Bobbi X: "Oh, a Maxim gun! Whatever happens we have got/The Maxim gun and they have not!"
Me: "...and, really, who doesn't want a Maxim gun?"
Shootin' Buddy: "Not me. You buy a gun; you marry a machine gun. If I wanted to load belts, schlep belts, drag tripods, and clean machine guns, I'd have joined the army."
Further down the same aisle, I spotted a gorgeous Euroweenie-style combination gun: 16ga over 8x57, beautifully figured walnut, tastefully engraved, price tag like a decent used car...
Me: "Ooh! Look!"
SB: "Eh. Not really really something I'd use."
Me: "I wasn't trying to sell you on it; it just makes me happy that things like that exist in this world."
19 comments:
I was on call so didn't go. I talked to Mycroft Holmes on the phone and he saw you guys there across the room. I'm wanting the new XDM in 9 mm but don't want to spend the money with vacation coming up in two weeks.
Sounds like a good time.
I like belts, especially the old fabric ones. The metal ones are heavier, but that is hardly noticable for .50BMG rounds.
And as a matter of fact, once, long ago, I did join the Army. My commission was signed by Ford.
Famous last message from somewhere in East Africa, late 19th century: "The Captains's dead, the Maxim's jammed....".
Shootin' Buddy picked a branch of the service that promised to let him die in clean clothes and with a full tummy. ;)
"Shootin' Buddy picked a branch of the service that promised to let him die in clean clothes and with a full tummy. ;)"
Not only that Tam, we generally made our officers do the fighting.
Well, at least us Airdales did.
SB sounds like such a downer at shows... then again I'm pretty guilty of that too.
Buddy:"Hey, cool. Fred, you've got a CETME, this thing any good?"
Me:"Well, yeah..." takes a look... "well the welds look like shit, but that's normal for Century..." flip it over and peer in the mag well... "and it's got a ground bolt, so you'd need to replace that before I'd let you shoot it, not to mention that he's asking G3 price for it."
Buddy:"Oh..."
Oh, everybody's a downer about different things.
I can walk past a table piled high with Glocks and SIGs and new guns of every stripe and just not pay them any mind, because in my mind, that's stuff you just pick up the phone and order from a distributor. Who cares? You seen one XD or Kimber, you've seen them all.
On the other hand, I could stand entranced in front of a table full of top-break Smiths, rusty bayonets, and Mauser sporters with schnabel forends and set triggers...
Heh, she said schnabel....
Actually, I have TWO combination guns;i.e. Drillings and I FIND them quite practical (before deer season in Indiana). One is get-your-best-party-clothes-out kind of gun and the other is used often. Got the 2nd gun in Birmingham, England for 200 Quid ($300 at the time). Enjoy them immensely and feel in this country most of them are underpriced.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Frank,
The gun I got all pitter-patter about at the show was actually fairly mundane and domestic: I saw a No.1 in 9.3x74R, and it made me feel all squishy and in love and stuff...
Uh, actually, Ed, its:
"The sand of the desert is golden Red
Red with the wreck of the square that broke
The gatlings jammed and the colonel dead
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke"
Ahhh, if all my friends were ga-ga and bleh in lock step with me, I'd still be shooting nothing but .357, 30-06 and 12ga.
That's what kids are for ... to load up belts for the MG.
It only took one loading of an Uzi clip to vanish in 3 seconds to realize that I didn't want that amount of work on a regular basis.
Perhaps a recent Webley import, or a top break Smith, however...
Yeah, for the "common" guns the best thing a gunshow gives is ergonomics.
It's not as good as taking a rental or a friend's gun to the range, but at least you know the size and weight before you place a mail order.
There were a fair number of neat looking Model 4 top breaks. No Model 3's alas.
The gun at the show that really got my attention was an over-under 54 cal flintlock. It was one of those that had a single hammer and rotated the pans and barrels. Nice piece, heavy though.
I was able to get some A-zoom caps and some cowboy rounds myself.
JohnW, full kudoes. I had to research it to find the original quote. I sit corrected.
To be correct, the British square wasn't broken at the battle of Tamai, at least by the Hadendoa, Kiplings "Fuzzy-Wuzzies".
It was broken by a moronic Scottish general named Graham, who detached the Black Watch regiment and sent them on a bayonet assault against a ravine filled with Hadendoa.
Unfortunately, there were many thousands of them, and they leaked around the Highlanders and raced into the gap they had left in the square.
The other three side of the square broke up into small groups and bayonetted their way to the remaining square, while dismounted cavalry put a brutal flanking fire into the Hadendoa.
British losses were 120 men killed, Hadendoa 4,000 killed.
It actually was a rather complete victory, but the political opposition (including Kipling) blew the losses all up out of proportion to make the Gladstone administration look bad, and used it to force a British withdrawal from the area.
Essentially a 19th century British press coverage of Viet Nam or Somalia. Win all the battles at the front, but lose public support at home and use it to facilitate regime change.
Still, the Hadendoa took two thirds killed and virtually all the remainder wounded before they limped off the field. Serious cookies there.
Or as Kipling put it:'E rushes at the smoke when we let drive,
An', before we know, 'e's 'ackin' at our 'ead;
'E's all 'ot sand an' ginger when alive,
An' 'e's generally shammin' when 'e's dead.
'E's a daisy, 'e's a ducky, 'e's a lamb!
'E's a injia-rubber idiot on the spree,
'E's the on'y thing that doesn't give a damn
For a Regiment o' British Infantree!
So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man.
I picked up a P22 as a trainer for the girls, but I didn't see the conversion kits.
I did see several Colt Mustanges (Massachusettes spelling) and a couple of Government 380s. I have trouble believing that they actually sell them at those prices ($550 - $800).
Very crowded, but (as usual) everyone was very polite.
Assuming that I had any money, if I were thinking of buying a machine gun, the first question I would ask myself would be, "What is the rate of fire of this thing in dollars per minute?"
Having to pay for the ammo yerself is an incentive to learn good marksmanship.
And fire discipline.
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