A warning to those who would oppose the American Gun Owner

I decided to write this blog post, not just as a warning or to chest thump, but to reflect on the power American  gun owners (AGOs) posses.

We should never forget what the gun owners, lead by the NRA and GOA did in 1994 after the passage of the unconstitutional "Assault Weapons Ban".
The following November ('94 Mid-Term Elections) became known as the "Republican Revolution".

In that election, nearly every Democrat running for re-election lost their seat and was replaced by a Pro-gun Republican. 
 This includes the Speaker of the House Tom Foley. He was the 1st sitting Speaker to loose a reelection since the Civil War.
Yet every Republican running for re-election held their seat.

In 2012, Debra Maggart of Tennessee, a Republican with a strong pro-Second Amendment record, went against a gun rights bill. In the next election she lost her support from the NRA and the NRA supported a newcomer in the Primary. Debra lost the primary by more than 16 percentage points. 

Over in Colorado, two Democrats lost their seats in the State Senate by way of recall. These two Democrats were behind a new bill that limited magazine capacity and required background checks on private sales of firearms.
Despite Bloomberg and his minions far outspending the recall effort (pouring more than $3 Million in to it) in the effort to save the Anti-gun Democrats, they still went home jobless.

Last year gun writer Dick Metcalf penned an article in Guns and Ammo Magazine, questioning whether or not we should cave into demands for restrictions on our Second Amendment Rights. The outrage was universal, Mr. Metcalf was immediately set free in the market place (although he will probably have to write reviews of floor mats now). In addition the editor in chief of Guns and Ammo also stepped down, admitting poor judgement in allowing the article to be published.
Guns and Ammo offered a quick apology (lest they suffer the full wrath of the AGOs) saying that "....Guns and Ammo will never fail to vigorously lead the struggle for our Second Amendment rights"

A similar fate hit Jim Zumbo who voiced his support for semi-auto gun bans....his show was canceled and he is no longer being heard from.

Jerry Tsai, editor of Recoil Magazine, suffered for his comments that full-auto guns should never be made available to the public. Advertisers pulled their spots, subscribers cancelled their subscriptions and ol' Jerry was forced to resign his post.

In 2008 Dan Cooper of Cooper Firearms in Montana was removed from his post as CEO of the company due to his support of Obama and his policies (which include gun restrictions and bans).

 Perhaps some of you remember what happened to Smith & Wesson in the year 2000. If not, let me fill you in:
In 1987 Smith & Wesson was bought by a British engineering firm called Tompkins PLC (from Bangor Punta) for the sum of 112 Million Dollars.
These Brits were completely unaware of the power the American Gun Owners wielded and in March of 2000, they made a deal with the devil.
The devil of course was the Democrat (read Communist) in the White House, Mr. Bill Clinton.
 
Tompkins agreed to limits on production & distribution, limits on sales as well as design changes (for the children don'tcha know...). In exchange Smith & Wesson would be granted immunity from the numerous lawsuits from "victims of gun violence" . You may remember Republican George W Bush signed a law that prevents people from suing gun companies for the actions of criminals( The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act).

Gun clubs, gun rights groups and gun owners across America boycotted Smith & Wesson products. Sales dropped by more than 40%. Tompkins was forced to suspend production at some of the S&W plants, laying off employees.

Saf-T-Hammer (a contractor the worked with S&W) along with some other investors, offered to buy Smith & Wesson. Tompkins was forced to sell the company for a paltry 15 Million Quid....
The new company was called Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (SWHC).
The Tompkins folks had to hitch a ride back across the pond with their tails between their legs.  
The new company (SWHC) renounced the agreement publicly and rebuilt Smith & Wesson's standing with the AGOs. Between 2003 and 2013, S&W's sales grew five fold.

On a similar note, the 2013 Eastern Sports and Outdoor show was cancelled when the organizers (Reed Exhibitions) decided to disallow the sale or display of black rifles and high capacity magazines at the show. Cablea's immediately pulled out, quickly followed by nearly all the vendors/sponsors. 
The cascading effect concluded with the show being cancelled. The dirt-bag organizers refused to admit their mistake, saying "....the atmosphere of this year’s show would not be conducive to an event that is designed to provide family enjoyment." Whatever the hell that is supposed to mean...
The economical impact to the surrounding community of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania was said to be in excess of $80 million.

The NRA took over the organizing of the show, now called "The Great American Outdoor Show", the 2014 event was one of the biggest in the 60+ year history with over 200,000 attendees.

In other news dozens of gun makers have been moving from anti-gun states and settling in more gun friendly states like Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina. The Exodus will take jobs and tax money from anti-gun states and put it where the employees and politicians are American Gun Owners.


Now there are rumblings amidst the American Gun Owning public of boycotting Remington because they accepted a large order ($80 Million worth) of rifles from The State of New York. 

There has been a growing list of manufactures that have sworn to refuse to sell guns to the State of New York or any municipality residing in New York. 
While Remington said the contract had been in the works for several years, long before New York passed the unconstitutional S.A.F.E. Act.

This could be another rough chapter in the history of Remington, a company that more than once has been on the brink of bankruptcy. Although they are now owned by a conglomerate, a boycott could still be devastating.



Resources
Washington Times
USA Today
Freedom Outpost
Guns and Ammo Magazine
Wikipedia
Business Insider
CNS News
Washington Post

Building an inexpensive Home Defense Shotgun

This is an update from an earlier post called : Shotguns!.
I bought this shotgun from a guy on SGN for $40, it was rusty and was missing the trigger group. It is a Sears model 200, which was actually a brand labeled Winchester model 1200.

 These were "economical" shotguns, designed to be more affordable versions of the Winchesters. The wood was birch or some other cheap wood. The receiver is aluminum (same as the Win 1200) so a complete re-blue was out.
I was able to source a trigger assembly from another SGN member (thanks again Don!). 
I then shortened the barrel to just under 19". I sanded both the wood & metal & painted the metal flat black and the wood flat olive drab.
I added a side saddle that I paid $10 for at the gun show.

 I then found an extended magazine tube kit for $15 including shipping. The mag tube kit increased the mag capacity from 5 rounds to 8. It also turned out to be longer than the barrel. This doesn't present a problem when shooting, many competitive shotgun shooters have mag tubes that are longer than their barrels, Here is Jerry Miculek's shotgun

 It just looks weird to me. 

 I thought about buying a "Stand-Off" device.
The Stand-Off device was designed for Riot teams to use as a non-lethal weapon, to be applied to crowds that are getting too close. They are also used for door breaching guns as a means to "lock" the gun to the door wood.

Here are some examples of Stand-Off devices:

These devices sell for $30-$90 and up. In keeping with the budget minded theme, I decided to make my own.
My new mag tube stuck out about 2 1/4" from the muzzle. 

 Adding the Stand-Off will also hide the hideous cut job I did on the barrel....
I found this piece of 3/4" pipe in my garage, the barrel will almost fit inside, which is perfect. I will grind the inside 1-2" in and make a tapered fit for the barrel. The dimensions of the pipe are roughly 1.07" OD, .825" ID and about 3/32" thick

I cut a piece 3 1/4" long

I used the Dremel to clean up the insides and remove the seam and did a trial fit, the fit was tight, I almost couldn't get it back off

Then I cut vertical lines with the hack saw

Then I used the hack saw to make angle cuts

 It looks pretty knarly, I'll clean up the edges with a file

In the mean time I noticed that the mag follower would not exit the top of the original mag tube on its own. There was some sort of restriction. I'm not sure if the mag tube had a dent (I couldn't see or feel one) or if it was designed that way. I sanded and polished the mag follower unit it moved freely in both mag tubes

 The barrel/Mag clamp that came with the kit did not fit, luckily I had this ATI clamp that fit perfectly

 Here is the completed gun, looks pretty good now, but the stand off device is not up to par...

I decided to '86' this disasterpiece and looked into buying a pre-fabbed one. Oh well nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

I enlisted the help of my buddy (he goes by Tactical Assault on WaGuns and SGN ).
He is a machinist and a very talented one at that.
This is what he made me:

In conclusion here is the break-down of what this gun cost me:
Shotgun: $40
Side-Saddle: $10
Trigger Group: $0 (although if I did have to buy one, I could have found one for around $50 on ebay or gunbroker)
Extended Magazine kit: $15
Stand-off Device: $50

Grand total: $115

Not too shabby! So the next time you see a rusty gun, missing parts for cheap, don't pass it by, give it a second look, you might be able to score something great!

Strange Revolvers

This post is similar to my post regarding Exotic Guns, this one is focused just on revolvers......Strange Revolvers.....

Bill Ruger once said that his designs were limited by what the public EXPECTED a revolver to look like. Here are some guns that don't necessarily look like what we expect, perhaps that is why some of these are not on the shelves at a gun store near you.....

Many early revolvers were of the "Pepperbox" type which had a barrel for each chamber.

Another odd looking early revolver, the grip looks like that of a Mauser Broomhandle......This 10-shot pin-fire revolver was made in England

 Here is a Belgium made 12 shot pin-fire revolver
The Pettingill Army Revolver is a percussion gun

The Jacob Shaw under-hammer percussion revolver

Not sure if this qualifies as a revolver, but it fires from a circular chambering device. The Cochran Rotating Turret Revolver's bottom mounted hammer strikes the percussion caps when they line up with the barrel

No barrel? I wonder what the accuracy was like. Maybe this was designed to be fired as you punched your target?

Knuckleduster, Knife or Revolver? This was the late 1800's, people were trying to invent the next big thing. This kind of innovation and forward thinking is what the "Steampunk" movement is based upon.

This one is actually called a Knuckleduster:

How about a revolver so small it fits on a ring around your finger?

This revolver with super long cylinder is a tranquilizer gun built by Webley

 Built by Thomas K. Austin, this .25 caliber percussion revolver was called a "pocket revolver". I think they are a bit liberal in the use of the word "pocket" or perhaps pockets were bigger in the 1800's?

 Its a knife, no its a gun, no its a.....Knifegun? Gunknife? Either way this thing looks bad-ass, I wonder what a stainless S&W 686 Gun-Kinfe would look like...

Another try at the knife/revolver concept:

The LeMat Revolver was introduced shortly before the Civil War in .35 & .41 calibers. They later adjusted to the more popular American calibers of .36 and .44. (Colt's two early calibers).
The LeMat was unique in that the cylinder had nine chambers with an additional 20 gauge shotgun (smooth-bore) barrel mounted underneath the regular one. When fully loaded it weighed a hefty 10 pounds. I like the grip & lanyard ring....very elegant.

This contraption was known as the "Pistola con Caricato", which is Italian for Loaded or Charged Pistol. The 3 barreled, 18 shot revolver was made in Italy in the early 1900s, it was chambered in 6.35MM (25 ACP)

Here is one way to get high capacity with a percussion revolver, I'm sure Diane Frankenstein would not approve....

 Between 1905 and 1920 you could score yourself a new  Zulaica Automatic Revolver, made by the Spanish gun maker M. Zulaica y Cia (M. Zulaica & Co.)
It used the recoil to rotate and cock the hammer, so I guess this is a semi-auto single action revolver-pistol? 

Another semi-auto revolver was the British Webley-Fosbery. It also used recoil to rotate the cylinder and cock the hammer. The gun was designed around the turn of the century by British Lieutenant Colonel George Vincent Fosbery and produced from 1901 to 1915 by Webley & Scott. The caliber was the British .455 Webley.

The 1895 Nagant is strange in that it is a "triple action". By pulling the trigger you cock the hammer, move the cylinder forward (to seal the gap between the cylinder and barrel) and release the hammer. It is definitely one of a kind

This is the Smith & Wesson "Quiet Purpose Revolver".....I think the name says it all

The Metaba MTR-8
The 8 stood for 8 rounds, which is what the standard .357 magnum model's cylinder held. It was also available in .32 S&W (MTR-12) with a 12 round capacity and in .22 LR (MTR-14) with 14 round capacity.
These guns are pretty rare, they were produced for a short time by Macchine Termo Balistiche (which is where the name MaTeBa comes from) in Italy. they were designed Emilio Ghison.


They appear to be very well made and sport a handsome high polish blued finish.

This Mateba Autorevolver called the Unica 6 (unit or model 6) was built from 1997 to 2005 by Macchine Termo Balistiche in Italy. Also designed by Emilio Ghison they were chambered in both .357 & .44 Magnum calibers.
They featured an open top strap and a low slung barrel that fired from the bottom chamber.

Another revolver that fired from the bottom chamber is the Russian built AEK-906. Chambered in 9x18mm (Makerov) and 9x19mm Parabellum.

The Medusa Revolver could fire any straight walled cartridge that had a bullet between .355 and .358", the list includes: .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 S&W, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .380 ACP, .38 Auto, .38 Super, 9mm Luger, 9mm Makarov, 9mm Largo, 9mm Browning Long.....From what I have read, these are pretty rare.

Designed by Karel Michalek from Czechoslovakia, the Cameleon (sic) Epoxy revolver was made of a polymer and chambered in .44 Magnum. Unfortunately no production models were ever produced.
I don't know why, but I like it......

The Chiappa Rhino is well known these days and has gathered quite the following, like the Meteba, it fires from the bottom chamber, has a six-sided cylinder and is made in Italy.

How about a gun with a see-thru panel? Taurus came up with this novel idea. They call it the "View".
I'm not sure why they made this, maybe they ran out of good ideas in Brazil?

This strange looking beast is from Russia, that should be all you need to know.....but if you care.
The U-94 UDAR revolver was designed in 1994 for the Russian Police. It is a Single/Double Action with a shrouded hammer and fires a .41 caliber projectile of tear gas or rubber bullets, but it also has a lethal hollow point round for when the party really gets out of hand.
It is a design update from the earlier R-92 (designed in 1992) that fired the 9x18 Makarov cartridge.

The Cobray Pocket Pal was a semi-auto revolver that featured two barrels and two interchangeable cylinders allowing the user to choose between firing a .380 ACP cartridge out of the top barrel or .22LR out of the bottom barrel

This next one is of the most powerful handguns ever made, the Pfeifer Zeliska revolver fires the unbelievably powerful .600 Nitro Express (a round designed for big game rifles in Africa).
This beast weighs in at over 13 lbs. It needs every bit of that weight to tame the monstrous recoil generated by the cartridge. The standard .600 Nitro Express cartridge (.900 grain bullet) can produce 7,591 ft-lbs of muzzle energy, by way of comparison, the standard .44 magnum round (240gr JHP) generates a little over 1200 ft-lbs of energy.....this thing has more power in one shot than all six from a .44 Magnum revolver combined!

  Here are a couple of custom revolvers using some new and old school technology. The guns feature a Ruger Alaskan Frame with a Match grade ported barrel, the trigger guard takes a cue from the Beretta 92 Pistol, giving the shooter a place to mount their second index finger. The hammer is concealed and features a switch to fire the 454 Magnum cartridges in the 6 round cylinder or the single shot 37mm grenade launcher mounted under its barrel. They finish the gun with grips made from Ivory or Coco Bolo with Silver inlays/trim and a lanyard attachment.

The guns above do not really exist, someone created them using a computer graphics program, they look pretty cool though....

 Another fictional revolver is known to sci-fi fans as the "Good Samaritan". Owned by Comic book hero Hellboy, this 4-shot, break open revolver is said to be forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes, blessed silver, and other mystic metals.

Now the gun below does exist. Taurus created a new model of the Raging Judge (the XXVIII) chambered in 28 gauge! The 5-shot revolver comes with a .55" diameter 6" rifled barrel.

They debuted it at the 2011 SHOT show, there were rumors that it was killed by the BATFE when they discovered what Taurus was up to.
Either due to it's bore diameter being larger than .50 cal or the fact that the only cartridge it shoots was designed solely for shotguns, making this a "Short Barreled Shotgun", qualifying for NFA status.

 Now we hear word that the gun has been approved by the BATFE and was supposed to be shipping in late 2012. As of today it has not been added to Taurus' website or catalog.

This is one of, if not the smallest revolver in the world. The Swiss MiniGun is only 2.17" long, it fires a 2.34mm rimfire cartridge.

We'll close out this post with something that has to be seen to be believed. This is undoubtedly the biggest revolver in the world. Ryszard Tobys built this scaled up version of the Remington 1858 New Model Army percussion revolver. This thing shoots a 28mm ball, that is a 1.10 Caliber....yes bigger than an inch..and using 28 grams (not grains) of Black Powder (that's more than 430 grains).
The gun weighs just under 100 lbs, is 4 feet 2" long and 1 foot 4" tall

References
Weapon.GE
Peashooter85
NRA Museum
Giz Mag
Historic Replica Guns
The Firearm Blog
Taurus
Wikipedia
Vince Lewis