Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers;

This week’s firearm is the M1 Carbine

Prior to WWII the army realized the full-size M1 Garand was impractical for service oriented troops, like drivers, supply people, medics, etc. Alternative weapons such as the M1911 pistol or the Thompson machine gun were effective at close range but limited at 75 to 100 yards. The army decided a new weapon was needed. Something that didn’t add a lot of weight and would have a range of 300 yards.

The M1 Carbine filled the gap between short range pistols and the long range fire power of the M1 Garand. In 1938 the Army requested the Ordnance Department to develop a light rifle or carbine. This led to a competition in 1941 by a variety of manufacturers and designers. The prototype for the M1 were chambered for a new cartridge, .30 Carbine. This was smaller and lighter than the 7.62 (.308) or the .30-06 that was currently being used. The .30 Carbine round is straight walled and looks like a long pistol round or old style rifle round.

Through a variety of trials the M1 took on the Garand-style rotating bolt and operating rod style. Therefore, it looks like a scaled down M1 Garand. Aside from size another big difference was the M1 Carbine took a box magazine versus the enbloc clip used by the Garand.

There are several variants of the M1 Carbine including a folding stock, select fire and specialized scopes.

There were lots of manufacturers of the M1 Carbine:
General Motors/Inland
IBM
National Postal Meter
Quality Hardware and Machine
Rochester Defense
Rock-Ola Manufacturing
Standard Products
Underwood-Elliot-Fisher
Winchester

Mine is a GM, barrel dated 5/1945.

I have shot mine. I’m not sure how anyone got 300 yard shots off on it. I shoot it at 100 yards with no consistency with groups. It will get bullets down range quickly. Fun to shoot.

Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers,

Hey, how about those special ops guys? Awesome job!

How is it the Pakistani government or their intelligence services didn’t know bin Laden was living in the lap of luxury for the past 5 years? Of course they knew! Of the $3 billion per year Pakistan gets from you and me, the tax payer, they were motivated to keep bin laden alive. The dude was worth some coin. It wouldn’t surprise me that some of the $3 billion went to building his home. Can you freakin’ believe that! I can.

I don’t get it. The Federalies are getting ready to raise the debt ceiling to $14 trillion. How is it we can afford all our overseas activities? If we are going to be the international freedom cop then Europe and other countries need to pitch in. Otherwise, they can deal with their own problems.

Sure, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal. Yep, that frightens me. Russia, Europe and SE Asia need to kick in some resources. The word “never” is a long time. We will never get out of debt. Frankly, we don’t have to get out of debt as long as we can make debt payments. We can’t make our current payments so let’s charge more to the USA Credit Card.

I am so tired of these ass-clowns. My granddad told me a long time ago. “Boy, watch the hands of the magician, his words will only distract you.” Watch the actions of our government, don’t listen to their BS rhetoric. This goes for the clowns on both side of the aisle.

Firearm of the week: Japanese Nambu Type 14.

The Nambu was designed by a guy named Kijiro Nambu in the early 20th century. Hmm, this pistol looks a lot like the German Luger P08. Aside from its resemblance it operates differently than the P08. A few weeks back I wrote about the P08. The Luger is a toggle locking action. The Nambu is a recoil action similar to current semi-auto handguns today.

I have read the Nambu was not issued but Japanese military officers were expected to purchase their own pistols. While it was the most common sidearm of the Japanese, many officers acquired more reliable Western sidearms.

This pistol shot an anemic 8mm round. I try to own the appropriate cartridge for each of my firearms, even if I don’t plan to shoot it. The last time I saw these for sale at a gun show, $75 for a box of 20 or if I wanted just one little bullet, 5 bucks. Sorry, I don’t have an example of a bullet to show you.

Check out the serial numbers and the kanji on the side of the weapon. The symbols on the right side indicate the armory, serial number and the date of manufacturer.

My pistol was made at the Kokubunji Factory under the supervision of the Nagoya Arsenal. Check out the date of manufacture: 18.12. This number means the 12 month of the 18th year of Hirohito’s reign. Take 1925, add 18 to it and you have the date of manufacture: December, 1943.

Enjoy the Nambu.

Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers,

I was prepared to write about the Japanese Nambu pistol this week, but you will have to wait until next week.

This weekend I went to a friend’s house and he showed me two old pistols he had. Both pistols had significant family ties to my friend. While I’m not a weapon expert, I have seen a lot of guns, I have never seen either of these before.

To understand the story a bit, as I was looking over the one pistol, single shot .22 in which the bolt pivoted to the side. You put a .22 round in the chamber then twisted the bolt in to place. Kind of crude, but very cool. The first thing I do when looking at a firearm is inspect it for markings, serial numbers, etc. I could faintly make out the manufacturer and we looked it up on the internet.

This pistol belonged to my buddy’s ex-father-in-law. He has a picture of the him carrying the pistol in Korea. We did a little research on the pistol and below is a copy of the email he sent to his kids about Cleve’s gun. Cleve must have been an interesting man. Grew up dirt poor but became a civil engineer which was his job in the military. Very creative guy as you will read below.

Big Mullet

Gentlemen,

When you found Cleve’s gun and holster at your grandmother’s house when she moved to the nursing home, along with a picture of him wearing it in Korea, we all thought that was pretty cool. A friend was at the house yesterday and gave me some insights to the history of the gun. After doing some research, I have concluded that this may be the greatest “Cleveism” of all time.

I have included pictures, but don’t look at them just yet. Look at them as you read this letter.

We all knew that the holster was clearly not made for that gun. See pic 291. He undid the stitching to allow the gun to fit in. The handle just didn’t make any sense to me though.

(Picture 291)

Next let’s look at the gun again, see pic 295 It is a single shot 22 caliber. On the gun it says H. M. Quackenbush Herkimer NY USA. See pic 285.

(Picture 295)

(Picture 285)

Now let’s look at the handle. You can see on the bottom it looks like it was wood that was then covered in some malleable metal. See pic 273. You can even make out what I think is a phillips head screw that is holding the metal to the wood.

(Picture 273)

Moving up the handle, there is a faint bronzish colored part of a circle showing through the gray metal. Pic 272 My best guess is that it is a finishing washer and another wood screw, again holding the outer metal to the wood.

(Picture 272)

OK, now for the revelation. Check out this picture on the Quackenbush website. http://www.quackenbush.com/hmq/hmq.html The lower picture is their 22 caliber rifle!

(From http://www.quackenbush.com/)

Remember that in the engineer corps of the Army, they did not give the officers or enlisted men arms. Apparently Cleve decided he needed to carry something, but decided that a rifle would be too unhandy. So, true to what we would expect, he took an old rifle and redid it. First he cut the barrel off. You can see that the end of the barrel never had the nickel plating on it that the rest of the gun did. Then he knocked the back sight off the remaining barrel. You can see the notch where it had been located.

Now he cut the stock off and probably sawed off some of the metal too. The wood you can see on the end looks to me to be some sort of Asian hardwood. At first I thought it was walnut but then when I figured out what was going on it looked more like some of the weird woods I have been buying to make pens out of. Not sure what it is for sure, but relatively certain it is not North American.

The bronzish fastener at the top is probably some sort of through bolt holding the wood onto the original gun metal. I suspect that if we took the covering metal off the handle we would find another one on the other side of the handle.

The covering metal on the handle appears to be lead, but it seems a little too hard to be lead. He might have found (or made) some alloy that would have worked better.

This is absolutely classic Cleve.

Love,

Dad

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers,

This week’s firearm of the week is the Browning Hi-Power. The Hi-Power is based on a design by the American firearms inventor John Browning. Browning died in 1926, so Dieudonne’ Saive at Fabrique Nationale or FN completed the design. FN is located in Herstal, Belgium.

Mr. Saive was a firearms genius in his own right. He improved many of John Browning’s designs. Saive designed the FN Model 1949, which was the Firearm of the Week a few months ago. He also developed the FN FAL which continues to used by many countries.

The Browning Hi-Power was the first 9 mm handgun to use a true staggered column magazine. With 13 rounds in the mag and 1 in the chamber it carried nearly twice the capacity of the Colt 1911 or the Luger P08.

Browning started on the design around 1923 and Saive completed it and began manufacturing in 1934. It was adopted in 1935. Sometimes it has been referred to as Browning P-35.

Browning Hi-Power pistols were used during World War II by both Allied and Axis forces. After occupying Belgium in 1940, German forces took over the FN plant. German troops subsequently used the Hi-Power, having assigned it the designation Pistole 640(b) ("b" for belgisch, "Belgian"). Examples produced by FN in Belgium under German occupation bear German inspection and acceptance marks, or Waffenamts, such as WaA613. In German service, it was used mainly by Waffen-SS and Fallschirmjäger personnel.

The Hi-Power was a sales success, and was extensively used in World War II by German and British Commonwealth forces. After the war, the Browning Hi-Power was adopted as the standard military service sidearm of many Western countries, including the United Kingdom and Belgium. Modern versions remain in production today, three-quarters of a century later.

I purchased mine, NIB around 1979. It is a Belgian made pistol and is just a great weapon. It has become the standard by which modern pistols are designed.

Remember from last week, the Walther P-38 and this week the Hi-Power. Virtually all your modern handguns incorporate high capacity magazines and are double action P-38. Over 70 years ago these technologies were being incorporated into pistol designs.

Have you repeated the Pledge of Allegiance lately?

Blessing,
Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Well, Liberty Lovers; once again our government is playing games. I was tired of hearing about who the winner and the loser was over the budget battle. There was only one loser, the American public. Folks, we have to hold our leadership to a higher standard. We must get these friggin’ jokers out of there and elect people who are willing to sacrifice their next term in office to effect real change.

Let’s get to some fun stuff, The Fire Arm of the Week. The only thing cooler would be to have one of BillyBob’s smoking hot beauties pose with one of these bad boys.

The Walther P38 is a 9 mm pistol that was developed by Walther as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08. The P38 was designed in 1938 and was manufactured from 1939 until 1945.

The pistol was the first double action combat handgun and was produced during the war by Walther, Mauser, and Spreewerk. British Special Forces often used captured P-38s due to their reliability.

The P38 uses a double action trigger design similar to that of the earlier Walther PPKs, and had a loaded chamber indicator. The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double-action trigger. The shooter could load a round into the chamber, use the de-cocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded with the hammer down. A pull of the trigger, with the hammer down, fired the first shot and the operation of the pistol ejected the fired round and reloaded a fresh round into the chamber. These are features found on most modern semi-automatic pistols. The P38 was ahead of its time when produced nearly 70 years ago.

The P38 and its variants have been used by military and law enforcement around the world. Excellent examples of the P38 are available today for collecting. You can find P38’s in the $600 to $1,000 range. If you can find an original holster it would add much to the value of your collection. After market holsters are readily available.

My P38 was manufactured in 1941 by Walther. You can see the markings on the left side of the weapon. Look carefully at the second picture and you can see the Nazi Waffenmant marks. These are proof marks that indicated the weapon was inspected and often tells what branch of the military the weapon was designed for. You find Waffenmant marks on almost every German military weapon manufactured from the mid-1930s to mid-1940’s.

Protect your liberties, Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers,

The Firearm of the week is the German P08 Luger. The unique toggle-locked design was patented by Georg J. Luger in 1898. The Luger was made popular by its wide spread by Germany during World War I and World War II.

The Luger was the first pistol for which the 9mm parabellum cartridge was developed. The 9mm continues to be a very popular cartridge today and is the round US Forces use in their Beretta side arms.

I have always wondered what parabellum means? The Germans used the term to name a number of their cartridges. Parabellum in the Latin saying si vis pacem, para bellum means If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

There are several variations of the P08, the German Navy adopted a 6” barrel version, called Pistole 04. The German army adopted the 4” barrel version, called the Pistole 08. The Lange Pistole 08 was adopted by the artillery corps, which had an 8” barrel, a stock that attached to the hand grip and even a high capacity drum magazine.

The P08 Luger was eventually replaced by the Walther P38 which will be next week’s FAOTW.

Lugers were prized by allied soldiers during WWII. Thousands were brought back to America and are still in circulation today. William “Bill” Ruger liked the 55 degree angled grip and duplicated it in his .22 LR pistol. Check out Ruger’s Mark III series .22 LR pistols to see the similarities.

My P08 was made in Erfurt, Germany in 1918. I have the original leather holster that goes with it (not pictured). You can see on the toggle, Germany’s Imperial Crest. Once the Nazi party came to power, then Nazi markings were stamped on the weapon. The P08 is well designed, well made and accurate shooters. Who would have thought the 9mm para would still be around after nearly 100 years?

Protect your liberties, Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings Liberty Lovers,

This week’s FOTW is the Model 1909 Colt .45 Revolver.

To appreciate this weapon, we must go back in time to the Spanish American War.

On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in the Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The U.S. also supported the ongoing struggle of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines for independence against Spanish rule.

This would be the first war fought overseas by the United States and it involved campaigns in both Cuba and the Philippine Islands.

In December 1898, the U.S. purchased the Philippines from Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris for the sum of $20 million, after the U.S. defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War. The U.S. government made plans to make the Philippines an American colony. However, the Filipinos, fighting for independence from Spain since 1896 had different plans and already declared independence on June 12, 1898, and had considered the Americans allies.

On August 14, 1898, 11,000 American ground troops were sent to occupy the Philippines; they were successful in defeating the Philippine Army in just over three years time, though sporadic fighting continued on to 1913.

Now, it is my understanding the standard issue sidearm was not adequate for jungle fighting and fighting the Moro’s people. The Moros were Muslim and for the most part not part of mainstream society in the Philippines.

The US realized the standard issue .38 Special was not adequate to bring down the jungle people who were often chewing the nut of the Areca palm. The locals would wrap the nut around a betel leaf and would become a mild stimulant. They needed a different weapon. John C. Browning had developed the Colt 1911, but it was being tested and had not been officially adopted by the Army.

The War Department placed initial orders for 6000 New Service revolvers Caliber .45, on December 17, 1908. These revolvers were intended as an interim solution to the lack of pistols created by the trials for the 1911 pistol and to provide for immediate needs in the Philippine Islands. They were officially designated as" Colt's Double-Action Revolver, Caliber .45, Model of 1909". The marking "U.S. ARMY MODEL 1909, No (Serial Number)" The serial number marked on the butt was the same number as was stamped under the crane on the receiver as well as on the crane. The cylinder latch was marked on the rear with the last 4 digits of the serial number. The stocks were hand numbered inside as well as marked on the butt with the inspectors initials "RAC" (Renaldo A. Carr.) The right side of the receiver was also marked with the initials of the inspector as well as with those of the "Army Inspector of Ordnance". Additional orders were placed in 1910 and 1911 for a grand total of 19,503 pistols. The pistols were serial numbered from 30001 through 49503. Pistols through serial number 42800 were accepted by the "Army Inspector of Ordnance" Colonel Frank Baker (F.B.) and the remaining pistols were accepted by Major Walter G. Penfield (W.G.P.) 350 of these pistols were shipped to Springfield Armory and the remainder (19153 pistols) were shipped to the Manila Ordnance Depot in the Philippine Islands. This revolver was designed to fire a cartridge similar to the "Caliber .45 Long Colt" but with a wider rim to insure extraction.

Here’s a few pictures of my US Army 1909.

Enjoy, Big Mullet

Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings liberty lovers.

For the past several weeks I have been bringing you military rifles. I thought I would do something different this week for the Firearm of the Week.

The Colt Python Revolver

Not just because it is mine, the Python is arguably one of the finest revolvers ever made.

The Colt Python was first introduced in 1955 as Colt's top-of-the-line model it was designed by Matthew Ratcliffe and was originally intended to be a large-frame 38 Special target revolver. It features precision adjustable sights, a smooth trigger, solid construction, and extra metal. Pythons have a distinct appearance due to a full barrel underlug, ventilated rib and adjustable sights. When the revolver is at full cock, just as the trigger is pressed, the cylinder locks up for the duration of the hammer strike. Other revolvers have a hint of looseness even at full-cock. The gap between the cylinder and forcing cone is very tight, further aiding accuracy and velocity. I have read each Python revolver was boresighted at the factory with a laser and was the first mass-produced revolver to do so. I didn’t think they had industrial lasers in 1955. Anyway, it’s a cool thought.

Unfortunately, Colt announced the end of its production of the Python in October, 1999. You can find Pythons for sale at gun shows and auction sites. They seem to sell for $1,200 to $1,500 or more depending on condition. I purchased mine NIB in 1980. Competed with it for a short while and haven’t shot it in 25 years. It’s a beauty…

In the coming weeks, I have a few more pistols for you then we’ll switch back and look at some 120 year military stuff.

Big Mullet

Firearm of the week - Posted for Big Mullet

Greetings, Liberty Lovers…

This weeks’ firearm is the SMLE. Hey, Big Mullet, What is an SMLE? SMLE stands for Short Magazine Lee Enfield. It is more commonly called the Lee Enfield or Smelly. Look at the pictures of my SMLE below. Notice how the stock goes almost to the very end of the rifle. This design is what gives the Lee Enfield its distinctive look.

The Lee – Enfield gets its name from James Paris Lee, who designed the bolt system in the 1880’s. Enfield comes from the city the rifle was made.

The Enfield shoots a .303 caliber Mk VII SSA Ball, often referred to as .303 British or just “Three O three”. This round is readily available and if you are a reloader, like the Mullet, dies are easily to come by.

The roots of this rifle go back to the late 20th century. Some form of this rifle has been in use for over a hundred years, from the Boer War to when the British were in Afghanistan, not this time.

What made this rifle unique in its time, the magazine held 10 rounds of the powerful “three O three”.

Most rifles of the time, especially bolt action rifles, were 5 or 6 rounds. In the hands of an experienced British soldier, he could put 20 to 30 rounds per minute down range double that of other military rifles.

There are several variants of the SMLE. Mine is a SMLE No. 4 MK 2 which was manufactured in 1954.

The second picture of my Enfield is out of focus. Not only can’t Big Mullet hear, he can’t see either. Anway, if you look carefully on the receiver, you will see model number No. 4 Mk2 (F). Below the model number is the date of manufacture, 1/54 or January 1954. Next to the date is PF and serial number.

PF stands for Fazakerley. Which was the Royal Ordnance Factory for my rifle. Fazakerley is near Liverpool.

Both BillyBob and me have shot this rifle. The bolt action is awesome. The 303 shoots like the .308 or 7.5 Swiss. You know you are shooting a battlefield weapon.

I mentioned in an earlier post about historic gun day at the range. We drag out all our WW I and WW II weapons and see what we can do with them.

(Added by BillyBob - Here a picture of the SMLE in action from Historic Gun Day)

For me the best part of collecting is not just shooting them. I love the history behind these weapons. I want the appropriate sling and bayonet that came with the firearm; I run down the serial number and try to find its provenance. Most of all, I like taking them apart, see how they work and cleaning them up.

Other than cleaning the stock with Murphy’s wood soap, I don’t EVER refinish the stock. I love the character each stock has with all its dents, dings and rubs.

 

If you are a WW I or WW II weapons collector the SMLE should be part of your collection.

Blessings, Big Mullet



Firearm of the Week - Posted for Big Mullet

The firearm of the week is the Karabiner Model 1931 or K31. The K31 is magazine-fed, straight-pull bolt-action rifle. It was the standard issue rifle of the Swiss armed forces from 1933 until 1958, though examples remained in service into the 1970s. It has a 6-round removable magazine, and is chambered for the 7.5x55mm Swiss (also known as Gewehrpatrone 1911, GP11, or unofficially 7.5x55mm Schmidt Rubin), this round is similar to the .308 Winchester cartridge. Each rifle included a 6 round detachable box magazine with matching engraved serial number. A stripper clip loads the magazine from the top of the receiver.

There is an old joke that I will get wrong; a German officer was talking to the Swiss officer about what the Swiss will do when Germany sends 10 million soldiers into Switzerland? The Swiss officer responded my 1 million soldiers will fire 10 times then go home.

The K31 is an awesome rifle. They are very well made, “like a Swiss watch”, very accurate and fun to shoot. The barrel is a 1 in 10.5” twist. My AR 10 target rifle is 1 in 11. The bolt operation is unique on these. In the picture below you are looking down on the bolt assembly. You pull straight back to eject and push forward to feed a new round in the chamber. Very fast. The little ring looking thing to the left of the bolt is part of the firing pin assembly. Pulled out, the weapon is cocked. You can turn it 90 degrees to put the weapon on safe. The trigger action is just as smooth and crisp as my 1903.

Google this weapon to learn a lot more about its history.

The first time I shot my K31, we started at 100 yards not knowing anything about where it would hit. We were on the paper first time. I adjusted the front sight slightly for windage and was quickly zeroed in. There is no fun shooting 100 yards so we went to 200 yards, iron sights and easily hitting inside a 9” paper plate. I love this gun.

The Swiss were long believers in non-corrosive primers and powder. Any gun you buy is going to be in good shape unless the prior owner abused it. The 7.5 Swiss or GP 11 ammo is readily available, it is mostly milsurp stuff. Midway USA, Natchez Shooters Supply and many others carry the ammo. It’s about $35 for 60 rounds. Not cheap but not crazy either.

The very cool thing about this rifle is you can own one for about $300. Whether you are a collector, target shooter or hunter you will not be disappointed in this firearm. If you have your C&R collectors license you can get one sent to your front door or transfer it through your local FFL.

Check out http://www.jgsales.com/, go to http://www.gunbroker.com/ or http://www.auctionarms.com// ; look on the web and check around for availability and pricing.

As an added bonus, I read that the Swiss service guy the rifle was issued to put a tag under the butt plate with his name, unit, date, etc. Sure enough, I removed the butt plate and there was a tag with all the information about the guy who this weapon was issued.

Here are some pics of mine:

The above pic was taken at our historic rifle day at the range.  We shot the K31, M1 Garand, Lee Enfield .303 and the Mosin Nagan Model 1944 carbine.  The M1944 is a butt buster to shoot.  It gave me E.D. for two weeks.

Happy shoot’n, Big Mullet

Firearm of the week

BillyBob got tired of my political commentary and wanted me to do something fun. Here goes.

The firearm of the week is one of the greatest battlefield rifles ever. The M1 Garand!

The Garand was developed in the mid-1930's by John C. Garand. Garand was a Canadian by birth and moved to the US early in his life. He worked in the textile industry early in his career. He was a tinkerer and a target shooter which led him to designing firearms. The US army tasked him to develop a semi-automatic firearm. The .30 M1 was the first ever semi-automatic rifle to be issued to any infantry. It replaced the M1903 bolt action. However, the M1903 saw use in WW II, Korea and Vietnam.

The Garand was called "the greatest battle implement ever devised", by General George S. Patton.

What made it the greatest battle implement ever devised? Early in WW II the Germans were using K98 bolts and the Japanese, Arasaka bolts. The German K98, developed in 1935, is an awesome rifle, very well made and had 30 to 40 years of solid technology behind it. However, being a bolt action with 5 rounds, a great marksman might get 10 - 12 shots down range a minute.

Enter the .30 M1. It has an 8 round en bloc internal clip. In the hands of a well trained soldier, it could produce 40 to 50 rounds accurately. So, 10 rounds out of a K98 or Arasaka or 40 rounds from the ass kicking .30-06.

Garands were produced up until the mid-1950's. These rifles are still available. Visit http://www.odcmp.com/. This is the site for the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Depending on inventory and grading you can purchase directly from the CMP once your application is approved. .30-06 military surplus ammo is readily available too.

The above picture is my rifle. It is a great shooter, easy to field strip and darn accurate out to 400 yards.

Big Mullet