I dreamed I was living someplace that looked very like the Pacific Northwet, and I was interviewing for a job with this start-up company that used all kinds of rapid prototyping and CNC machining technologies (some of which only existed in my dream) to make all kinds of whimsical and one-off firearms designs to the customer's order.
Basically, you'd sit down with your consultant, a computer monitor, and stacks of books, and spec out this fantastical piece of your dreams. Within an hour or so, voila! The elves in the back room workshop would have it done and roll your .22 Gatling pistol or full-auto double-barrel bullpup shotgun out into the showroom on a wheeled cart and whip the white sheet off in a dramatic reveal.
I really, really wanted that gig.
The dream was probably inspired by the fact that this one guy who sets up at the Indy 1500 who always has interesting stuff, from Bulldog Gatlings and 8-bore underlever doubles to StG44s, had a Fuchs .416 bolt-action double rifle sitting there with the bolt out where you could see the mechanical weirdness and wonder.
"Pacific Northwet"
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it's intentional, or just a hilariously appropriate malapropism.
Either way, a good thing to wake up to.
Two things -
ReplyDelete1) That dream job sounds like my dream job too.
2) That funshow booth sounds AWESOME.
-Rob
It is not lost on me that the bolt double inventor has a name that is pronounced "Sexy"
ReplyDeleteAs for cnc tech, let me know what you want to see and I'll show it to you. No cnc/additive manufacturing process you can imagine does not exist. In fact, if you're willing to hang out on someoene's couch, I can show it all to you in person up close at IMTS, the second week of September. Mr B, Brigid, and I all have spare rooms or couches.
"Hungarian inventor Joseph Szecsei developed his innovative design after being charged simultaneously by three elephants in 1989."
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting day in Africa.
Al_in_Ottawa
That's an exceptionally beautiful rifle, but the description amazes me.
ReplyDeleteIt says it was invented in 1989. That blows me away. I thought all of the bolt action technologies were invented long ago.
When you get that job, I'd like to be on record as your very first order: I want a 4.5" barrelled 1911 built to minimum dimensions to run the 9mm Parabellum round .... the Sprinfield EMP has the frame length right, but the slide is way larger than needed- they made it big enough for a .45 (45 GAP, in fact) ..... and I want the barrel threaded .... got it? Let me know what that'll run me, please .....
ReplyDeletejimbob86
"Hungarian inventor Joseph Szecsei developed his innovative design after being charged simultaneously by three elephants in 1989."
ReplyDeleteHoly cannoli.
I'm too Szecsi for my gun.
ReplyDeleteNone of my business, certainly, but you're missing a bet if you don't take Og up on his offer.
ReplyDeleteIf it exists, or will soon, in the precision manufacturing world, it will be at IMTS somewhere. One may have to dig for it, and assume the geeks far outnumber the suits (some of the geeks will be wearing suits, so pay attention to Corporate Camouflage). It's not a big community, but a rather powerful one.
The IMTS folks are selling their stuff to Those Who Will Use it, which is where the real value is. Those are the people who can one-off Jimbob86's custom 1911 - or damn near anything else, for that matter - before lunch.
"Pacific Northwet"
ReplyDeleteHah! I wish. Being June now it won't be wet again here until early September. Time to set up an irrigation system for my deck garden.
Can I claim a place in line for the custom gun? Short arms and stubby fat fingers don't work well on most non-customizable rifles. I'd love to finally have something that fits perfect, physically, with ammo that doesn't cost the same as a full tank of gas for 30 minutes of shooting.
Can you say "Kickstarter"?
ReplyDeleteHello and I'm tam, and I want to set up a CNC custom gun shop called "SN 1" where YOU design the gun of your dreams.....
The Pacific Northwet is all west of the Cascades. Here between the Cascades and the Rockies it is perfectly sublime. The eastern-most portion of the Palouse Region is as much like The Shire as you'll find. Four distinct seasons. Mountains on one side and miles and miles of rolling farm fields on the other, punctuated by lakes, small towns and little rivers. -- Lyle
ReplyDeleteIn Spokane myself. Couldn't agree more, but do you really have to advertise?
DeletePay no attention to what Patti said. It rains here constantly. We need SCUBA gear to get to work. We don't really have cats or dogs, just seals and otters.
ReplyDeleteYou don't want to move here.
Especially if you're from California and are likely to miss it's regulatory environment.
As for the "dream job", is this a dreamier dream job than the one where you were going to curate a private gun collection, with range privileges?
Someone will make a decent living with the SN1 idea.
ReplyDeleteJust doing custom guns is only the start for the SN1 idea. Think grails. Who wouldn't want a new copy of something like an artillary Luger or early model Hi Power with no historical value to make you feel guilty when you use and abuse it at the range?
ReplyDeleteTotally cool business idea! And with the latest prototyping technologies, it's even plausible, though you would need that team of elves to handle the fiddly details.
ReplyDeleteI've had some nifty ideas over the years, from a modernized toggle-top to an Elvish dress pistol, and somehow never quite got around to trying to make them.
Of course, the idea of one-off custom guns would get all the right people all bent out of shape. Bonus!
Well, to clarify, it's the west side of the Cascades that lives up to the name of "Northwet". I'd write up a good way to describe the east side where I live, but I've got to go harvest the windtraps and milk the Sandworm.
ReplyDeleteLarry Niven's Moties from beyond the cloud already have that customization of firearms business sewed up tight.
ReplyDeleteYour elves in the back room must be union-busting scabs brought in to break the monopoly on customization.
My Gawd this is a perfect companion to my dream - where someone makes a lever-action 410 or 20 ga shotgun in pistol-grip form, and the action is as smooth as butter.
ReplyDeleteProblem is I have never owned a lever-action, But lately I think one would be useful (reason: "because").
So if someone knows of such a beast, please let me know. I have seen 12 ga monsters, but frankly they seem uncomfortable. I just want something nice that can survive the labors of a modern cowboy/farm hand: working all day from a tractor with a simple gun slung over his back.
FWIW, the coyotes in my Maryland county are officially much heavier than the ones out west. Ours bred with wolves according to genetic tests, and I have lost 20 livestock to them in the past month. County animal control tells me they are growing in number and size and must be shot on sight.
So Tam's dream is kinda mine: I want a lever-action (safe as hell) pistol grip shotgun under 12 ga than can blast a coyote, raccoon or possum at 35 yards or better. I want it to fit across my back and not fall beneath my ass on the tractor. I just want the gun there, without thinking about it.
And I want it now.
I wish Tam's dream were real...
I'll take a broomhandle "blaster" a-la Han Solo's in Star Wars Ep iv. Q working broomhandle Mauser in .40 S&W to go with the Mauser HSc in .380 auto and the belt fed electric gattling .22 for squirrel and possum.
ReplyDeleteAm I advertising? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteBut I figure that the more hostile and unforgiving I make the east side sound, the fewer idiots we'll have migrating over from the west side.