I had been reading mostly Historical books and Science Fiction.  The Fantasy genre intrigued me, with its mixture of medieval weapons and warfare with different social and belief systems.  However, I think it was Tolkien’s world building and the history within the history, within the fantasy, that really impressed me.

Throughout my teens, I probably read the book once every year.  My hardback / illustrated copy has been well used.  On a number of occasions it has been lent out to family and friends.  Sometimes it disappeared for years, having been lent out to someone else by the lender who borrowed it from me, but has always seemed to find its way home (even if the home was a different place). 

I liked Peter Jacksons adaptation and still enjoy watching the films, but he missed a lot out and added some other things that did not happen in the books.  To me these changes detract from the overall story.  I understand why some changes had to be made for the cinema, but for me the books remain the real deal. 

Singapore – Interlude

 
  During our time in Switzerland we had the opportunity to move to Singapore on a work secondment for a couple of years.  Singapore is a very vibrant environment, the people are hard working and very friendly.


The expat lifestyle was great, we lived in nice house with a tropical garden and private pool.  In Singapore, eating out is considered the norm.  There is a huge variety of cuisine available, from Hawker Centres (street vendors) to Michelin Star restaurants. 

Singapore is at the heart of South East Asia, which allowed us to travel all around the area.  We visited Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bali, as well as a road trip in Australia. Cairns was only a six hour flight. 

However, from a shooting perspective, Singapore was a disaster.  There is one shooting club which is attached to the single public shooting range.  Theoretically, with the right paperwork, you could own a gun, as long as it was stored at the club facilities.  Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to test the system, as for the whole three years that I lived there the shooting club was closed by the Government.  This was because of irregularities associated with the storage of personal weapons. During that time the only civilians allowed to use the facilities were the Singapore Olympic Shooting Team.



Image by David Mark from Pixabay 

Time in Texas

During my time in Switzerland and Singapore I frequently travelled to The Woodlands, north of Houston, Texas on work related trips.

As you can imagine, Texas is  a very gun friendly place.

I spent lots of my spare time in Gun Shops and Gun Ranges.  At the ranges you could rent a multitude of guns in various sizes, shapes and calibres (kid in a sweet shop comes to mind).  All you had to do was convince the owner that you knew your way around firearms, and surrender your ID in exchange.

I also met some great people, who were happy to show off their extensive gun collections and let me shoot some of them.  I was taken to a private range in Tombal Tx, where I was given the dubious pleasure of firing a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Magnum, a real hand cannon.  I also experienced the tremendous fun of firing a Mini 14.

Another friend took me to a Gun Show in Pasadena Tx..  This was a real eye opener, with hundreds of tables selling thousands of guns.  After the show we went home for dinner and of course tried out some of the contents of his very large gun safe,  shooting in his front yard.  The only issue was the road running past his front gate.  Whenever a car came along, both shooter and driver would stop, and following a friendly wave from both, the driver would proceed on down the road.  Only in Texas!

We had friends who lived on Tikki Island, just outside of Galveston Tx. This is a community built around the sea, with every house having its own landing and most owning a boat.  A very relaxing and chilled place.

We also did road trips to Austin Tx. and San Antonio Tx., where I was able to tick off a long standing ambition to visit the Alamo.

I always feel happy in Texas and consider it to be my spiritual home. 

 yet Another aside –

My Favourite YouTube Channel – Forgotten Weapons

Forgotten Weapons is a superb resource for anyone interested in the history of firearms.  Ian McCollum combines his interest and extensive knowledge of  “antique, obscure and historically  important firearms”  with a truly entertaining style of presentation.

  He is a collector in his own right and uses his pre-eminence in the field to access other collections and auction houses to show examples that would otherwise remain hidden in private collections.  He shows individual examples of classic guns, the evolution of particular models through various iterations, and oddities which are interesting for their less than optimal ergonomics or poor overall design. 

Please take a look at the channel.  If you do you will understand how Ian came to have then nickname Gun Jesus.
 
https://www.youtube.com/c/forgottenweapons

Portugal

At this point my wife I decided to retire from our busy working lives.

After looking around the world, considering many options and competing priorities, we decided to move to Portugal, buy a house with a pool and a little bit of land, and leave the rat race behind. I would recommend retirement to anyone. The old saying that you can’t understand how you had time to fit 40 to 50 hours of work into your life every week because there are so many other things to do is certainly true.

In terms of my guns however, retirement was not straight forward. Portugal is nothing like Switzerland, in terms of owning and using firearms. Firstly, there was the question of what to do with my existing weapons. Some of them I sold. That was relatively easy , if not a little sad. The others now exist in a strange twilight world, in a gun shop safe in Basel, where I still technically own them, but can’t physically possess them in either Switzerland or Portugal. My Swiss permits lapsed when I left the country, and I am still working through the red tape in Portugal to gain the relevant paperwork. I started with shotguns, as that appeared to be the easiest route in. 


Image by falco from Pixabay

Portugal – continued

The first thing you have to do is establish a specific reason for owning a firearm.  I joined my local sports shooting club where Trap Shooting and Sporting Clay shooting could be practiced.  I was luck that this was only 15 minutes drive from my home.

You then have to join the relevant national shooting organisation.  Before you can join, you have to attend a theoretical / practical course to ensure that you possess the knowledge and skills to handle a weapon legally and safely.  The theory covered the legal aspects of gun ownership, transport and storage, some technical background on general firearms and details of the different sporting disciplines available.  The practical, part was to demonstrate that you could handle and fire a shotgun safely, in a sporting environment. 

There were a number of issues with this process:  

Firstly the courses are only scheduled when there are sufficient people wanting to attend.  This means you can wait up to a year, depending on the numbers.

Secondly the course, although advertised as being in Portuguese and English, is predominantly in Portuguese.  After long rambling explanations in Portuguese about each slide, a very brief summary of the main points would be delivered in English.  All the documentation was also in Portuguese, although, some parts were ‘Google Translated’, sometimes with very strange results.  The Portuguese for ‘hammer’ also translates as ‘dog’ , so at one point we were being asked to ‘cock the dog’!

Finally, the exam was also in Portuguese.  There were 50 multiple choice questions which you had to get 45 correct to pass.  Thankfully, we were given a dispensation to use Google translate on the questions and were allowed to seek clarification in English to the meaning of any question.

I passed the course, which did give me a good feeling of achieving something which was not straightforward.

At his point I was given a Sporting Licence.  This allows me to shoot recognised sporting disciplines at an affiliated sporting club.  The Sporting Licence has to be renewed every year and requires the participation in at least one organised competition.

Having the Sporting Licence enables you to apply for a Weapons Licence from the police.  After filling in a form and providing a medical certificate.  This usually takes around three months to process.  The Weapons Licence allows you to buy guns and ammunition which are relevant to the Sporting Licence you have.  So in my case, my Class D licence allows my to only purchase Shotguns and the Ammunition specific to the guns I own.


Image by Richard Eisenmenger from Pixabay 

Portugal – now

I have acquired three shotguns since obtaining the requisite Licences.

A Caesar Guerrini Magnus Sporting Over and Under in 12 Gauge . 

A Berretta C90 Black Trap Over and Under in 12 Gauge.

A Franchi Semi Auto in 12 Gauge.

It appears I like Italian Shotguns!

Portugal – Next Steps

The next step towards potentially re uniting me with some or all of my firearms currently stored in Switzerland is to obtain a Collectors Licence.
 This will allow me to own firearms as part of a recognised collection rather than for sporting or hunting purposes.  I understand that it is not an easy route to take, but I believe it is the correct one for me.  I am at heart a collector,  I like to own and shoot weapons, but competitive shooting is not my main  interest.

The process so far is mirroring that of the Sporting Licence.

I have joined Portuguese Firearm Collectors Association.

The next step is to attend a course and exam.  As with the Sporting route, I have to wait for sufficient numbers of interested parties.  So far it has been six months.  I am sure the language will also be an issue at some point.

As yet I have no idea what the exam entails.

I am sure there will be other hoops to jump through, particularly on storage and security.


Watch this space ……