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

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Arguably the Single Most Important Rifle in American History

It was, believe it or not, an air rifle.



(H/T)

5 comments:

Eck! said...

Ah ha, a large magazine rifle I can own in MA, without even a FID! Nothing shabby about 46 caliber either.

It's an interesting bit of history.


Eck!

Anonymous said...

That's amazing; an accurate, large-caliber weapon that does not need to be ramrodded, high rate of fire without noise or smoke, works in the rain, etc..

The only drawback I can see is recharging the air reservoir - the man said it would take 1,500 strokes of a bicycle pump; I imagine in more modern times some kind of ride-it pump might speed that up, but battalions can't take time off in the middle of a battle to go and recharge their rifles.

Gordon Dickson in his future-war SF novels talked a lot about "spring rifles" soundlessly firing tiny slivers of metal; there's an interesting idea too.

Eck! said...

Actually by the standards of the time its magazine held 22 rounds and the tank was good for about 40 shots. Most of the ball and powder rifles of the time would need an almost an hour to get off 40 shots! That puts it close the the Henry rifle (load it on Sunday and shoot it all week.)!

The other side of it is 1500 is assumed for empty, I'd guess less for partial fill.

But very quiet, no smoke and ready to shoot again in a matter of moments is impressive.


Eck!

Chuck Pergiel said...

Argh! He let the cat out of the bag! On the other hand, he answers questions I never thought of. I guess that makes it all right.

Anonymous said...

Learn something every day.
Thanks!