The Big One

This scary looking black rifle is an Springfield Armory M1A, the semi-auto version of the old M14 rifle (later superseded by the M16). Chambered in .308 (aka 7.62 x 51 mm NATO), this guy is equipped with National Match barrel and flash suppressor, bayonet lug (thereby making in illegal in stupid states like New Jersey), 10 round mag (pictured), 20 round mag (not pictured), and black synthetic stock (original wood stock, not shown, can be swapped out). I got this for a song - a dude was selling in on consignment at a gun store for a price that was obscenely low. I bought it the day he brought it in - later that day he had a change of heart and wanted it back. Too bad. Let's just say I got this rifle for about 1/4 of what it's worth.

Afterward, I equipped it with a scope mount and a variable power Redfield scope. I've shot it out to 300 yards, and from a rest it's easily sub-minute of angle (approx. 3" at 300 yards), even in my clumsy hands with factory ammunition. Sadly, the outdoor range near my house closed a few years ago, and there's no place (that's reasonably priced) nearby that has a range out past 100 yards, so I've not shot this rifle in a while.

No pirates or nautical dainties here - just some serious firepower.

It's Fish Kni...er, wait.

I've no more fish knives to share! What ever shall I devote Fridays to?

I'll think of something. In the meantime, I feel obligated to post this wooden sword I made for the boy last weekend:


He's been into "The Lord of the Rings" movies lately, and wanted a sword like Aragorn's. I think the kid thinks that I can make him anything, since anytime he says he wishes he had something (e.g. a pirate ship, a sword, a bow and arrow, rocket, etc.), I scuttle off to my basement workshop and whip something together.

I only post this today because, as I see it, the boy joins a several thousand year old tradition of the little boy with the wooden sword. I had one, my dad had one, his dad had one, etc. etc. all the way back to when our Celtic and Germanic ancestors were running around in animal skins and whopping the shit out of each other with copper and bronze swords. I enjoy watching him prance around with his wooden sword, conjuring images of Treasure Island, Peter Pan, the Prince and the Pauper, and so many of those all stories that we grew up with...

An old pulley

This is an old one-sheave block from a Chesapeake Bay skipjack that came from Crisfield, MD quite a few years ago. These old wooden work boats and their attendant rigging often needed overhauling after a season or two of working the bay for oysters, and the old ship yards along the Bay routinely toss out nautical fittings such as this. The pulley block on this one is about 8" in diameter.

More stuff (someone) pulled out the water #10

This is a garden variety Bromo-seltzer bottle that my old buddy Kirk found on Indian Island, in Great South Bay, Long Island, NY. Nice cobalt blue, huh?

Old insulator #1

In my misspent youth, one of the pastimes in my old hometown of Clayton, DE was to stroll the Conrail railroad tracks getting into all sorts of mischief - fishing from a railroad bridge, squishing pennies, playing guns, "hunting", and finding treasures. One of the treasures we used to find were the old glass insulators once used on telegraph and electric lines along the track. Among the more modern (i.e. post WW1) insulators such as the workhorse Whitehall Tatum #1 (found in abundnace in clear, light aqua, and dark aqua glass), we found some older gems such as the one above.

This one is a Brookfield CD 145, with some slight amber inclusions - probably from the late 1800's. There are a few minor chips in this one, which is a minor miracle since I've toted this with me for 25 years or so. One can lose themselves in the arcana of insulator collecting (just Google "glass insulators"), and there are some stunning old insulators out there in some out-of-this-world colors, but I have no interest in pursuing this as a collection. I'm going to post a couple of older models to commemrate my youth, but I'm not going to post the modern Whitehall-Tatum and similar pattern ones that decorate my shelves. These are too commonplace to be of much interest...

Gewehr 98

Here's an old German Mauser Gewehr 98 variant chambered in .308. This one is pretty old and clunky - I bought it back when old Mausers were less than $100 at local department stores (at least in Delaware). You can follow the link above for Wikipedia information on these rifles.

This also marks the beginning of a departure for this blog - early on I had committed to avoid "modern" guns in my collection, however, I soon discovered that this is somewhat of a slippery slope since I've already posted some "modern" rimfire and centerfire weapons. Since this distinction is really somewhat arbitrary, I've decided to include real modern centerfire and rimfire weapons on this blog (i.e. those weapons that I'm morally obligated to keep in the big gun safe). I've made this decision for three reasons:

1. It's my blog, and I can do whatever I want.
2. These pieces are no less interesting to me than the old flintlocks and such.
3. No one is (to date) reading this anyway!

So, expect some modern pieces mixed in with the other interesing tidbits I post.

What's with the little guns?

There's something about a dinky little small caliber pistol that amuses me greatly. Maybe it's the thought of loading that tiny little ammunition into that tiny little breech with my big ham hands. Maybe its the idea that these low powered rounds are utterly useless for anything other than punching holes in paper or (maybe) killing a wild mouse. Whatever...


Here's another parlor pistol, German makers mark on the right side of the barrel. Like a few others, it's got a funny little breech block mechanism and extractor. The half octagon barrel's about 10" long, and the piece has wooden grips.