Category: Gratuitous Gun Pics

Inescapable Comparison

Beauty, Drive Time, Gratuitous Gun Pics

“Oh good grief, here’s Kim grinding on about old stuff again.”

Yeah, guilty as charged.

Watch Jay Leno’s glorious love affair with his 1940 Lagonda 4.5-liter V12.  His is a direct, faithful copy of the cars which were taken straight off the street and raced at Le Mans in 1939 — and placed 3rd and 4th, the very first time they were entered.

After watching that, tell me you don’t want to smack him over the head and take his car.  And if you feel a little intimidated by the size and manual strength needed to drive the thing, you need to take some double-strength manly pills.  Me, I’d do it all in a flash.

Now watch Henry Chan shooting what is, to me, the firearm’s equivalent of that Lagonda:  the Mauser K98 bolt-action rifle.  (For background, here’s Ian McCollum.)

Same idea, same technique, same principle for both:  outstanding performance, infallible reliability and guaranteed to put a smile on your face every time you take it out for a spin.

Like the one on Jay’s face.

I need to get back out to TDSA and shoot my K98, because I want to get that same smile.  (And I use a rubber recoil pad, just like old hickok45 does.)

I don’t have a Lagonda, though.  Bummer.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Combination Guns

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Double-chambered rifle/shotgun combination guns were popular during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and while I can see the desire for such a type of long gun, I’m really not so sure of its actual utility.  Here’s an example of what I’m talking about, from Merchant Of Death Steve Barnett, a Borovnik 20ga/7×57 Mauser:

Look, it’s a beautiful old piece, and it happens to encompass two of my favorite cartridges in one handy package.

But it’s only one round per barrel, and if I know anything about hunting, it’s that a rapid followup shot is often necessary.

But a shotgun (even a slug) round, followed by a rifle bullet?  Or vice-versa?  (One can elect which barrel shoots first, simply by using the applicable trigger.)  I’m trying to think of the situation which would fit the purpose.

I can see a double rifle in 7x57mm and, of course, a double-barrel shotgun in 20ga;  but mixing up the two seems to be one of those situations where the gun does one or the other functions well, but is somewhat wanting when it comes to both uses.

This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to own a combo like the above, of course:  it’s a work of art, and very desirable.  I just can’t see taking it into the field.

Or am I missing something?

Fine Wood Part 2

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Following on from last week’s sighing and longing comes yet another man’s work, one Norbert Fashingbauer.  (His details  can be found below the fold.)

At Steve Barnett’s Emporium of Death, Fashingbauer’s FN Mauser in 7x57mm:

Wait… a full-stocked FN Mauser in 7x57mm ? Ah, man… [wondering which of my children would sell for $7,000]

Okay, back to Hallowell & Co., this one a left-handed Savage 110, also in 7x57mm:

Good grief, that’s just gorgeous — and finally, an “affordable” option for the kack-handers amongst us, who always have to pay more for their Satanic Persuasion [/nuns], only $2,500.

Still at Hallowell, and sadly already sold, an Oberndorf Mauser in .270 Win:

I don;t know how many hours it took Fashinger to create this stunning masterpiece, but that’s why his guns fetch the big bucks.

From another Fine Purveyor of Exotic Death Devices, M.W. Reynolds of Denver, is a Fashinger Winchester Mod 52B in .22 LR:

Okay, as beautiful as this rendering is, I will concede that $8,000 may be a tad on the spendy side for a .22 rifle.  But then, so is the $400,000 currently being asked for a 50-year-old rebuilt Dino Ferrari, and people seem to have no problem coughing up that amount.

More Norbert:  this Oberndorf Mauser sold at auction, so I can’t give the price… but phew.

I have to say, I like the man’s work.  Now, about those lottery tickets…

Read more

Fine Wood Part 1

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I was browsing through the wares at Hallowell & Co. out of Livingstone MT, sighing deeply and cursing the Gods of Powerball for ignoring my pleas.  (Okay, I do that with pretty much every Merchant of Death’s website, but Hallowell really got to me on this occasion.)

Specifically this time, I was drawn to custom rifles — always a Bad Thing for a man of my gentle disposition and tender sensibilities — when I became aware of the exquisite timber used in almost all of them.

Here are a few examples (and right-click to embiggen).

I have talked betimes about wanting a decent varmint rifle for those long-awaited prairie dog shoots:  something more powerful than a simple .22 LR or .22 Magnum (which I’ve got covered).  Well then, how about this Ruger No.1 from Bowerly & Stratton, in .223 Rem:

Like many a keen rifleman, I am besotted with lovely wood (don’t go there) and good grief, this one’s magnificent.  I am also a huge fan of Bill Ruger’s No.1 rifles — have never owned one, sadly — but this one, at about $10,000 is sadly confined to the Powerball category.  Have mercy.

I have also spoken of an urge towards a rifle chambered for the venerable 9.3x62mm Mauser cartridge, a cartridge that can (and has) taken game of all sizes and ferocity all over the world.  So there’s this Husquvarna Mauser from Ed LaPour:

While this wood is not as spectacular as the Bowerly Ruger’s, it’s most certainly not boxwood either.  However, this LaPour is asking $13,000… [la sigh]

I guess that one could always go “down market” (!) and, in the same 9.3x62mm caliber, look at Dave Norin’s large-ring FN Mauser:

I love that tiger-striping effect on the walnut… and at $4,500 it’s a steal compared to both the above rifles.

Of course, there are many more such fine guns at Hallowell & Co., so I shall leave you alone to lose an hour or two in browsing and sighing, as I did.

Why should I be the only one?

Requiem: Browning BPS

Gratuitous Gun Pics

I read with some melancholy that Browning has decided to discontinue their pump-action BPS.

I always loved the look and feel of the BPS, but as with so many Brownings (of all types), I could never quite get past the “Browning premium” price.

Which, as Phil Bourjailly explains, is largely the reason why it’s been discontinued:

So, what happened to the BPS? Times changed. Semiautos were still called “jam-a-matics” in 1977, and many hunters back then preferred to shoot pumps even if they could afford a semiauto. As semiautos got better, the reliability gap between pumps and autoloaders shrank. Costs rose. The real advantage between pump and semiauto shotguns became price. The pump market adjusted. Remington responded with the Express in the 1990s, a cheaper version of the Wingmaster. Benelli introduced the very affordable Nova around 2000. Mossberg kept cranking out the same humble, durable Model 500 it has always made.

The BPS wasn’t intended to be a cheap pump, and Browning stuck by its gun for a long time. While it’s too bad the BPS was discontinued, honestly, it stayed around a little too long. In the last years of the BPS, it was readily apparent that costs had to be cut to keep the price down, and the gun no longer looked like the glossy 20-gauge that I bought so many years ago.

One wonders what would have happened had Browning followed Remington’s lead (or even preceded them) with a budget version of the BPS, but that’s really not the Browning Way, is it?

So why am I melancholic about the BPS’s demise?  I hate to see ANY gun discontinued, is why.

Primary & Backup

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

As Longtime Readers (and even a few casuals) will know, my primary carry piece is a Springfield 1911 in, of course, .45 ACP:

…and my backup piece a S&W 637 in .38 Special:

However, I recently acquired (through inheritance, don’t ask) a very battered Colt 1911, not anywhere near in the condition as pictured, but which puts all my 175gr .45 ACP boolets into a half-palm-sized group at 25 feet:

…and I had an evil thought.

Imagine being asked:

“What’s your primary carry piece?”
“A 1911.”
“And your backup piece?”
“Also a 1911.”

Hey, as the saying goes, “Two is one and one is none”… right?

And because the four spare CMC mags can do duty for both guns, I wouldn’t have to carry those bulky lil’ .38 speedloaders either.

Yeah, I know: “But but but… two 1911s are heavy, Kim!” 

I just lost over 40 lbs, so another 1lb or so of gun weight isn’t going to hurt me at all.  And besides, if that skinny old fart Clint Smith can carry two 1911s, then so can I.