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This is why I can't go to Afghanistan.

By The Armorer on August 21, 2007 | | Comments (12)

SWWBO would kill me. Apropos the post below, about going to market...

All these would be going home in the mails. Who cares if they're locally made copies (and not all are, but ya gotta really know your stuff to tell) called "Khyber Rifles?" It's all a part of the history of the gun, the gun it was copied from, and the region where the Armorers who make them live.

Arms bazaar in Afstan.

For those with the interest, a much larger version of that photo is available by clicking here.

Hmmmm, wunner what Bill is up to these days...

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12 Comments

By Damian on August 21, 2007 8:30 AM
Those pieces killed enough Brits that I would have thought you'd have the decency to put a "u" in "Armourer" when discussing their makers. ;)
 
By Maggie on August 21, 2007 8:33 AM
We all know the only reason you would want to go to Afghanistan right now is the hope the house renovation would be finished while you were gone. If you went your sister would probably beg you to come along.
 
By wolfwalker on August 21, 2007 8:33 AM
Those are recently made guns?!?? As best I can tell from the photo (and I must regretfully tell you, John, that 640x427 is not "much larger"), those all resemble Civil War era long arms: muzzle-loaders with percussion-cap firing mechanisms. What are they doing on sale in an Afghan market? I knew that some Afghan men still carry bolt-action rifles, G98s and SMLEs and the like, but I had no idea they still made or used rifles this old.
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 21, 2007 8:51 AM
Wolfwalker - you probably got that size because your browser is set to force images into your display resolution. Either right-click and save as, or change your browser settings - and you'll get the 2400 pixel edition. And yes, those are all black powder weapons. I still want to score a Khyber Enfield - the copied the No1MkIII a lot, too. I'm guessing those are out there for the Americans, who can only ship back pre-1898 arms, anything more recent than that has to come in via an importer. Ooops. Nope. The size limitation is due to having exceeded the bandwidth at my photo host. I'll email you a copy. Scratch that - I"ll just upload it to the blog server and replace the link.
 
By wolfwalker on August 21, 2007 9:00 AM
John -- um, I run my browser fullscreen at 1024x768. I see the small version in the post, and a noticeably larger version at the "Click here" link, but nothing even close to 2400 pixels wide. I think your link is wrong - that is, the "Click here" link leads to the wrong version of the photo at Fototime.
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 21, 2007 9:03 AM
Check yer email and reload the page in your browser to make sure that the change I made is loaded into your browser. The link should *not* be to Fototime.
 
By wolfwalker on August 21, 2007 9:25 AM
Ahhh, got it! Thanks. Hm, hm, hm. Most of those are percussion-cap jobs, but two of them look like early breechloaders. Martini actions, probably, considering the source.
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 21, 2007 9:57 AM
There's a bunch of Snyder conversions in there, with some 3-band Towers, a few Martinis, a Snyder carbine - and the big outlier - a Lebel, down there towards the end on the right.
 
By BillT on August 21, 2007 11:27 AM
Hmmmm, wunner what Bill is up to these days... Six-foot-zero -- same as always...
 
By BillT on August 21, 2007 11:47 AM
Oh -- you were referring to shopping. The only smoke poles I've seen around here are G3s, MP5s and riot guns of various gauges, but the owners wouldn't like it if I took an obvious interest in them. And the Shadows would take it as a personal insult if we packed our own protection. I've heard AKs twice, but the owners appeared only as items in the next day's paper...
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 21, 2007 3:51 PM
*2* Lebels - there's one hiding behind a Martini in the middle there...
 
By Murray on August 21, 2007 11:29 PM
STILL no catapults? I feel so sorry for you. Well lay in a pile of 4X4's and I'll come and sort it out for you.
 
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