We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:04:30 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification The rocket shot was late, somewhat noisy, and pretty much invisible, due to the cloud cover. Still, kinda cool. For those of you who still check in because there are reputedly gun pictures here, this one's for you. A Classic: The Erma Maschinen Pistole 40 - popularly called "The Schmeisser," even though it was designed not by Hugo Schmeisser, but by Ernst Vollmer at Erma. This particular weapon is in the collection of the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Ga. (Sorry, they aren't all captioned - that takes a LOT of time!)... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html Thu, 03 Feb 2005 06:45:55 -0600 half the Aviation Unit of the Collier County Sheriff's Department how to fly the OH-6. Now he flies EMS...pay's better. (*sigh* No, AFSis, EMS is not the same thing as PMS) (*sigh* No, Cassandra, I know you don't get EMS, either)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13834 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13834 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 23:03:42 -0600 Neffi - I fired a straight tracer banana clip out of it one night, just for giggles. Scared the hell out of some Green Beanies who'd "misread" the compass and set up their ambush on a canal two klicks west of the one they should have been on. One of the SEAls we used to tote was a Samoan who carried a sawed-off M-60. Yup--what you're thinking now is exactly what I thought then. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13828 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13828 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:01:28 -0600 Gawd Chief- a sawed-off M2?!!!! Talk about yer shot dispersal... but what fun! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13824 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13824 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 21:08:45 -0600 Addendum et Corrigendum: Um, I can not state with any confidence that I had my current kitty on that occasion. I believe that the rest of what I wrote is at least as true as what passes for sworn testimony in court these days. The kitty has accompanied me on several rooftop rocket-launch observation expeditions, just maybe not that one. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13820 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13820 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 16:33:20 -0600 Sorry about the disappointing rocket shot, but that's the way things have gone since they fired most of the Peenemuende Gang. I recall going to the first Shuttle launch, for which Dad and I had a ticket to NASA Causeway East. (Nobody's allowed that close anymore.) Nuthin. Went two more times, once got to see the steam from the SSMEs before they shut down one second from lighting the solids. The absolutely coolest most cool and wonderful rocket-launch experience I ever had happened several years ago, on the roof of the house here. It was a beautiful clear night, and the AF was borrowing the Shuttle to put something up in a polar orbit. The kittycat and I got up on the roof, I with my trusty old Tasco 7x35s, and I do solemnly affirm that I watched that thing go up all the way; I watched the florid exhaust of the solids, I watched the separation, and I watched the itty bitty little wavering pinpoints of the SSMEs all the way to Brennschluss! Yes, one can see Shuttle launches from Collier County. Not that my @%#$-*^&!# neighbors care! We really do need more anti-personnel mines on golf courses! (just kidding! mostly.) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13818 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13818 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 16:16:37 -0600 Neffi - The MP belonged to another guy (although I did have the obligatory pic taken with it, as did everybody else)--I carried a sawed-off M2 carbine. If the sand had laterite dust in it, could-a been Mike's, though... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13789 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13789 Sat, 05 Feb 2005 00:01:09 -0600 No plexi, Chief... so NO- you can't claim it! It DID have some very old grease mixed with sand in the bottom of the mag- sometimes I wonder where the sand originated... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13762 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13762 Fri, 04 Feb 2005 17:29:00 -0600 plexiglas in odd places the first time you cleaned it, did you? That 32-round mag got me wondering...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13707 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13707 Fri, 04 Feb 2005 07:12:09 -0600 Neffi - I hate you. Bassid. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13705 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13705 Fri, 04 Feb 2005 06:31:29 -0600 I would do so, but one of my buds did. Damn near shot himself down when his glove got caught inside the trigger guard...]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13690 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13690 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 22:32:46 -0600 ...mine holds 32 rounds... but I usually stop at 25, so as not to tax the spring. Plus- even with a loader- those last few rounds are a bugger to load. Sho 'nuff a fun toy, though... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13661 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13661 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 16:56:47 -0600 Well, not really. It rips along faster than a Thompson or Grease Gun, but not that much faster. You could single-shot it. It has such a long magazine because it held 30 rounds. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13635 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13635 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:54:53 -0600 Wasn't the rate of fire on that thing comparable to the Vulcan...and why the magazine was so, er, long? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13619 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13619 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 12:38:36 -0600 I just cleaned it out... I think my mistake was titling it "quickie," which I will go fix now... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13604 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13604 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:26:41 -0600 Hey! Incompetent comment spam! How did that get in here? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13603 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/02/heres_a_quikie.html#comment-13603 Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:07:40 -0600