22 rifle

A Winchester .22 rifle with a under barrel tube magazine. This is going to be the kids first gun when he gets a bit older. Probably start shooting with him this summer, but I need to get/make a good backstop for our yard.

Scout Rifle

A New England Firearms "Handi-Rifle" single shot scout rifle chambered in .223.

Bull barrel, red dot scope, maple stocks, rolling block break action. Accurate as balls out to 200 yards (I've not tested it further).

Unconventional rifle

This short little rifle is a Marlin Camp Carbine in .45 ACP. Yup - it eats a steady diet of .45 ACP rounds, and even accepts the standard magazine from the Colt 1911. This is a great little camping gun, where permitted, and packs enough stopping power for just about all of the dangerous wildlife one might encounter. Yet, becasue it chambers a pistol cartridge, recoil is virtually non-existant (compared to large caliber rifle cartridges). This always gets looks at the range, because it's a short little rifle that leaves nice 1/2 inch holes (with semi-wadcutter ammo) in paper. It's pretty accurate out to 100 yards - after that, the terminal ballistics tend to curve downward due to air friction. This is my answer to the famous Thompson sub-machine gun, which also chambers the .45 ACP.

Sadly, Marlin does not make these anymore.

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This scary looking black rifle is an Springfield Armory M1A, the semi-auto version of the old M14 rifle (later superseded by the M16).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.

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.

SMLE

When starting this blog, I was reluctant to post "modern" weapons, meaning basically centerfire rifles and pistols. However, it would seem that I've already violated that principle in several posts (this one, this one, and this one), so it now seems like not such a bad idea. This is especially so since I've posted a number of WWI, WWII, and even Vietnam items, making my previous decision to shy away from centerfire weapons kind of moot. Thus, I'm going to post some of the "real" guns from my collection.

This rifle is a Britsh Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) rifle, Mk 4. It is chambered in .308 (the NATO cartridge) rather than the original .303 British. It's a good, robust shooter - not as accurate as the German Gewehr Mauser '98 due to the way the action functions, but the SMLE is rugged and field worthy. This example appears all original, and has not been sporterized or otherwise altered. SMLE's are still used in places formerly occupied by British forces, and I suspect that somewhere in Afghanistan, someone is still taking pot shots at our troops with a venerable SMLE.

Incidently, the SMLE was used as the basis for the blasters used by the Jawas in the original Star Wars movie (now called "Episode IV"). Also, Han Solos's blaster is basically a relatively unaltered "broom handle" C 96 Mauser pistol. How's that for trivia?

From the humblest beginnings...

...shown in the previous post, muzzleloading firearms arguably reached their highest point in the Kentucky Rifle:

These long, rifled barrel weapons were instrumental in the European colonization (some would say conquest) of North America. They fused the finest elements of American craftsmanship - gunsmithing, furniture making, silversmithing, blacksmithing, woodworking, etc.

This example appears to be modern (that is, made as a presentation piece in the 20th Century), but it has many of the elements that make Kentucky Rifles so collectible - figured maple stock, detailed carvings of game species, metal and ivory inlays, silver furniture, flintlock action, and precision workmanship that made these rifles some of the most accurate muzzleloading firearms ever made. It's nearly 6' long,

The image above shows some of the detail - note the little silver snake emanating from the front edge of the rear sight. This detail is not functional - it only reflects on the skills and eye of the maker and the taste of the owner. Sadly, this example appears to be unmarked - although I've not removed the barrel from the stock. This is sad, because this gun's maker has a lot to be proud of, assuming they are still around.

This was an early mistake...

...that I made. This piece is supposed to have been an Afghan jezail carbine, allegedly used to kick British butt at the Khyber Pass. Unfortunately, what I bought in my early arms collecting ignorance is a hacky, poorly executed tourist item of recent make.


I share it here not out of collector's pride, but as a lesson. I bought this sight unseen on an online auction - the seller really did not perptrate any wrong doing - the piece looks old, and parts of it may actually be (e.g. the lock), but it's not original, and it was probably never even functional.


If you are ever presented with the opportunity to buy such a piece, here's a few things to look out for:

When I got this in the mail, it was filthy - giveaway number one. Makers of these bogus tourist pieces deliberately dirty them up after they cobble them together to give the appearance of age.

Poorly fitted parts - the lock and mother of pearl inlays in the stock show poor workmanship and sloppy fit - only out of extreme neccessity would an armorour issue a weapon with such poorly fitting parts.

Incongruous parts - the brass barrel bands on this piece are crudely cut from sheet stock and appear out of place on a supposedly "old" piece. The lock and barrel both appear old, and were probably cannibalized from one or two older guns.

Mystery gunk - I don't know what the hell it is, but spurious antique weapons from Asia in general often come replete with this brownish reddish "gunk" in all the seams - like between the lockplate and the stock and even in places where there is a gap in the stock. It's probably some glue cooked up from plants or animal parts, and is applied to give the appearance of age.

Crude markings - the stampings on the metal furniture and the quality of the mother of pearl inlays scream "hack" rather than "craftsman". If the stampings on the metal look like they were made with a screwdriver or an old iron pipe, it's probably a tourist piece. If there is obvious pride in the craftsmanship, you may have a keeper (but not neccessarily - high quality forgeries do exist)

Now, there are examples of these jezail guns out there that are worth purchasing - real honest antiques that may have even seen action. However, I'd bet that most of them on the market are basically junk, although they may make good decorative accents. If you must have one, but from a reputable dealer that speciallizes in antique arms.

Here's another bet - I bet that more and more of these show up at gun shows and antique markets as U.S. and other soldiers buy them as "ethnographic antiques" while deployed in Afganistan and other such places.

With all of that said, this piece still looks really cool in the arsenal hanging - well above eye level...