Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Friday, April 24, 2009

The Ferguson Rifle

The world's first military breechloader.



The Ferguson rifle was interesting, but it is really relegated to the "what if" or "if only" category. As the linked article noted, breechloading blackpowder rifles did not become widely accepted until metallic cartridges were developed. But within a couple of decades, smokeless powder was in use and most militaries with an ounce of sense rapidly phased out their blackpowder rifles.

It should surprise nobody that the US Army was one of the last to make the switch.

1 comment:

BadTux said...

It's interesting to note that the Prussians adopted their Prussian Needle Gun, a breech-loading rifle, in 1848, while the American Civil War in 1861-1864 was fought with muzzle-loaders (albeit rifled and with percussion caps rather than powder pans). The Minie ball was still good enough to obsolete 18th century tactics and therefore bring forth trench warfare and maneuver warfare, but the tactical and strategic innovations of the Civil War decidedly were not matched by the technical innovations of the war.