General Schwarzkopf’s Firearm Collection

[migrabill]

Don’t know if anybody else on here was following it, but Rock Island Auction Company auctioned off 48 of Stormin’ Norman’s personally owned firearms. Each successful bidder, along with the firearm, will receive a signed letter from his daughter Cynthia identifying the weapon by Serial Number as having belonged to her Dad. It was a very eclectic collection of some some real good stuff, and some more common stuff. I was able to secure his 1971 Browning B-S/S side by side 12 Gauge. The reason I liked this particular gun was that it is inscribed with his initials and a banner with RATPACK in it. As a Desert Storm Vet who got to meet the General, it will hold a very special spot with me.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Congrats!

 

[analog_peninsula]

Very nice!

 

[BAY]

Excellent acquisition!

 

[Andrew Short]

Congratulations! This is very cool!

 

[DaddyFlip]

For a minute, I thought this post was in the Classifieds forum!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Man, I would like to see some pictures of that browning.

 

[migrabill]

Man, I would like to see some pictures of that browning.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5036/452/general-h-norman-schwarzkopfs-browning-bss-shotgun

 

[Altitude sickness]

Wow! That would be front and center in my display.

 

[migrabill]

Wow! That would be front and center in my display.

It will hang on the wall on its own rack. Right next to it will be the framed letter signed by his Daughter. On his Birthday every year, August 22, I will take it down and take it to the range. There were 48 guns in the auction and they did not go for much money. Maybe just a little more than the gun would have went at auction had he not owned it. I was surprised. I guess I'm just old!

 

[Philip Glass]

Don’t know if anybody else on here was following it, but Rock Island Auction Company auctioned off 48 of Stormin’ Norman’s personally owned firearms. Each successful bidder, along with the firearm, will receive a signed letter from his daughter Cynthia identifying the weapon by Serial Number as having belonged to her Dad. It was a very eclectic collection of some some real good stuff, and some more common stuff. I was able to secure his 1971 Browning B-S/S side by side 12 Gauge. The reason I liked this particular gun was that it is inscribed with his initials and a banner with RATPACK in it. As a Desert Storm Vet who got to meet the General, it will hold a very special spot with me.

When I was hunting with @MARTIN PIETERS SAFARIS he told me that his double came from Stormin' Norman! Very cool rifle and story.

 

[7x57Joe]

Please educate me on why a shotgun has rifle sights?

 

[migrabill]

Please educate me on why a shotgun has rifle sights?

So this browning side by side was originally 26” barrels. Schwarzkopf had them intentionally cut down to 22” and had a front and rear rifle sight put on professionally. He set it up to be a bush gun. It can now fire slugs. Would be a good close in deer or hog gun. Some have suggested that he may have also done it for home defense. Much shorter to swing around in a hallway. Does cutting the barrels down reduce the value of a browning side by side in a normal situation? Sure because it is no longer original. But, in this case I like it because it is set up exactly the way that Stormin Norman dictated.

 

[PerH]

Great gun and with the slug sights in quick speed it’s a bush gun or back alley gun and .

I remember as a kid in school being in awe over the General and his « accountants « in shirts , jeans and those vests walking behind him . And my teacher was crying over that her Soviet era world was crashing down on the live tv we all assembled to see in hall .

 

[7x57Joe]

So this browning side by side was originally 26” barrels. Schwarzkopf had them intentionally cut down to 22” and had a front and rear rifle sight put on professionally. He set it up to be a bush gun. It can now fire slugs. Would be a good close in deer or hog gun. Some have suggested that he may have also done it for home defense. Much shorter to swing around in a hallway. Does cutting the barrels down reduce the value of a browning side by side in a normal situation? Sure because it is no longer original. But, in this case I like it because it is set up exactly the way that Stormin Norman dictated.

Thanks, I suspected it was for shooting slugs but, wondered how the barrels were regulated.

 

[juan pablo pozzi]

Im sure he used it as a bush gun for hogs or deer or searching for crippled game.Marcelo Sodiro a well known Argentine PH and international hunter used exactly the same too.

 

[migrabill]

Im sure he used it as a bush gun for hogs or deer or searching for crippled game.Marcelo Sodiro a well known Argentine PH and international hunter used exactly the same too.

Probably. But it's that "Rat Pack" that I would like to figure out what that means. I do have a theory. The General served in Vet Nam as a Leuitenant. He and his men, when they were wounded, were choppered out by a unit that were known as the Rat Pack. I wonder if its a tribute to them for saving his bacon. He left Nam in '69 and this gun is a '71... Or maybe he just had a close group of hunting buddies known as the Rat Pack...