Rednecks of Argghhh! - and a vote bleg.

This post has been pulled from the archives... not just because it's Sunday and I'm lazy (well, I got other stuff to do) but because Yu-ain Gonnano pricked me a bit (whether that was his intent or not). Oddly enough - this post first ran on Feb 12, 2006, almost exactly two years ago.

Yu-ain said:

Oh, and by the way. I just hafta share (this is a gun-ish blog of sorts):

The LG and I just completed the Safety Course needed to obtain our state's Handgun Carry Permit.

And while I've only been to the pistol range twice before, I've got to say my groups looked pretty dang good. From all the targets I could see, only one person shot better than me.

But what really made me proud was the LG, who had never shot a gun before came in 3rd. If it hadn't been for two fliers she would have beaten me.

The instructor looked at her, then at me and asked me if I played poker. I told him I played a little. He looked straight at me and said "Don't Cheat".

Heh!

Heh, indeed. SWWBO and I can shoot, too. See below.

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As SWWBO noted in her post yesterday, it was a very Red State day at Argghhh! Buying large animal supplies, taking care of the horses, late breakfast at Waffle House, 400 rounds downrange in the afternoon. And of course it was a Castle Argghhh! Range Day, with two WWII vets providing the fun.

SWWBO is getting more famous among gun bloggers (hey, she's getting *linked* and I'm not!) than Castle Argghhh! Why is that? She's getting dangerous with a pistol. And by dangerous, I mean to the intended target, not random locations generally downrange, either. Just take a look here.

That's three magazines, 45 rounds. No misses. Not bad for her first day shooting a semi-auto. And this isn't her only target, she put over 150 rounds downrange yesterday.

It was a typical day for a beginner - first round was a 10x. After that, we had the usual issues with grip, anticipating recoil, closing the eyes, etc. Rather than get all anal about technique, etc - I just let her blaze away downrange, keeping the occasional eye on things when they got bad (grip problems, especially) but mostly just let her get comfortable with the whole concept of shooting a pistol. We can drag out the Right and Left handed Castle Shooter Analysis Targets on a later trip, and start working on the pathologies. For all that - I must note - every round she sent downrange - hit her target. No misses, which I think says a lot about the pistol *and* the shooter. She tried both the Castle Nazi-marked Radom VIS-35 pistol and the Inglis Hi-Power. Although the VIS-35 probably fit her hand better, she likes the Inglis better - as that target above shows.

We went shooting at Total Range, L.L.C, in St Joseph, Missouri - a place we were introduced to courtesy of KCSteve who invited me to a Christmas party held there by members of MissouriCarry.com. At $20 per person per year, we bought memberships. Very nice place. We don't recommend it to you, however. Then you'd go buy memberships and start taking up range space and we might have to wait to get a shooting stall. Nothing to see here, move along.

The Armorer was pleased with his performance yesterday. I only put one magazine through the Inglis, at 5 yards, with this result. Mostly making sure the Inglis was in good shape, so that problems in shooting would be SWWBO-related, not weapon-related. Easier to fix when you can isolate the variables, eh? Our Product of Canada was in fine shape, only suffering from his user's problems, not those of his maker or bad storage.

I then shifted over to the Nazi-marked Polish Radom VIS-35 pistol. Also a 9mm like the Inglis. Three magazines (24 rounds) through that, again at 5 yards.

This is the first time I've shot the VIS-35. I'll spare you the target by target details, but after I was comfortable with it, I sent the carrier downrange to 20 yards. [I'll note at this point while I did cherry-pick the targets to post here, they were *all* like this] The head shots in the following picture are at 20 yards.

Not being happy with the leftward drift (combination of my glasses and how the downrange and uprange light interacted with target and sights), I pulled the target in to 10 yards and put a box of 50 through the Vis. You can see that in the pic above - or better yet - in this pic.

The Armorer *really* likes the VIS-35. A lot. That's 50 rounds in that target - no flyers, no misses. I really really really like that pistol. I need to find some more magazines.

Note to goblins - just remember - if you *do* get past me, SWWBO's right behind me, turning your liver into pate'. You should take the offer of "Turn around and leave" when it's offered. It will only be offered once.

All in all, a good Red State kind of day.

Which is why we think you should vote for us in the Best Master Gunnies competition! Early and often! <===Click that link! Once a day, every day! From home *and* work! At Internet Cafes! We think The BMG Trophy would look good on an Arsenal Bookshelf... but the only way *that's* gonna happen is if I steal it - unless you guys get really busy and start doing what Bill's been doing- borrowing other people's computers... of course, that would be wrong.

BTW - the bleg didn't work. I wasn't even *close*. 8^ )

Yanno, when I travel...

I miss my babies.

Like this Webley .25 auto, captured from a German in Normandy, who captured it from a Brit Royal Marine at Dieppe.

I miss SWWBO and the critters too, mind you.

"Khyber" Rifles and Pistols.

The Afghans are long known for their "home workshop" firearms production, where they make excellent copies of commercially-made weapons that have fallen into tribal hands over the years - especially British weapons.

They are usually visually correct dimensionally (though the parts may not interchange with the original weapon copied), they usually have little signs on them that cause experienced collectors of the originals look twice - such as markings in the wrong places, markings that have reversed letters in them, or, in the base of barrel proofs - markings in the wrong order, or a mix of markings from different arsenals, etc.

There's enough of them that they're a collecting niche in and of themselves, and Joe, the recently-returned Man in the 'Stan sent home what is probably a Khyber pistol.

John Spangler, who is a reader and frequent commenter in this space (he likes to play the Whatziss') is also a collector who takes his passion so seriously that he makes a living at it (always good to go spend money with John, just click here). He also runs a question and answer board on his website.

In March of last year he got this question:

# 11744 - Afghanistan Khyber Pass "Enfield" Pepperbox Copy
3/4/2006
Carlisle, PA

Enfield - .36 - 4'' - Rusty - THERE IS NO SERIAL NUMBER ON THE WEAPON. - The weapon appears to be a ''pepperbox'' style percussion cap pistol with six barrels. The caliber appears to .36 Cal. On the left side of the weapon is a crown with VR underneath the crown. Under VR is Enfield and the date 1857. The weapon was purchased in Afghanistan in the Spring 2005. I have not been able to find out any information on Enfield manufacturing a ''pepperbox'' style percussion pistol. Any information about this weapon is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer:
Sir- As with many of the guns found in Afghanistan purported to be antiques, they are not always what they seem. I am not aware of Enfield making any pistols like that ever. Khyber pass guns will be found with all sorts of impossible combinations of markings. This is sort of similar to someone with a rusty 1983 Chevrolet, but putting Model T Ford, or Cadillac Escalade trim on it and hoping someone will buy it. John Spangler

Why is this of interest? Well, Joe and Jeff aren't the only Afghan hounds who hang out around here. I got this email late last week. And it concerns *exactly* the same pistol type in the question above - this one with a different date on it.

Armourer-san: Khyber Garage Camel Cavalry Speciall, sent back during last year's trip to Bagram. Pretty much the same paperwork experience as your ISAF correspondent, though I understand the rigmarole has increased here (I'm back in Bagram for a spell). Same collection of vendors at the bazaar - the guy who sold me the Beast remembers me and is trying to sell me a companion piece.

No last names or email addresses please! - my people think I play piano in a Kabul cathouse and my Employer frowns upon this type of discourse.

So, lets take a look at this thing.

Yep, that's a pepperbox pistol all right. Pretty massive one, too. Kewl.

Here's a look at it from the side. Pretty classic pepperbox styling, but there were two things that caught my attention right away. We'll come back to those.

Let's toss the markings up here.

The two visual cues that caused my warning light to start flashing was the relative crudity of workmanship - one thing the Armourers at Enfield Lock were was meticulous, with great attention to detail and generally high-quality workmanship. The two things that attracted my attention was the lack of crispness to the lines of the barrels, and the pretty flimsy looking trigger guard. But, hey, the trigger-guard might be a replacement, and the barrels have a lot of holster wear, which tends to smooth edges. But the workmanship and tool marks on the receiver are pretty suspect, too. I've not had a chance to dig out my inspector's mark reference - but *each* of those barrels should have proofs on 'em. And as near as I can tell, they don't. One reason they wouldn't is because some of those barrels aren't bored true, they're off-center. Which means they wouldn't pass an Enfield inspection, much less proofing.

But to me it's still a collectable piece, simply because of the whole story surrounding Afghanistan.

Update: Dug out the reference, The Broad Arrow, by Ian Skennerton, and the ownership mark, the crown - is actually a Georgian crown with a Victorian cypher. There were two styles of crown, one for kings and the other for queens. The orb in the crown is what points quickly to a Georgian crown, and the number of balls on the top layer of the crown points to the George III version of the Kings Crown. The V.R. matches the date, but the crown actually pre-dates the production of percussion weapons in British service. The E-crown-1 inspection mark should actually be Crown-E-1 where the Crown E represents Enfield, and the number represents an inspector (most that I have seen are two-digit, btw, which just means... that's what I've seen). If it were a weapon built under George III, but reworked under Victoria, the markings would reflect that - I have several such weapons in the collection, that jump eras between Victoria, Edward VII, Georges IV and V and Elizabeth. Oddly enough, no William IV's!

In the pics provided, there are no proofs anywhere, and the Brits were positively tenacious about proof-marks, with lots of 'em.

All that taken together - argues for forgery. But like I said, that doesn't deter me, as long as I'm not paying "original" prices!

Our man in the 'Stan finally bit on something in the bazaar...

The Enfield M1880 pistol (or a Khyber-copy). I told him if he finds another, gettit!

As penance for the post on the Department of Peace...

...the Armorer of Argghhh! proudly presents... Gun Pr0n!

An expose of the fiddly bits of the Castle's Vulcan Arms V10-45, seen earlier this week, here.

Here he is, field stripped to his basics.

Slighty higher-res version here (that better, Brab?)

Looking deep into his guts, a look at the fiddly bits of the lower receiver.

The upper receiver and bolt assembly. There is a nylon buffer there, to keep the bolt from slapping the rear of the receiver.

Really, in concept, there is little to distinguish this design from the M3 grease gun, the major differences being the Grease Gun is tubular, and the V10's bolt wraps about the barrel at the breech (shown open here), saving overall length in the same manner the Uzi does.

But it's a bit clunky for a pistol. Vulcan does make a carbine version, but that didn't interest me. I'd get a 9mm version for SWWBO, except she thinks they're ugly, and wants something prettier.

Did someone say .45?

Someone did, yesterday, as we were bloviating about guns (in the comments of this post).

The Arsenal of Argghhh!'s V10-45.

It's a clumsy sucker, but the punk with the 9mm will run out before I do.

Hi(er)-res, if you want it. If you don't want it - don't click it. Bandwidth ain't free!

Heh. It would appear the Armorer has helper-gnomes in the Beehive state...

Sanger is getting his revenge on me with his Whatzis number two. I've got that puppy id'd at the T-number, but he's holding out the M-number and a specific aircraft type that he admits he can't find on the 'net either. Sheesh. Dude gets grumpy when he loses a few and is writing a thesis.

However, Sanger, has an interesting guess for *my* Whatzis...

Bottom side of the top part of a lugar?

Then there's my little helper bee. Here I was gonna post a new pic today that would help *some* anyway, and he goes along and gives you all the google-fodder you could possibly use.

Sigh. [shakes head]

Rod, I believe, was the first (well, no, John was the first, with his oblique guess for me which didn't thus spoil the thing too quickly), Rod was the first to put it into words - Pedersen Device.

Better known, actually, as the US Automatic Pistol, Caliber .30, Model of 1918.

Yep. Pistol. All part of the deception plan to hide what we were doing from the Germans. Made easier by the fact that it shoots a .30 caliber pistol cartridge, virtually identical to the French .30 Longue, IIRC.

The "automatic pistol" hiding in the body of a bolt-action rifle was the brainchild of John Pedersen, of Remington Arms. Development started before the US entered the war and was a private venture on the part of Remington. Having been following the war, Mr. Pedersen was struck by the inability for troops to effectively fire on the run while crossing "No Mans Land". He started down the path that would lead to such weapons as the Browning Automatic Rifle and Chauchat machine gun. The difference is Pedersen figured that he wasn't going to be able to sell the Army on a whole new rifle design, so he decided to develop a drop-in adaptor that would convert the existing rifle - and at the same time preserve it's hi-powered, long range capabilities.

This led to his gizmo, which replaced the bolt of the standard Springfield with a long bit of kit consisting of a complete firing mechanism and a small "barrel" for the small round. In effect, the "device" was essentially a complete blow-back pistol minus a receiver/grip using the short "barrel" of the device to fit into the longer chamber of the M1903 Springfield. The mechanism was fed by a long 40-round magazine sticking out of the rifle to the top right, and could be reloaded by inserting a new magazine. New sights were provided at the rear of the device. The system did require one modification to the rifle however, a hole had to be cut in the side of the bolt area to allow the ejection of spent rounds. You may have seen some of those - M1903's with an elongated oval cut out of the side rail. We have one in the Arsenal, though it's one of the ones that was reworked during WWII with a regular scant stock and green parkerizing.

In early 1917 the Pedersen device was tested and ready for production. Pedersen took his weapon to show the Army. He first fired several rounds from what looked to be a standard M1903. Then he removed the bolt, inserted his pistol, and fired several magazines at a very high rate of fire. The officers were astounded at the relative simplicity and performance, and immediately clamped a SECRET label on the whole thing. As I noted, snooker the Germans, the Ordnance Department named it The US Automatic Pistol, Caliber .30, Model of 1918. Plans were initiated to start production of modified Springfields, listed as the US Rifle, Cal. .30, Model of M1903, Mark I. The intent was to have 500,000 ready for the 1919 Spring Offensive. The use of the Pedersen Device in the 1919 Spring offensive was to be in conjunction with the full combat introduction of the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Pedersen's gizmo was also designed to to fit the US Rifle, Model of 1917 (the American Enfield - which was actually used in greater numbers than the Springfield), and the US Rifle, Model of 1916 ( The Remington Mosin Nagant). Neither of those were ever put into production, although samples of both were made.

With the end of the war, production slowed, though it continued to 1920. Technology overtook the Pedersen device (which we'd know a lot more about had the war continued to 1919) and the BAR and Garand in tandem rendered the Pedersen obsolete. After they were declared surplus, they were all heaped in a large pile... and burned. Most of the Pedersen's in private hands are survivors of the fire - and show varying shades of fire damage. Estimates range up and down, but the current best guess is there are about 250 or so survivors in museums and private hands.

The Armorer got to see one this last weekend at the Fort Leavenworth Militaria Show. It is owned by a buddy of the Armorer, and the Armorer is going to get to... *shoot* it. Neener Neener Neener! My buddy has over 700 rounds of ammo. No, we're not going to shoot all of that. We'll shoot a hundred or so, and reload. Heck the ammo's valuable to collectors.

More, and better, pictures will come at a later date.

In the midst of too much to do...

...while suffering the dammed curse 'o the Sassenach, I find this gem in my email box.

Dateline 1979, Germany. A Troop, 3/7 Cavalry is on maneuvers at the military training site at Hohenfels... a handsome and studly young tank commander removes the shoulder holster containing his Army .45 and hangs it from the turret roof near the loader's station. It'll be safe there whilst negotiating the cross-country target acquisition course!

Now imagine if you will, gentle reader, the pendulum effect of a heavy pistol suspended by a leather strap from the turret of a 52 ton M60A1 tank- when in the course of the aforementioned exercise the tank is traversing rough terrain and our hero is desperately manipulating the commander's override turret control to engage close range targets... all in a days work for the Cav! But somewhere along the line physics and gravity overcome the precarious hold of the leather holster strap on it's mounting and the pistol falls!... and becomes intimately engaged with the gear mechanism which rotates the turret... the 16 ton turret... which requires a powerful motor to drive said gear... which consumes and ejects a .45 pistol with all the disdain of yer cousin Bubba spitting a sunflower seed.

Sheesh... this cost me $54, the Gummint cost for the WWII Remington Rand-made .45. A chunk of money for me at the time; I was an E-5 and making 450 monthly- and then the bastids wouldn't let me keep it! I wanted it for a conversation piece, ya know- like, "Hey looky what some dumbshirt did to this here gun thingy!!!" but the bean-counting sumbirtches insisted it was still US Property even after they stripped the dinero from my miserable stipend.

The M16 I crushed two months later cost me $174 and they wouldn't let me keep that, either. Bastids.

Heh. Just in case you're interested in what they retail for now... admittedly in somewhat better condition.

You may amuse yourselves determining *who* might have provided this tale of woe...

Vaporware from the Armorer...

...just to annoy Ry. Something else that will appear. Whenever I finish it.

But hopefully this week. A wholly unverifiable, but interesting, war story.

Gun Pr0n!

Having been nominated for Best Gun Pr0n (and you *can still* vote), it's time for something I haven't done in a while - Gun Pr0n! One reason I haven't is because doing these right takes a lot of time and I haven't had a lot of time lately, and I'm a slug and like to sleep. I know. A weakness to be sure. This one took 12 hours total out of my life this week.

So, you've met the Castle Luger, Georg. You can check out his story here. You can get a sense of his prowess in the hands of a mediocre shooter here.

The basics of the Luger story are simple, though there are *several* good books out there if you are into geek-level detail. This is a blog, we'll skip that for a precis...

The Luger is one of the most distinctive and widely-recognized pistols the world over. You can thank WWI, WWII, and war movies for that. Well, that, and perhaps because the Luger Navy Model of 1904 introduced the world to the 9mm Euroweenie pellet, as Kim du Toit is want to call that round. Regardless of what I or Kim think, however, it is the most common pistol and sub-machine gun round, and the Luger Navy Model of 1904 introduced it to the world. Georg Luger was the designer of that bullet, building on his design of the 7.65 Luger round, which he developed after recognizing the need to make shorter, yet reasonably powerful rounds if automatic pistols were going to get down to a useful size.

The impetus for the development of the Luger pistol gathered steam in the period of 1890-1900. The gunmakers in Europe and the US were angling to land large military orders as the 1st rank armies of Europe were looking to modernize, and the US Army had discovered weaknesses in it’s arms in the Spanish American War. In Germany it was DWM, Mauser, and Bergmann; in England Webley &Scott, to name some of the major players. US interest came on the heels of the success of the European efforts.

What most people I’ve talked to don't know is that the Luger has an sorta-American connection. Georg Luger, the primary engineer, collaborated with the Hugo Borchardt to develop the first Luger pistol, improving on Borchardt's initial design by removing the balance and handling-destroying rear overhang and replacing it with a recoil link and spring in the butt of the pistol, vastly improving the handling of the pistol.

Submitted to the Swiss Army trials of 1898, it was adopted by the Swiss in 1900 as the Ordnance Pistol 1900. A quick distinguishing characteristic of the Swiss pistol is a grip safety that you don’t find on the German pistols - as you can see on these examples. The OP 1900 was chambered for the bottle-necked 7.65mm (called .30 Luger by us 'Muricans), and was as finely crafted a pistol as anything mechanical or chocolate the Swiss have ever produced.

Lugers were produced in Germany by primarily Deutsche Waffen Und Munitionsfabriken (DWM, the builder of Georg the Castle Luger), as well as Simson, Krieghoff, the Erfurt Arsenal, and Mauser. Vickers in England made them for the Dutch, and, as previously mentioned, the Swiss produced them at their Bern Arsenal. No one knows how many were produced due to destruction of German records during WWII, but the guesstimate is better than 2.5 million. Damn things still cost a lot for all that production!

The Kriegsmarine (Navy) was the first German adopter, in 1904, and it is they who gave us the Luger chambered for the 9mm Parabellum round, and a 6 inch barrel. The German Army adopted the Luger as the Pistole Model of 1908 in (drum roll, please) 1908, with a 4 inch barrel. Usually abbreviated P08, this is the version most of us are familiar with, though there have been many other models (see those books for geeks I was talking about). DWM produced the pistol until 1930, when it was taken over by Mauser. The Luger remained the German Army's official sidearm until the adoption of the Walther P38 in 1938, with production continuing through 1943, and issue continued throughout the war and beyond, in East German service. Counting the German variations of the P08, there were, IIRC, about 35 different variations of the Luger produced, and it has been produced in specialty runs at least as late as the 1980s, and perhaps more recently than that – but we all know I’m weak on stuff less than 50 years old…

The other relatively famous version of the Luger you might be familiar with is the Model 1914, the long-barreled version, sometimes called the "Artillery Luger" which was fitted with a long barrel that had integral long range sights, and was often used in conjunction with a wooden shoulder-stock/holster that locked onto the grip. It was for this pistol, in Air Force use, that the 32 round snail drum magazine was developed, as a way to arm pilots when the "Knights of the Air" took to shooting at each other before they got their machine guns all figured out. That pistol uses standard P08 components less the barrel and sights - and in fact, all Lugers produced for the German army have their grips slotted for the stock - even after they no longer made the M1914 or stocks.

Okay - so skip all the history carp and get on to the good stuff!

If ya wanna see him nekkid and exposed... and understand how he works, then come back, behind the curtain, to the peep show in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry!

Little tiny additions.

Not to the Castle, but to the Armory Holdings. As noted, large, expensive additions to the collection are on hold, so the Armorer indulges his collecting jones with smaller stuff, in price, if not always in size. Yesterday's mail delivered a case in point. The Armorer is a Rotarian - and one of the fun things about my particular club is that they are very tolerant of their more eccentric members (among whom the Armorer, of course, is numbered). Rotary sponsors several forms of international exchange programs, both hosting international students and small groups of Rotary-sponsored people doing research, projects, etc. We are probably one of the few clubs that takes visiting foreigners out shooting, usually themed shoots, such as the US Civil War for the Japanese group last year (using member's Civil War era firearms), the South American Mauser shoot for the Argentines, etc. The Armorer has hauled some of the Castle Holdings to meetings, and we've had guest speakers bring their own Kewl and Needful Things to illustrate their talks.

Then there's my usual table and the two other geeks who sit there, Beau and Charley. Charley is a groupie. He got into collecting late, whereas Beau has been collecting for 50 years, and I, 33. We sometimes look like drug dealers or gun runners out in the parking lot, open the trunk and admiring some wondrous new acquisition. We do have some discretion - we don't routinely stroll in with pistols and rifles. But we do stroll in with pocket-sized stuff. I went home yesterday to let the Exterior Guard assume their duties, and the mail had arrived.

Which contained this wonderful bounty from France:

Lefaucheux pinfire rounds, in 5, 7, 9, and 12mm caliber, and 5 (only one shown) 6mm Longue cartidges. The Longue was interesting to me as it is another transitional cartridge (as discussed in this post some time ago) reflecting the state of manufacturing at the time - using a copper case and a brass base, because they hadn't worked out all the kinks of producing drawn brass cartridges with primer pockets in their bases. The Longue is a rimfire cartridge, meaning the primer composition is in the rim of the base of the cartridge, rather than in the center of the base - just as .22 ammunition is today.

The pinfires represent a different form of transition - that of figuring out just where the heck the primer goes. You may be surprised to learn this system was was developed by a Frenchman named Casimir Lefaucheux possibly as early as 1828, and it was certainly established on the Continent by 1840, though it was slower to jump the Channel, reaching England at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and making it to the US just prior to the Civil War. These rounds represent the attempt to apply percussion primers with self-obturating (sealing) cartridge cases, to produce effective, reliable self-contained breech-loading ammunition.

This is how they worked - the primer was either glued to the side of the cartridge on the inside, or was embedded in molded powder compound, and the pin runs through the cartridge and protrudes from the side, as this diagram from an old book shows.

It worked fairly well, all things considered - the drawbacks being complicated assembly and the fact that there would be some blow-by around the pin - which was okay in a black powder weapon, which generates relatively low, slow-building pressure, but wasn't going to work for the new nitro-based smokeless powders.

The Arsenal does not yet contain (but will, but will) any pinfire weapons. A pinfire pistol looks pretty much like any other, with two exceptions.

And if you want to see those - hit the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry!

Flash Traffic (extended entry) Follows �

One, to modern eyes, is the little hole at the back of the cylinder, through which the pin protruded. Like this:

Here we see another flaw in the system - the protruding pin can be problematic when dropped, for example, hence most pistols have a rim either in the cylinder or the frame that is as high as the pin, to help protect from accidental discharge. More expensively, pistols were made with shields that covered the pin entirely, as in this pistol. All of which made for more expensive weapons. Yet another drawback was getting manufacturers to standardize the amount of pin protrusion, and the quality control to make it happen - else you were going to be restricted to using a specific brand of ammunition. Regardless, this was still preferable to separate loading of individual components. Except in a military application. Pinfires did not enjoy much luck with the militaries of the day, who saw the expense and risks far outweighing the benefits.

The last thing about a pinfire pistol that will catch a modern eye is the hammer - they seem to sit too far forward on the cylinder, and they are particularly noticeable when cocked, as in this example of a 20-chambered Belgian revolver.

Anybody got a nice pinfire for sale cheep - drop me a line!

If you liked this post, you'll probably also enjoy this one, on the Snider cartridge, and this one, on British .303 cordite rounds. Or, just for fun, this one or this one.

� Secure this line!

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! �

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no matter how many of them lil tiny Frog bullets you surround the sterling Gen Washington with he will not yield

by jim b on January 12, 2006 11:17 AM

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I can see why the Quartermaster folks frowned on those things; they look *delicate*, i.e., easily banged up so that they won't work, as a consequence of just carrying them around in the field.

by Justthisguy on January 13, 2006 6:20 PM

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Umm, I shoulda wrote "Ordnance," above.

by Justthisguy on January 13, 2006 6:26 PM

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Nope. Those things are too small to dignify with that term!

by cw4(ret)billt on January 13, 2006 7:26 PM

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� Dismissed, Soldier!

by John on Jan 12, 2006

The Christmas Party of Argghhh!

For those who don't follow She Who Buys Me Machineguns' saga this holiday season will have missed the fact that the Armorer usually has 5 pretty fun Christmas Parties in the season. My firm's, Beth's firm's, Rotary, the client's, and the sub-section of client's (the guys I actually work with day-to-day, vice the whole organization).

The client, being government, everybody pays out-of-pocket for those. Rotary, being a fund-raiser, ya pay some more (but it's still a fun party). The corporate parties are paid for by the firms, with mebbe a kicker for spouses. I hate doing parties stag. Really hate it. Suffice it to say that this year, SWWBO's travel schedule has prevented her from going to *any* parties, and all the money we paid for her to attend... well, ain't getting any of it back. There's a used Lee-Enfield rifle-equivalent of our cash gone back into the economy as donations...

I did attend the Rotary party, and while I put in an appearance at my company party, my heart wasn't in it, and rather than paste on a happy face, I left early. As in during the cocktail hour, *before* dinner, after I had made nice with the Senior People. I just couldn't force myself continue to be pleasant, and *that* would have been rude to everybody, just being a depressed lump at the table, tapping my fingers waiting for everything to end. So I left. I spent more time driving to and from than I spent at the party itself. Sometimes the Armorer just isn't a people person.

So why all this recitation of that doom and gloom? Simple. KCSteve to the rescue! Steve is a reader who lives in the KC area and is a member of Missouri Carry. He invited me to their local Christmas party, held last night at the Total Range complex in St. Joseph, Missouri (just north of here, for those not up on their regional geography).

It was odd, being among a bunch of people who *really* know their modern stuff, given that the Armorer thinks anything younger than 35 or so years of age is a punk. I saw some *very* nice carry pieces, target pieces, a combat shotgun... all in hands of nice, polite, but *very* serious people. Steve's wife was there, and she's a live wire... Steve, like me, is a large, scary man with a beard. Unlike me, he's married to a very petite woman (SWWBO is *regular* sized). A very petite woman who likes to shoot her pistol... with a laser on it... and that laser dot doesn't move very much at all. I only wish I was as steady as she is... for those who remember the Lethal Weapon movie with Mel Gibson's character shooting the happy face on the target? This pistol-packin' momma can actually do it...

The range can take hiigh-powered rifles (though I didn't ask about .50's), and they have a combat shooting range inside - a shoot house. And they do force-on-force in there, too, with training ammo. That might be fun, if I get to feelin' the need to get shot at again. Definitely a venue under consideration for the Blog Shoot of Arggghhh! this spring.

I won the nonexistent prize for oldest weapon. Being the Armorer, I took something historical. In this case, Georg, the Luger.

For an 87 year old guy, Georg shoots pretty well, hampered only by the fact that his assistant isn't anywhere near as good as he is. No jams, functioned flawlessly with American Eagle fmj fodder, at 20 yards. For such a stubby barrel, Georg ain't too bad, though he takes a while to reload. Yeah, yeah, I know, get a loading tool. Heh. All of us older guys take a while to reload... but I digress.

The flyers in the 7 and 8 ring are all me in rapid fire. The trend left is a function of my glasses and lighting. I was paying attention to what I was doing with the trigger finger and grip. Shooting wearing progressive lenses is a challenge. If I was shooting competively, I'd get purpose made glasses for respective ranges.

For shooting bad guys in the parking lot at night... I think I have it down, even if I can't do a happy face.

Serious Timewaster

Especially if you'd like to spend some time getting some practice with sight pictures, and setting sights for competition weapons.

I lost an hour of my life here so far... and will no doubt lose more.

Euro Firearm Simulator.

Heh. Might be a way to work this into a Cyber-shoot...

Work safe for just about everybody but Ry.

Okay Pistol Grognards...

Any of you smart guys seen a M1911 with this modification before?

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

Hey! It's been too long.

Hey! 1.7 million kids live in homes with loaded guns! I think I'm supposed to be upset at that. I'll be upset if they are improperly stored loaded guns... otherwise, welcome to my world!

My son grew up in a house with guns. Lots of 'em. And not one shot was fired in the house! Whew! Dodged a bullet there, eh? Just dumb luck, I'm sure.

I originally started blogging about guns and gun collecting. Of course, when I saw all the people who did that so much better than I, I switched to politics. Boy, was that a bad idea. So, I drifted into general military stuff.

But by golly, it's been too long since the collection made an appearance!

So, how about the pistols?

There. I feel better now. Except, I need to add a new one!