Sunday, October 01, 2006

Boomsticks: Schooled.

Every time I get to feeling like a big, bad, knowledgeable military surplus rifle collector, two minutes with Google will remind me that I have a long way to go.

I am but an egg.
Posted by @

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's really interesting about this is the breadth and depth of knowledge collectors and enthusiasts have, and their willingness to share it.

I find it fascinating, but not at all surprising, that the ordinary actions of ordinary people ("here's a box of bolts, put 'em in those rifles and ship them") a century ago can be documented to such a degree.

Back In The Day there weren't modern Remington-like automated assembly lines turning out zillions of antiseptically-alike rifles, each with no variance in measurements from any other, but manufacture - not just of firearms, but nearly everything - was more like a very advanced cottage industry.

Decisions were made, on smaller lots, for sometimes arcane reasons, that we wrangle with and puzzle over several generations hence. And, for the most part, it gets puzzled out correctly, and we get insights about the actions, and thoughts, of ordinary people who never considered that their actions a century ago would have any impact down the road.

As a researcher and former History Major none of this is at all new to me, but I still find it fascinating.

Hang in there Tam, you, too, will someday become a member of The Priesthood.

7:30 AM, October 01, 2006
Anonymous said...

I'm nowhere near as knowledgable on milsurps as I want to be as I'm probably not focused enough on one particular type. I'm just an opportunist and have picked up my several dozen as I find them, if they're priced reasonably.

But a lot of the fun and pleasure that they bring me is the researching through the books and the net from more knowledgable on the history of these fine old warhorses.

My we never get tired of this.

Tokarev

2:25 PM, October 01, 2006
Isaac Coverstone said...

There's always someone who can humble you, no matter how high you think you've climbed. I'm not quite as serious about collecting as those guys seem to be, but I enjoy discussing old guns nonetheless.

8:22 PM, October 02, 2006

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