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/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:03:44 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification I'm busy, got something working I may get to later, depending on how work goes! In the meantime, to tide you over. Gun Pr0n. The STEN Mark II, product of Messrs Smith and Turpin, at ENfield. Cheap, easy to make, simple, and remarkably reliable sub-machingun the Brits and Commonwealth forces used during WWII and beyond. I've fired both a STEN and all the major versions of Thompson guns - while I prefer the .45 cartridge to the 9mm, I vastly prefer the STEN as a weapon for ease of carry and use. So - given my predjudices on caliber, it's... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html Wed, 02 Mar 2005 07:27:52 -0600 There's a special place in Hell for blokes who try to pass off "garage hack-jobs" for the mil-spec modifications, and an even hotter place when they try to convince you that they are historically accurate... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16661 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16661 Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:27:22 -0600 would have been a good price. It was a badly-cut-down plain vanilla M-1, and it looked like he'd hacksawed into the gas cylinder, too. Idiot.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16635 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16635 Thu, 03 Mar 2005 06:55:55 -0600 I *do* like the Sterling, as well. Fun to shoot, though I *did* pinch myself folding the stock once. The Owen is also an interestingly ugly spud of a subgun. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16631 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16631 Thu, 03 Mar 2005 06:27:53 -0600 Sterling? Ha! Just another wire-spring wonder! What I wanna know, is how much will I have to pay for a working Lanchester? Phosphor Bronze and Forged Steel! Fit for Sea Service! (or living in a closet in Southern Florida) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16628 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16628 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 23:27:03 -0600 And then there is the Sterling, lovely piece of kit. And you weren't expected to qualify on the "Fling at Target" relay. Cheers JMH http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16622 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16622 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 22:11:39 -0600 What's interesting is - the deacts you can own in Canada have greater functionality than the ones we can own down here... but, in the right places, we can own fully functional ones. You can't own an arguably historically significant Luger, because it has less than a 4" barrel... but I can - unless I live in NYC... (cue Twilight Zone Music) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16588 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16588 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 17:38:11 -0600 I don't collect firearms, of either description, because it's not legal for me to do so without much bowing and scraping to assorted national, provincial, and local authorities. I used to know folks who could get me whatever I wanted on short notice (for cash only) but I haven't been hanging with that bunch for a long time now. I'm sure they, or their analogues, still exist, even up here in the gun-free world of Soviet Canuckistan. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16578 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16578 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 16:34:13 -0600 In the meantime, if ye could keep a weather eye out for said DEWATs and de-mills, I'd sure like to hear about 'em... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16569 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16569 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 14:55:37 -0600 Woo-woo! I'm down wit dat! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16566 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16566 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 14:31:45 -0600 No worries here, your reputation is intact, for it is the knowlege of the firearms that is important. I am harvesting resources for DEWAT and de-milled guns pertaining to WW2 to present... The list of LIVE "pieces" are limited to an M-1 Garand, an M-14, an AR-15A2, and something in the small frame .45cal semiauto... .50 cals will happen when I win the lotto, and, should that happen, I'll pay for all denizens to gather at the "Turkey Knob" shoot for a weekend of cap-busting! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16560 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16560 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:38:28 -0600 I live in Kansas - all of my stuff *is* demilled or dummy or DEWAT. That's a dummy STEN, built to a very specific, ATF-approved design that allows a moving bolt (clever eyes will note there is no extractor) because it cannot be disassembled without cutting it up, and the bolt is incomplete so it won't strip a round (though you can't tell from this angle) and the barrel is fusion welded shut at the breech and welded to the trunnion so that it can't be swapped out. It was built exactly for re-enactors to carry around, without having to be concerned about safe storage and liability issues. I don't own a shootable NFA weapon. If I lived 1.5 miles east, in Missouri, where I could own them... I would have a *much* smaller collection. A dummy Vickers goes for about $1500. I don't know if there are any registered DEWAT Vickers. One of the 12 or so registered shooters goes for $25K or better. Even a semi-auto Vickers goes for $4-5K. But it's obviously time to post a Periodic Disclaimer and cause people to go "Aw, I thought that sh*t was real, what a loser!" *and* for the ATF guys to go, "Damn, I thought we had an easy score there!" I'll opt for disappointing the ATF guys over making purists happy... as bass-ackwards as that may seem on first read. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16557 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16557 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:25:28 -0600 I saw what was adverted as a STEN de-mil at a gun shop in south Jersey about five years back; turned out to be a replica (and a bad one, at that). http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16556 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16556 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 13:21:54 -0600 I bow to those who successfully collect "live" weapon systems... As a "Living Historian", I place a great deal of emphasis on protecting the public form itself. When I display weapons with my military vehicles, I use plastic replicas (should they be stolen, I sleep well knowing that nobody is going to do much damage with a little blue plastic BB, as opposed to a 5.56 NATO FMJ round...) Towards that aim, I am always interested in finding the de-milled and replica versions of what John displays. I heard, at one point, that there were de-milled STENs out there at pretty good prices. Any word on this? Thanks for the continual education, PapaBlog! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16549 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16549 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 11:27:04 -0600 Though it is in all probability a Chinese Type 50 - though the Chinese usually used the box magazine, so... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16463 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16463 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 08:50:07 -0600 the hands of Marines.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16461 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16461 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 08:46:39 -0600 didn't see anybody carrying as a "personal protection device" in the Land of the Great Practical Exercise. The large expanse of sand trap might have had something to do with it, although I've seen pictures of Legionnaires (ca 1953-1954) carrying them through the elephant grass.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16458 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/03/gun_pr0n.html#comment-16458 Wed, 02 Mar 2005 08:10:42 -0600