Random thought from yesterday.

By The Armorer on November 15, 2006 | | Comments (15)

Fuzzybear Lioness linked to this breathlessly reported threat to public safety yesterday: Bullet Found In Doorway!

Bullet found in doorway By David Williams LETHAL: The .22 calibre bullet found in Walthamstow High Street on a market day morning (D6W1001) LIVE ammunition has been found lying in the doorway of a busy high street shop.

The .22 calibre short round bullet was found at the entrance of the 99p Stores in Walthamstow High Street on Wednesday morning, November 1.

Haroon Khan, who has a firearms licence and is a member of a local gun club, was alarmed to discover live ammunition in a Walthamstow doorway.

The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.

Heh. Thrice-damned Swiss! Leaving their ammunition laying around like that.

What struck me as funny was the breathless nature of the reportage. Parking your old junker on a hillside and forgetting to set the parking brake is quite possibly more dangerous - but wouldn't get reported that way. Of course, in England, with their gun laws, something like that is cause for alarm to their budding police state, but that's a different post. I was just struck by (Have I mentioned this?) how, well, breathless the reportage was, to my ear at least.

To put that in context, yesterday morning I got out of bed at 5AM to put the dogs out, feed the cats, make coffee and then come here to feed you guys. I stepped on a bullet. A nice, shiny, 1944 dated .303 round. One of four I found on the floor. I picked 'em up, and took 'em to the living room, where they belong, with the others (okay, I just said that for effect - the Castle Vickers, which went junketing this past weekend needs to be staged back into the Arsenal, and is in it's assembly (actually disassembly) area. No, we don't entertain much.

Anyway, the day before yesterday, the nice man delivered a package to the house, containing a 1944-dated Vickers belt (where the ammo on the floor came from), and a 1950's era disintegrating-link Vickers belt (visible in the post below), and some other artifact ammunition. And night before last was spent watching television with SWWBO while I re-belted the WWII ammo (those dang belts were dang hard to load, but once loaded, they get all loose and this one dropped a boat-load of rounds, and it takes a while to hand-load a 250 round belt of ammo. Besides, I needed to inspect 'em all to make sure they were in decent shape, right? You mean it isn't like this in every home?

Regardless, I just found it amusing to be reading that story in the morning after stepping on loose rounds in the bedroom the morning after having spent the evening before belting machinegun ammo for the Vickers...

I also had a bunch of loose rounds, which found their way into the Turkish aluminum Vickers belt - though, s'truth, they should be 8mm rounds, that being the caliber the Turks used in their guns. But Doesn't the mix of steel, brass, copper, and aluminum make for a pretty picture?

Turkish aluminum ammo belt fed into the Castle Vickers.

I'll hafta keep an eye on 'em for signs of dissimilar metal corrosion. The aluminum links are actually pretty fragile - one reason you don't see a lot of them around any more.

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15 Comments

By Laurie on November 15, 2006 9:52 AM
LOL! Too funny. Note to self: when Brits visit, hope they don't snoop in closets, they might find my *toys* ;)
 
By WereKitten on November 15, 2006 9:59 AM
Hmmmm.. sounds to me like Laurie has a "silver bullet" in her closet, as opposed to John's brass ones.... hmmmmmm BUZZZZZ
 
By hdw on November 15, 2006 11:04 AM
They'd be shocked to know that my wife used to keep a couple of 7x61 S&H rounds in her office desk drawer. Their arrival in her desk coincided with an abrupt halt in the day to day petty theft that had been going on for weeks. Coincidence I'm sure. I would have loved to see the look on the thief's face when he reached into the drawer and came up with those.
 
By KCSteve on November 15, 2006 12:35 PM
John, You need to pick up a loader / unloader for your belt-fed toys. Assuming there's one that will work with enough of them to be worth having, of course. I think I saw one on K-Var's website one time when I was getting goodies for my PSL (Romanian variant of the Russian Dragonuv sniper rifle). The 7.62x54R rounds from it look quite impressive if you leave them lying about. Much bigger than the 7.62x39 for the ever-indulgent wife's AK. Oddly, we don't have many vistors either.
 
By John of Argghhh! on November 15, 2006 1:42 PM
Actually, Steve, I have a loader for the M1919, Maxim, and RPD. I haven't been able to score a loader for the Vickers that where my budget matched the asking price. I keep meaning to see if the Maxim loader will work...
 
By jim b on November 15, 2006 2:03 PM
taken from http://www.theothersideofkim.com A woman was released from the hospital a day after she was shot in the head six times in an attack police blamed on her ex-husband, Brazilian media reported Saturday. Patricia Goncalves Pereira, a 21-year-old housewife, was shot Friday after an altercation with her ex-husband, who was upset because she refused to get back together with him, Globo TV reported. “I know this was a miracle,” Pereira told the TV network. “Now I just want to extract the bullets and live my life.” Doctors could not explain how Pereira survived the attack. The .32-caliber bullets didn’t break through her skull and didn’t even need to be immediately extracted, doctors said. Pereira also was shot once in the hand. So for those who think that a little pocket .32ACP pistol is okay for a full-time carry piece, this should make you think a little. Another hard headed woman eh? Someone call them Brits up and tell them not to bother anyone unless and until they find a .38 or larger. If they do they should immediately evacuate the country.
 
By KCSteve on November 15, 2006 4:26 PM
John, After my post I scrolled down to the answer to the latest 'Whatzit'. If I recall correctly the loader I saw for a cloth belt was a pretty simple thing - just a wooden tray with routed-in grooves for the shells and a larger one for the belt. A fixed cross piece at the top and a lever-actuated one across the bottom. Drop a shell in each groove, line the belt section up above it, pull the lever and a set of about 20 shells is pressed up through the loops.
 
By John of Argghhh! on November 15, 2006 4:57 PM
Ah, Steve. This is the Castle. We want *issue* belt-loaders!
 
By Trias on November 15, 2006 11:21 PM
I suppose it would be a minor concern if kids were to pick them up and do something stupid which kids are so awfully skilled at doing, especially in a country not used to guns and bullets.
 
By jim b on November 16, 2006 7:52 AM
And THAT is the correct answer to the question, "What is Natural Selection?"
 
By jim b on November 16, 2006 7:56 AM
And THAT is the correct answer to the question, "What is Natural Selection?"
 
By John of Argghhh! on November 16, 2006 8:32 AM
Just in case Trias wasn't sure, eh, Jim? And yes, Trias, you are correct, ammo laying about isn't good. But I was just tickled at the tabloid breathlessness of it all - and that it was *news* sufficient to make the paper.
 
By Tim on November 16, 2006 9:54 AM
Wow. It was pretty bad when guns started running around killing people, but now the bullets can fire themselves! That's really dangerous, because they're not aimed or nuthin'.
 
By Trias on November 16, 2006 11:10 AM
Yes true it does have that breathless tone yet really it’s almost as remarkable as a changed lightbulb in the news of the world. Maybe a lead in for another 'infallible' assertion on the evils of guns. Guns don’t kill people bullets kill people?
 
By KCSteve on November 16, 2006 2:11 PM
John, Well of course an issue loader would be better, but a home-made one would be functional until such time as you can acquire an issue one. BTW, over on http://www.missouricarry.com and the forums there's a member who has several live belt-fed toys. I believe his handle is BeltFedMG or something very close thereto. PumpkinHeaver makes his own cannons (mostly) so they're only of interest to you for the (rather large) amusement value. Oh, and while you're over there check the thread on the Christmas Party in the 2006/2007 Picnic section.