On the Second Amendment.

To Hell with it. I wish I had cranked that out. Go read.

The Second Amendment

Nader on Bicycling

"If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we’d be one of the healthiest, least oil dependent, and most environmentally sound constituents in the Nazi empire today."
Ralph Nader

As I was googling for a pic, I found this. Heh!

The Wind at Mt. Carmel

I don’t know why I had to go there, but I had to go there. I had to see Mt. Carmel, the site of the Branch Davidian compound where 80 or more people died in a botched raid by the ATF and FBI. We were traveling down to Austin to visit my mother and our route took us through Waco. Mt. Carmel isn’t actually in Waco; it’s a few miles to the east of town. There are no signs which might direct tourists to the place. You have to know where you’re going. I’m sure the town of Waco would be more than happy to forget that Mt. Carmel ever existed, and to escape the linkage of their town’s name with tragedy. It won’t happen anytime soon.

It was a sunny May morning in Texas. The temperature was already climbing into the nineties. The sky was clear blue and the land looked lush and fertile. Golden rolls of hay sat in green fields of grass. Lush young corn stood in rows. This is good farmland, not the postcard cliché of desert so often associated with Texas. My son, Alex drove the car and I followed the map, navigating us into one of the darkest moments in American history.

My anxiety began to rise as we neared the place. Would the gate be locked? Would someone come out and run us off as a couple of sick vultures come to poke around in the bones of the dead cult? What would be waiting for us there? As it turned out, the only things there to meet us were the wind and our own dark visions.

We drove right to the site. I’m pretty good with maps. I remember thinking that I could have found it without a map – just follow my intuition. I grew up on little Texas roads like that. The gate was open. We drove in slowly. There’s a tree in the middle of the gravel road with a stack of granite stones, each with the name of a slain Davidian, stacked on either side of the tree. A little office building stands to the right of the road and double-wide a little further in. We looked at the windows and waited for someone to flag us down or come out to ask us our business. No one did.

They have built a little church there, more or less in the center of where the compound stood. We drove up to the church and stopped. I opened the car door and put my right foot out, and suddenly a strange apprehension hit me: I was about to put my foot on hallowed ground, un-insulated by the shiny Nissan Maxima. It was a weird sensation. I put my foot on the ground. Nothing particularly remarkable happened except for the sense of reverence that swept over me.

We immediately began to walk, simply walk, and look at the ground, this earth where so much happened. From the church, the first remnant of the compound you see is the swimming pool. It still has water in it, but it’s rainwater, green like any natural pond with bulrushes growing in it. In the southwest corner of the pool is a pile of concrete rubble pushed into the pool by FBI bulldozers eager to cover up the evidence of what happened there.

I would like to say, “I don’t have a dog in this fight.” I’m no fan of renegade federal police units with murderous intentions, but on the other hand, I don’t care much for apocalyptic cults with kinky sex practices. I didn’t like the Clinton administration under which the attack occurred and I didn’t like the Bush administration before it, under which the action was initiated. I think Koresh was a sexual deviant with messianic delusions. There aren’t many good guys to be found in all of this, except perhaps the Texas Rangers. But, I do have a dog in this fight, and it’s the same dog that every American has. We have a right to be secure in our homes and personal effects. We have a right to worship as we see fit. We have a right to a fair trial. We have a right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. We have a right to live free of the mind control of self-appointed messiahs. It has been 15 years since the flames consumed Mt. Carmel and these things are still unsettled. We have a dog in this fight.

Just after noon on April 19, 1993, a friend of mine called and said, “Turn on your TV.” I did and watched with millions of others as the Mt. Carmel complex burned to the ground, and only one survivor, Clive Doyle, was seen coming out of the building. The attack fueled the most intense anti-government sentiment in this country since the Vietnam War. Two years later, the Murrow Building in Oklahoma City was bombed in retaliation for the Mt. Carmel massacre. The litigation and investigations went on for years. “Remember Waco” became the battle cry of the “militia movement.” Even to this day, what actually happened and on whom the blame falls remains in dispute. Clarity has never really been reached.

Now, I was standing on this hallowed ground with nothing but the wind to talk to me about what happened there. I had bought a white straw cowboy hat to keep the sun off my head. The wind would suddenly gust up and whip the hat off of my head as if to say, “Take your hat off in this place.” The sun was hot and I put it back on.

I don’t know how much time passed before I remembered the cameras. This trip was about pictures. What I saw, I shot. I went back to the car and fetched the Lowepro two-camera backpack. It carried the space-age Nikon D70s digital SLR and the 1980-vintage Nikon F3 35mm. I carried the backpack to the edge of the swimming pool and unzipped the main compartment. The wind gusted up and threw the cover back. “Photograph this place,” the wind said. I pulled out both cameras and shot a few quick frames of the pool and “the underground bunker” before I gave the digital to Alex. I went to work with the F3 shooting color slides.

Fifteen years have passed since tanks and choppers roared across this land. Nature, in its way, has covered the scars with grass and pink and white flowers. A memorial grove of fruit trees stands to the south of the compound site. The Davidians have built a plain little church approximately where the tower and “the concrete room” once stood.

Alex first noticed the ant hills. The top of the soil is white, perhaps from some chemical leeching from the ground. But when the ants bring up soil as they build their ant hills, the earth they bring up is distinctly ash grey. The FBI tried to bury what happened here with their bulldozers but the ants won’t allow it to remain buried. They bring the ash to the surface. It is the ash of a community, of a building, and perhaps it is the ash of human bodies incinerated here.

When you come to this place, you feel powerful things. I have seen so many film clips of the assault that I could visualize the building, where the tanks were, the desperate gun battle, and the fire. Strong emotion sweeps over you like the Texas wind. I certainly don’t approve of Timothy McVeigh’s action, but standing on this blood-soaked ground I could understand his rage. David Koresh may have been a bastard – I don’t know, but I do know that 80-some people didn’t deserve to die like this.

I walked the foundation line of the building that once stood here. It is still visible. Finally, we shot all the pictures we could think of and felt the feelings that the place evokes. It was time to go. Cameras again packed into their case, we fired up the little car and drove away. A part of me is still there, haunted by the memory, unable to let go of “the worst day in the history of American law enforcement.”

Syd Wheedon

Published with author's premission.

Ugly Gun Sunday

This Sunday we present one of the finest photographs of one of the ugliest pistols ever produced. The FP-45 Liberator is proof that ugly is truly in the eye of the beholder. With just 23 stamped steel parts, the FP-45 was a firearm designed to be mass produced during wartime. It's primary purpose was that of a cheap weapon to be inserted to resistance forces in occupied territories. A one shot assassination weapon, it fired a .45ACP round through a unrifled steel pipe, and was easily concealed to allow the assassin to get close enough to do the bloody deed. If the shooter lived through the killing, he could twist open the breech, and poke the spent shell out of the chamber with a stick. Then reload. Extra rounds could be stored in the grip.

The original delivered cost for the Liberator, with original box and ammunition was $2.40 per pistol. A FP-45 in good condition today will command around $2500-$3000 with the correct climate and collectors in the room. The original box will bump the price up an additional $1500. A comic strip instruction insert was included with the pistol as well as a wooden dowel for reloading. If these are present (original as shown by a hard to fake watermark), it would take $5000-$5500 for the entire package to change hands. But it is still ugly.

The FP-45 is proof that an ugly gun is not necessarily inexpensive, or undesirable. It's just ugly. I want one.

I cannot remember where I stole this beautiful photo from several years back, but if it belongs to to you, thank you for taking and publishing it.

Drink Up!

It's Repeal Day!

The Smith & Wesson M-13 Aircrewman

Experts say there are more fakes of this revolver on the market than real ones. The value is so high that fakers are willing to risk felony time just to alter a serial number to get a fake gun lettered as authentic. The Smith & Wesson M-13 Aircrewman was produced from 1953 to 1954 with an aluminum six shot cylinder. In 1954, the cylinder was changed to steel. There were approximately 40,000 produced, with nine known variations, and almost all were destroyed by the U.S. government. The cylinder had an objectionable habit of turning into a grenade when the cartridge inside it ignited. Production ceased in 1957.

M-13 Aircrewman revolvers were given serial numbers within the range of other production K frame revolvers such as the Model 12 Airweight. Some of these commercial models, with serial numbers in the correct range, where given fake markings to make them appear similar to an Aircrewman. Unscrupulously reproducing the stampings on the aluminum frame is pretty easy. The barrel markings are more difficult to forge. M-13 Aircrewman barrels were marked on the right side with "AIRCREWMAN" over the ".38 Special CTG". The caliber marking is in smaller type than commercial models. Serial numbers range from C247,000 to C405,363, but serial numbers of genuine demilled examples are best kept secret lest a felonious faker usurp the numerals for his "representative example" and then seek to have result lettered by Roy Jinks. Suffice to say, Aircrewmen with an AF prefix change hands in the $5000 range.

The M-13 Aircrewman and holster pictured here are genuine, the real deal. Alas, they are not mine. Most of us will never be so lucky as to find this revolver gathering dust on a pawnbroker's shelf. Marilyn Monroe is more likely to knock on our door and lavish us with a lifetime supply of ammunition and free gun cleaning services.

I was, however, fortunate enough to receive a M-13 Aircrewman. Mine, is regrettably the result of John Kennedy's administration trying to protect our fly boys. It was crushed to insure it would never be fired. Then it was sold off as scrap.

The "Property of U.S. Air Force" markings on the backstrap and the "Revolver, Lightweight-M13" markings on the top strap are still intact, as is the inspector's mark. The C prefixed serial number falls within the correct range. Because it is a crushed example, it is almost certainly the real article. It is inconceivable that a faker would fake a crushed frame. I will guard the serial number to prevent it from being used fraudulently. I was offered this chunk of aluminum by a friend who spotted it at a gun show. I happily accepted it, and placed it into my collection of revolvers, right beside a crushed Victory Model.

If you believe you have an Aircrewman in your possession, one of your best recourses is to post photos of the revolver on the S&W Forum for evaluation. Then consult the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson for more information. Finally, get the revolver lettered. If you are buying even then confirm and consult as much as possible.

As I was photographing my M-13 along with an ejection handle I had brought home from my military service as a souvenir, I noticed the "Smith & Wesson Lifetime Service Policy" emblazoned on the blue counter mat. I wonder.........

Hiroshima......Nagasaki

Independence Day

Oldest Headshot

A nearly 500-year-old skull sports the telltale signs of a gunshot wound from an antique firearm. The find, discovered recently in an Inca cemetery near Lima, Peru, was the victim of a Spanish musket, according to a detailed analysis. That makes the skeleton the oldest documented gunshot victim in the New World and possibly the first person in the Americas ever to have been killed with a firearm, experts say.

National Geographic grantee Guillermo Cock led the team that uncovered the remains. "We thought it was a person killed recently, 5, 10, or 20 years ago," Cock told National Geographic. "We didn't expect the individual would have been killed by a bullet 500 years ago."

The skeleton is one of 72 buried at the site under what must have been chaotic conditions, without the usual Inca reverence for death. experts say. The bodies were not facing the right direction, and they had been tied up or hastily wrapped in a simple cloth and buried at shallow depth, without the usual Inca adornment. Many of the skeletons were also victims of terrible violence, showing signs of being hacked, torn, or impaled. "We were not expecting to find as many traumatic injuries as we have so far," said bio-archaeologist Melissa Murphy of Bryn Mawr College.

Analysis of a plug of bone recovered intact near the skull showed the man was killed with a firearm much less forceful than modern weaponry, and the projectile's concave imprint is highly suggestive of a musket ball. In addition, detailed microscope examination of the skull and plug showed fragments of iron, a metal commonly used in Spanish ammunition.

"This gave us positive evidence that this individual died during conquest and was killed by gunfire," said Guillermo Cock, leader of the expedition that uncovered the mass Inca grave where the gunshot victim was found. "We have traces of iron on the edges of the bullet entrance and we have exit damage in the face caused by the bullet leaving the head."

Uncle Sam's Shooting Gallery: 100 Years

Camp Perry has been the host of the NRA sponsored National Rifle Matches since 1907. These are considered by many to be the "World Series of the Shooting Sports", drawing shooters of all types to compete in many different types of competition.

Back in 1940, this article in "Popular Science" declared:

TRAVELING in planes, trains, buses, private cars, trucks, and even on foot, more than 10,000 eager men, women, and youngsters from all corners of the nation will head toward the shores of Lake Erie in mid-August for the largest sporting event in the world. The lure that draws this myriad of bankers, housewives, G-men, clerks, police, shopkeepers, and citizens from practically every other walk of life, is the annual National Rifle Matches sponsored jointly by the U. S. War Department and the National Rifle Association.

In this mammoth gunpowder rodeo, millions of rounds of ammunition will be fired from pistols, .30 caliber rifles, and smallbore guns. Police will school themselves in getting the jump on criminals. Hundreds of beginners will learn how to shoot and how to handle guns safely. Marksmanship records will be assaulted, historic trophies won, and national champions crowned. And at the end of the three-week bullet jubilee, a new group of straight-shooting citizens will scatter to their homes to add to the defensive power of the nation and to the worldwide reputation of the United States as a country of crack shots.

The shooting starts August 18 at the Army’s Camp Perry, a few miles from the lake town of Port Clinton, Ohio. Nowhere else in the world, experts state, is there a rifle and pistol range that can compare with it. Here, stretched out side by side for two and a half miles, are target ranges of every size from 1,000 yards for .30 caliber rifle competition to twenty-five yards for pistol events. And around the fringe of the ranges is a far-flung city of tents to house the extensive Army personnel required to run the matches, and also to accommodate practically all the contestants and visitors.

For the matches are open to any citizen of the United States, and the Army will put up any American who wants to compete. Tents, beds, and bedding are supplied without charge, while a mammoth cafeteria serves meals at low prices. For the rifle or pistol fan who would like to bring his family, the “Squaw Camp,” a part of the reservation next to the bathing beach, is set aside. Here a man and his wife can have a floored, screened tent, with electricity, for $1.50 a day. Bringing junior along adds just fifteen cents a day to the tent cost.

And you don’t even have to own a gun, for the Army will issue you a .30 caliber rifle, or a .45 caliber pistol, and furnish all the ammunition you’ll need for match firing. If you’ve never fired a rifle, a competent Army instructor will show you how.

In addition to the vanguard of individual contestants, the Perry meet will attract civilian rifle and pistol teams from every state in the union, plus teams representing the National Guard, metropolitan police forces, the U. S. Army, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps, the Customs Service, the White House police, G-men, and other state and Federal agencies. Last year, almost 5,000 persons competed, firing a total of more than 3,000,000 shots.

Step out on the range when the matches get under way and you’ll see a sight that you’ll never forget. With the roar of service rifles in your ears, you will gape at a two-mile line of fire. Crack marksmen, lying prone, are battering bullseyes 1,000 yards away. Down the line, under the watchful eyes of soldiers and officers, civilians are getting their first chance at firing the new Garand semiautomatic rifle recently adopted by the Army.

Group by group, all along the firing line, the nation’s greatest shots, together with the dubs and rank tyros, are standing, sitting, kneeling, and lying prone, shooting rifles, pistols, and revolvers at various ranges, in timed-fire, rapid-fire, and slow-fire matches. Playing a sharpshooter’s swing tune, bullets whistle through the air and zing into the targets, or occasionally kick up a spatter as they miss the target and plow into the waters of Lake Erie beyond the butts.

Strolling down back of the firing line, or sighting along the pits behind the targets, you’ll marvel at the horde of Army officers and men needed to conduct all phases of the competition. You’ll note target spotters, range officers, scorers, checkers, computers, and messengers. In the pits, the trench back of the butts, you’ll watch enlisted men haul targets down from their racks in the line of fire, for checking, repair, and replacement.

Officials estimate that fifteen Army men are required for each ten contestants in order to run the matches in the smooth, efficient, and safe manner for which the meet is famed. An indication of how Army supervision makes for safety is found in the fact that only two casualties have coccurred in twenty-one years of match firing at Camp Perry.

Down at the left of the range, you’ll witness one of the most interesting phases of the Perry matches—the National Police School, where representatives from police departments in all sections of the country are schooled in the latest methods of police science, and sent back home as qualified instructors to their fellow officers in the home forces. Subjects studied in the full-week course include disarming an attacker, shooting at rapidly disappearing targets, using tear gas and the Thompson submachine gun, hand-to-hand fighting, and the fundamentals of jujutsu.

Here at the Police School is the famous “Hogan’s Alley,” a curious group of backless building fronts representing the dilapidated frame structures lining one side of the main street of Bucktown Gulch, Ariz., as it appeared in 1879. By means of a series of hand levers and attached cables, silhouette figures are popped suddenly into the window or door openings of “Bud Peagler’s Pool Parlor,” or the “Wa-hiawa Cafe,” while police try to drill them with pistol bullets before they disappear two seconds later.

Nearby is a replica of the rear of an automobile. Traveling on an overhead trolley, it speeds away as police fire at it in attempts to “blow” a rear tire. Similar in operation is a running-man target, which crosses the officers’ line of fire at an angle from left to right.

The value of this police training is dramatically revealed by the experience of the Detroit, Mich., police who have sent representatives ,to the school for years. When they first started, an average of four policemen lost their lives for every criminal killed in Detroit. Today, the average is one policeman to every eleven criminals.

At the opposite end of the range from the Police School, you run across hundreds of youngsters from eight to eighteen, some of whom will shoot it out for the junior championship of the nation, and some of whom are barely big enough to hoist a rifle to their shoulders. A U. S. Marine is assigned to each of these neophytes to give him expert instruction in the rudiments of rifle shooting and gun handling. Before the youngster comes out from under the wing of his leatherneck guide, he will have learned not only how to shoot a gun and handle it safely, but also how to clean it, take it apart, and put it back together again.

Truly a giant training ground for the development of the art of shooting, in all its phases from the instruction of future sharpshooters to the rewarding of record-breaking feats of marksmanship, the annual Camp Perry meet has had much to do with the establishment of shooting as one of the most popular American sports. And now, with national defense of primary importance, Perry’s influence may prove to have been of even greater value than that of a clean, wholesome sport in building up the armed might of the United States.

My, how things have changed! Or have they?

The Khyber Pass Martini-Henri Pistol

The Kyber Pass is a place of legend, part mythical, part truth, and all shrouded in dangerous reality. It is a 33 mile route through the Hindu Kush mountain range, joining the northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan. It has historically been the wildest of places. There is a flourishing arms industry in this corner of the world. The local craftsmen there are well known for crafting arms of war, from historical spears and arrows to modern day AK-47's, grenades, landmines and RPGs, smelted from bomb schrapnel and other scrap metal. In effect, they recycle the artifacts of war, for more war. Years ago, a younger Xavier traveled in this armpit of the world.

One of the most prolifically copied designs is that of the Martini-Henry rifle. It is a simple design, from the British Empire. The forgers even try to copy the original stampings from the Martini-Henry rifles, but they often screw that up, with backwards letters that resemble Cyrillic script. Most of these guns are rifles, and are relics of centuries of war.

Thus, when I spotted an unusual pistol at a gun show, I was intrigued. It was obviously a version of a Martini-Henry rifle, but whether it was an altered original, an altered forgery, or a brainchild of it's own design was debatable.

The action was that of a Martini-Henry, with the lever reformed to fit around a hand checkered wooden grip. The barrel was octagon in shape, with a brass sight, probably made from a coin, and a sling swivel underneath. The other sling swivel resided on the butt of the grip. This was a single shot pistol, no doubt made to be slung on a piece of rope or rawhide for carry over the rocky terrain of the area. It was like nothing I had seen before, at least on this side of the world. The story that I listened to as I purchased this pistol was that it had hung on a wall in the United States, observed by the seller for approximately 30 years. When that owner died, the seller purchased it from his widow for an undisclosed sum. He then kept it for approximately ten years. That would date the pistol to at least 1970, if the tale was to be believed. From my conversation, I saw no reason to dispute it. I purchased the Kyber Pass Pistol for $125.

The surface of the firearm is embellished with a series of small triangular shaped stampings, lined up around the border, hand stamped into the surface. I recall seeing these types of markings on other metal work of the Kyber Pass region. There are no remnants of British markings, save for a "30" beside the extractor retaining screw on the left side. I highly suspect, due to the lack of British markings, and the lack of a sling swivel in the triggerguard, or even a hole to contain one, that this pistol was forged entirely at the Kyber Pass. The embellishments were probably added to decorate a sidearm for a chieftain of some mountain clan. It was possibly carried as a defensive sidearm concealed beneath a tribesman's cloak, but I suspect it was more likely a badge of authority in a region that respects no authority. It is, in effect, the ultimate suicide special, and an extreme curio and relic.

Forum thread on this pistol
More on Kyber Pass Martini-Henry rifles.

The Crushed Victory

Ever since I read of the destroyed Victory Models in John Henwood's book, I have wanted one. These were often sold at gunshows with the spurious story that they were run over by a tank. It seems a lot of tanks were running over Victory Models in WWII! The truth is, these revolvers were destroyed by our own government. The contract between the US government and Smith & Wesson for the Victory Model revolvers specified that the government would not sell the guns as surplus when the war was over. This protected Smith & Wesson from struggling in a gun market flooded with their own revolvers, as had happened after WWI with the M1917.

Thus, as excess Victory Models were removed from service, most were destroyed rather than sold. Comparatively few Victory Models reached the general public as functional guns. Government agents oversaw the destruction of most of these arms. An ordnance officer was required to be present as a steam powered hammer crushed each of these perfectly serviceable revolvers in three places; on the barrel, the cylinder, and the triggerguard. The remains were then sold as scrap metal.

Several enterprising firms purchased the scrap in bulk, and resold them as gun parts. The crushed Victory Models were usually priced under ten dollars each in 1980, and even included the grips, and lanyard loop. Either would cost over ten bucks today.

When I saw this stripped crushed Victory on a table at a recent gun show, I wanted it for two reasons.....First, the historical aspect, but secondly it is a US Navy rollmarked version, and it will help me avoid counterfeit US Navy Victory Models in the future. I asked the seller what he wanted for it, and I was relieved to not hear the old tank running over the gun story. The seller simply said twenty bucks. I handed it back to him with the comment that I could find one with a cylinder and grips for that amount. I turned to leave, and he asked "How much will you give me?" I told him it was worth ten bucks to me to be able to place it in a display of M&P revolvers. He thought a minute, and considered that he had gotten everything off the revolver he wanted, and agreed to my price. Call me crazy.

Remington Rand Research

My Remington Rand M1911A1 was produced by the Remington Rand Typewritter Company in 1945. Remington Rand was awarded its first M1911A1 order on March 16th, 1942, for a total of 125,000 pistols. The company had no experience building pistols at the time it was awarded the contract. Remington Rand formed a new division (Remington Rand "C" Division) to take charge of building the M1911A1. Remington Rand "C" Division converted a vacant plant into a modern pistol manufacturing facility. The plant was located on Dickerson street in Syracuse, N.Y and was once used for building typewriters. Initially some manufacturing equipment was not available. This caused Remington Rand to acquire parts from other sources to complete the early pistols. They purchased barrels from High Standard, Colt, and Springfield Armory. Disconnectors were purchased from US&S, grip safeties from Colt, and slide stops from Colt and Springfield Armory (2,865 left over from WWI). Remington Rand "C" Division inherited much of the documentation, tooling, and machinery that originally was used by The Singer Manufacturing Co. in their Educational Order.

Consequently some of the parts of the early Remington Rand pistols were made using Singer supplied tooling and fixtures. Careful examination of early Remington Rand pistols will reveal striking similarities in some of the parts to Singer made parts such as the triggers and mainspring housings. The first 255 production pistols where accepted by ordnance inspectors in November of 1942. Initial shipments appeared to perform satisfactorily, but subsequent tests performed by ordnance inspectors revealed serious problems with parts interchangeability. In March 1943 James Rand Jr. stopped production due to a high rate of parts interchangeability test failures. Only after a change in management and a thorough review of the inspection and manufacturing operations was production finally resumed in May of 1943. Throughout production Remington Rand aggressively attempted to innovate and improve the production of 1911A1 pistols.

By March of 1945 they where building the lowest price pistol in the war effort and quality was considered second to none. By the end of the war Remington Rand had produced over 875,000 pistols, almost as many as Colt (628,808) and Ithaca (335,467) combined. Reference: Charles Clawson, “Colt .45 Service pistols”.

I'm currently researching my Remington Rand on the 1911 Forum and at Harley Nolden's Institute For Firearms Research. It looks like the magazine is a General Shaver magazine, and correct for the gun. The General Shaver Division of Remington Rand manufactured magazines that were issued with Remington Rand pistols only and were fully blued, with a spot welded base marked with a " G " on the top of the lip of the base. The General Shaver magazines also had spot welding down the back of the tube.

The Colt barrel is curious. I'm wanting more information on that.

Remington Rand variation information is available here.

Nambu vs 1911A1

Thanks to a reader, here is a translation of the video.

Hello, readers! I’m Morohoshi, reporting from Las Vegas.
[Display on lower left: Reporter: Las Vegas office, Etsuo Morohoshi]
The Year 14 Type is an automatic pistol that was formally adopted by the Japanese Army in Year 14 of the Taisho Era, 1925.
Its caliber is 8 mm and its capacity is 8 shots. It was the first pistol to be accepted in Japan as a standard military weapon.
Overall, with the many straight lines in its outline, it bears a strong resemblance to the German Luger.
The rifling is (unintelligible) and, as you can see, very clearly defined, even after 60 years.
When the magazine is installed and you pull on the slide, it stops in the open position. When there is no magazine, the slide stop does not function.
The safety is on the left side of the gun. To place the gun in the “Safe” condition, you rotate the lever 180 degrees (NOTE, “Fire” is forward, “Safe” is back).
Well, then, let’s show you how to field-strip the Type 14.
First, you check the chamber.
Then, you pull the trigger once to lower the firing pin. Next, holding down the rear end of the firing pin extension, which is in the center of the cocking piece, you rotate it counter-clockwise.
Once the cocking piece is off, the firing pin extension and the spring can be removed.
Next, pulling a little on the slide, you pull down on the trigger guard, this releases the trigger assembly, and at the same time, the barrel and bolt come off. You take the bolt out of the receiver, and after you remove the recoil springs and the firing pin, that completes the field-stripping.
The serial number was marked on nearly all the parts.
Once you’ve taken it apart, it seems pretty simple, but in comparison to the American 1911 of the time, you can see that it has more parts after field-stripping.
Well, next, let’s watch a shooting test. We decided to compare it with a 1911, which was a contemporary of this pistol.

I will start by measuring the muzzle velocities.
[Upper left display: Muzzle Velocity Test]
We measured the muzzle energy of the bullets using the muzzle velocities. As you can see, in comparison to the 1911, the Type 14 has much lower power. Particularly, it had less than half the stopping power (NPF) shown by the figures.
The 8-mm Type 14 cartridges we used in this test were not originals. We saw that they were somewhat slower than the standard cartridges of the time, whose muzzle velocity was announced to be 317 meters per second. Also, when we actually fired them, the recoil was on the mild side.
Next, we’ll do a grouping test.
[Upper left display, Target Grouping Test; Bottom display, Distance to target 15 yards]
First, we do a shooting test with the 1911, a pistol we get a lot of opportunities to shoot.
The results: a 4-inch group.
Next is the Type 14 pistol.
We have high expectations for the pistol which, at the time, had a worldwide reputation as a pretty accurate model.
The results: About an 8-inch group.
It was a single-action, so the trigger was smooth and very good, but even though I used the same hold, some of the shots were pretty far off. We could not tell if this was the fault of the pistol or if the cartridges we had used were defective.
Next, we carried out a rapid-fire test.
[Upper left display: Rapid-fire test]
The 1911 has a heavy recoil, so to that extent, it felt less stable.
(Pointing to target) These small holes are the Type 14, and the big ones are from the 1911. The smaller ones show a better pattern. As you might expect, the Type 14 may be a little more appropriate for Japanese.

We carried out a comparison penetration test using 2.5 cm thick boards.
[Upper left display: Pine board penetration test]
(looking at the Box o’ Truth) Now, we’re looking at what we got shooting the 1911. One, two, three, four, five, six… in the seventh board, we have a dent. And the bullet… it still is in about its original shape.
(fires the Nambu)
One, two, three, four… in the fifth board, it’s stopped. The bullet is here. It’s kind of smashed.
The results of the pine board penetration test also put the 1911 out front.

Next, we shoot a helmet.
[Upper left display: Helmet penetration test]
This steel helmet is one that was used by the American Army during the Second World War.
(pointing to the helmet) It didn’t penetrate.
(holding helmet after firing 1911) The 1911 didn’t penetrate either.
Both shots were deflected by the helmet; they didn’t even leave cracks. The dents were also about the same size.
In this test, unfortunately, considering all of the results, the Type 14 pistol did not turn out to be superior to the 1911. On the contrary, we can consider that this is proof of the perfection of the 1911, which is still in active service on the front lines.

1960's Prices

At one time in the United States, handguns could be ordered by mail. Advertisements were in all magazines. Here is one such ad.

US MOD 1911 ARMY
The old reliable standby for more than 50 years; 7-shot, outside hammer, grip safety, new style Parkerized grey finish or blued. Perf. mechanically, VG bore. $55.00

S&W TRIPLELOCK
GOLD SEAL MILITARY MODEL
6-shot, solid frame, swingout cyl, DA, rebounding hammer; 6 & 1/2 barrel, extra housing integral to barrel into which crane and cylinder pin lock, making the action strong enough for the heaviest handloads. On the Gold Seal series, hammer & trigger have inserted bearing points to reduce friction, which together with the superior workmanship of these pre-war guns makes for exceptionally fine smooth crisp actions unequalled by most guns today. Made for the British Army, have now been rechambered. Almost VG in and out $60.00 Bore VG or better $67.50

Yes, there are decimals in those prices. Read them and weep.

Pearl Harbor

I served in the US Navy. I trained with other men to keep my ship afloat, to extinquish fires and protect ordnance, all the while keeping my ship in the fight while under attack. I trained for much that I never experienced, but I have been trapped aboard a burning ship at sea, and know a smidgen of the horror these men experienced.
The men who died on December 7, 1941 were not expecting to die that day. They were men like you and me. They had hopes, dreams, aspirations. They lost everything they had on that day. Some felt seawater fill their lungs on their last gasp, knowing well ahead of time they would die trapped like rats in a sewer. Others bled out slowly or were disemboweled. Still others were mercifully, quickly incinerated and blown apart. All were unsuspecting and unwilling men who went to their deaths for a purpose they did not believe in. They died because Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, not because they were in some great campaign themselves.

The greatness of our country then was that our country refused to allow these men to die in vain. We took up their cause, made their sacrifice count. Remember Pearl Harbor became a rallying cry for a generation. That was my country. I miss her.

What Have We Lost.

• December 7, 1941. It was a day that has not been forgotten. It has indeed lived in infamy. It's meaning was not misunderstood. The loss has never been perverted for political gain.
  The December 7, 1941 casualty list was:
  PERSONNEL KILLED
  Navy 2001
  Marine Corps 109
  Army 231
  Civilian 54
  PERSONNEL WOUNDED
  Navy 710
  Marine Corps 69
  Army 364
  Civilian 35
  SHIPS
  Sunk or beached 12
  Damaged 9
  AIRCRAFT
  Destroyed 164
  Damaged 159
  
  September 11, 2001. It was a day that has not been forgotten. Or has it?
  The September 11, 2001 casualty list was:
  Number of fatalities World Trade Center Towers---2,595
  Flight 11---92
  Flight 17---65
  Pentagon Building---125
  Flight 77---64
  Shanksville Flight 93---45
  Total 2,986
  
  What have we lost? We have lost ourselves.
  

Patricia Konie Video

Racism, Gun Confiscation, and Hurricaine Katrina

"Treat me with benign neglect." Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr. NOLA 2005

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is now telling his followers that the levees in New Orleans may have been deliberately "blown up" to kill the city's black population. "I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan explained. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry." Farrakhan didn't say who he thought was behind the plot to blow up New Orleans' levees, nor did he explain how tons of water might have ignored the laws of physics and flowed uphill.

I am amused and dismayed to see that people like Farrakhan and his ilk are trying to make Hurricaine Katrina and New Orleans a race issue. In America, some people have made a living exploiting racial hatred, fears and injustice. Where were they on August 15, 2005? Were they in the 9th Ward of New Orleans trying to elevate their fellow man? No. They were elsewhere, seeking the latest race cow to milk. On August 28, with thousands of people in peril, New Orleans became that cow.

Some are saying this disaster lays bare the racism in our society. I suppose it does. A lot of people are seeing skin color and not actions. Then they think they have a right to render judgement because they saw it on TV. This disaster is not laying bare the racism in New Orleans, it's laying bare the racism all across our nation. How dare the news media and race mongers strip away the courage and commitment shown by family after family of poor disadvantaged black people and then paint them with a criminal brush? More on that issue here.

Even more troubling is Mayor Nagin and Police Chief Edwin Compass' ill advised decision to disarm those who have decided to stay. These politicians were willing to sell their citizens and constituents down the river as dangerous thugs and criminals to have the opportunity to trample on the Bill of Rights. People stayed for a myriad of reasons, and they were from all stratas of society. Some did not evacuate because they cared for elderly, or invalid bed bound relatives at home, who could not be evacuated without an ambulance. Other families might have one car but ten family members. Who would stay and who would go? Others did not even have a car, but had a job their family depended on, that they could not afford to lose. For these people leaving or staying was an enormous gamble. Most chose to face the storm as a strong, honorable family. They lost the gamble.


Other men evacuated their families but stayed behind armed to protect their homes and businesses. Why did they do this? Because ahead of the storm, before anything happened, they did not expect the New Orleans Police Department to be able to prevent looting. Little did they realize that the NOPD would seek to disarm them. I have a feeling the NRA and GOA will be getting a lot of dollars that would have otherwise gone to Ducks Unlimited. Many hunting oriented gunowners just became defense oriented gun owners by the actions of one misguided police chief.



The film shot of a California Highway Patrol officer inside of Ms. Patricia Konie's home has stirred the embers it well should. Never again should anyone wonder what will happen in a major disaster with liberal politicians in control. There are some who want to wash this incident away, who want to ignore the painfully obvious. We have seen the Wal-Mart in Baton Rouge refuse to sell guns or ammunition. We have also seen every 12 gauge shotgun, and damned near every handgun leave the shelves of every pawn and gun shop in Northern Louisiana in under three days. There are thousands of evacuees in my own city who are able to legally buy firearms in North Louisiana. People are not stupid. Some may have had their eyes opened after the storm, but they are not stupid. I pity the souls who were bused out of state and are therefore unable to purchase a gun.


People want to say a mistake was made trying to confiscate weapons. They want to believe it will not happen again. When I see that CHP officer return a revolver and a pocketknife to Ms. Konie, drive her back to her home, help her up her steps, and apologize sincerely for his actions, and do this on public television, I may begin to feel the same. Until then, I will rest comfortable in the knowledge that hundreds of shotguns will migrate from pawn shop shelves in North Louisiana to the Big Easy and the surrounding areas over the coming months.


Until then, the CHP boys should know better. They are sworn to uphold the US Constitution (and were resworn to do the same in front of the LSP base office to operate in Louisiana). I, like every other citizen expect them to know what is written on the document they swear to uphold.

The good people of New Orleans have a problem. On one hand they have looting thugs roaming about with guns taking personal property. On the other hand they have jack booted law enforcement roaming about with guns confiscating personal property. There are many in Louisiana that no longer see the distinction that a badge once provided.

Related:

TURNING TRAGEDY INTO TRAVESTY

Imagine yourself marooned in this hellish nightmare of helplessness:
Hurricane Katrina has shredded your hometown down to bare foundations.
You have no power. No refrigeration. No A/C. No running water.
Phone lines are down, cell towers out. You can`t call anyone. No one can call you. 9-1-1 is MIA. Police are nowhere around. Bands of armed looters, thugs and rapists roam the streets with hard eyes and hungry looks.

Every outbound road and bridge is impassable. Leaving is impossible. But staying is unimaginable. Because for tonight, anyway, living has been reduced to its barest, bleakest essentials: Fresh water, some food and survival against those who would take your home, your wife, your child or your life.

When darkness falls, you huddle in the sweltering, pitch-black night--your lanterns and flashlights extinguished to save batteries and fuel, your windows and doors wide open, in hopes of a cooling whiff of fresh air. And there, you listen and look out on a civilization utterly transformed, where not a single streetlight burns, no car passes and the only sounds are the drone of a few generators, occasional shouts and gunshots in the dark.

Amid the chaos, you and a few neighbors who own guns have stepped forward--as civic-minded citizens have done since civilization was born--to protect those who can`t protect themselves or their property.
You help where you can. Where you can`t, you hold out and pray.
By the time authorities finally arrive a week later, they set about dismantling the one levee that stands between utter anarchy and you and your family- the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms--by vowing to confiscate your firearms and those of your neighbors.

This is New Orleans, September 2005: Where the most fundamental human freedom is all that stands between humanity and inhumanity, savagery and safety--and where authorities have vowed to raze that lifesaving safeguard.-----

By Marshall Lewin

Related:

A Call to Arms

The situation we`re seeing in New Orleans represents a complete vindication of everything we`ve been saying in defense of the Second Amendment," said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
"All throughout history, what you have in the aftermath of disasters like Katrina is mayhem, looting, robbing, raping and killing by the evildoers, along with a complete breakdown of government`s ability to protect people from those who would do them harm," LaPierre said. "That`s exactly what the Right to Keep and Bear Arms was intended to address. The Second Amendment is the underpinning of citizens` efforts to stay alive."

Yet according to The New York Times and other media outlets, New Orleans authorities began seizing firearms from lawful citizens precisely when they needed them the most.
"No one will be able to be armed," said New Orleans Superintendent of Police P. Edwin Compass. "Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." All firearms--lawfully owned or not-- would be seized, he said.
Ironically, Compass added, "there`s nothing more important than the preservation of human life"-- ignoring the reality that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms was the only protection citizens had against violent predators roaming New Orleans.

"When law enforcement isn`t available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others--the Right to Keep and Bear Arms," LaPierre said. "If authorities are denying the Second Amendment rights of lawful citizens- especially during a crisis like this--those authorities should be condemned and their actions immediately reversed."
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox addressed the legal, tactical dimensions of any firearm confiscations in New Orleans. Louisiana state law does allow the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies, Cox noted, "but `regulate` doesn`t mean confiscate," he said.
"Armed gangs of from eight to 15 young men are riding around in pickup trucks, looting and raping."
"We`re exploring every legal option available to protect the rights of lawful people in New Orleans," Cox added, "and we`re immediately taking steps to overturn laws that allow that kind of oppression in every state where they exist." "This isn`t just about New Orleans, Mississippi or the Gulf Coast," added LaPierre. "It`s about all of our rights as Americans and, for that matter, as human beings, to defend ourselves from harm when no one else can or will. "the lesson of New Orleans is that citizens must be able to rely on their own ability to survive. The answer once and for all to politicians who say Americans don`t need the Second Amendment, government will protect you, the answer forevermore is New Orleans."

Descent into Mayhem

With one of the highest murder rates in the United States, New Orleans has long been one of the roughest towns around. Katrina didn`t help.
Within hours of the hurricane`s landfall on the Gulf Coast, looters had begun breaking into stores and homes. But what the media were quick to characterize as a simple search for water, food and the essentials of survival quickly degenerated into rampant theft , rape, vandalism and violence.
Looters ran down a state police truck filled with food. Carjackers seized the bus from the Covenant Home nursing facility, then gangs of people drove by the nursing home, shouting, "Get out!" at residents-- who did.

The home`s executive director, Peggy Hoffman, said, "We had enough food for 10 days. Now we`ll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot." Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Cathy Flinchum said criminals were filing fake emergency reports to draw police away from places where they planned to commit crimes.

One criminal with a long arrest record was charged with raping a 13-year-old mentally handicapped girl from New Orleans at an Assembly of God campground.
A police officer was murdered.
A rescue helicopter was attacked.
Police killed at least four people who had assaulted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors who were crossing a bridge to try to close a gap in the 17th Street Canal.

Captain Jeff Winn of the New Orleans Police swat team said, "Armed gangs of from eight to 15 young men are riding around in pickup trucks, looting and raping." Policeman Charles Hoffacker, whose beat includes Bourbon Street, said that at times, "it was like Mogadishu."
Within a week, for whatever reason, hundreds of New Orleans police had gone awol, and two--including the department`s spokesman--had committed suicide.
According to Sgt. Stephen Villere, night-patrol commander for the French Quarter, "It felt like a year, not a week."

The "Hue and Cry" that Keeps the Peace

Faced with this total breakdown in civil order, residents throughout the Gulf Coast quickly took steps to protect property, life and limb.
In Gulfport, Miss., one of the hurricane`s hardest-hit areas, after police reported that looters had completely cleaned out a nearby strip mall, resident Billy Bova and his neighbor took down the plywood covering their windows, and painted signs: "My best friends are Smith & Wesson," and "Owner home and will kill." Standing guard one night, Bova reported seeing several young men roaming the neighborhood carrying backpacks after curfew. "We pointed our Mag-Lites at them, and they saw our shotguns and rifle, and they took off running."
In effect, in the aftermath of Katrina, in much of Louisiana and Mississippi, peaceable armed citizens like Bova and his neighbor kept the peace as well as peace of mind.
9-1-1 didn`t exist, and police who were there advised citizens that they wouldn`t be around to answer any calls for help.

This real-life experience mirrors National Science Foundation funded research in the wake of Hurricane Andrew`s devastation of South Florida in 1993. Interviewing residents, researchers found that, "those who did have firearms gained a sense of security from them, even when they were never confronted with an intruder or any other situation where the fi rearms were actually needed." "We`ve got a lot of single mothers with kids in the neighborhood," Bova said, "so we`d walk through at dusk, make sure everyone was safe, and let them know that we`d be around. with no air conditioning, everybody`s doors and windows were open. So we said, `If you have any trouble, just scream. We`ll hear you.`" In the Garden District of New Orleans, residents John Carolan and Charlie Hackett armed themselves with a pistol and shotgun to deter looters. At one point, three men appeared at Carolan`s home, showed him a machete and asked him about his generator. Carolan showed them his pistol. they didn`t pursue things further.

In the city`s French Quarter, resident Joe Campiere tried for seven days before he finally reached police through 9-1-1. the three Texas officers who arrived on horseback after that were the first Campiere had seen since the hurricane. "I tell you, I`ve been terrified," he told the Christian Science Monitor, a holstered pistol at his side.

Across the Mississippi from the French Quarter, in the historic neighborhood of Algiers Point, after a resident was carjacked on the day after Katrina struck, several neighbors worked together to protect their homes. they armed themselves and patrolled the streets by day, and at night they took turns standing guard over their part of the lawless city.
It worked: Looters left , presumably to look for easier pickings.
Resident Alexandra Boza posted a sign on her front porch reading, "Pit Bull Will Attack. We Are Here and Have Gun and Will Shoot." "I`m a part of the militia," she said, perhaps not realizing that her statement was true in the most accurate, historical sense of the Second Amendment.

Police suddenly body-slammed the elderly woman into her kitchen wall, sending dishes and a trashcan flying. Then they confiscated the gun and dragged her out of her home.
As Thomas Paine put it in 1775, "Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived of the use of them." Tragically, horrid mischief still awaited the besieged residents of the Gulf.

Dispossessing Victims, Disarming the Defenseless

It was a week after Katrina struck before many New Orleans residents saw any of the thousands of federal, state and local emergency officials-- from the California Highway Patrol to the NYPD, the 82nd Airborne to the National Guard--who`d been dispatched to help them.

First those forces were focused on search and rescue. then they aimed at deterring and detaining looters.
Finally they were detailed, under Mayor Ray Nagin`s order, to evacuate the Big Easy--willingly or not.
Then, 11 days after Katrina hit, local police began confiscating firearms from civilians in preparation for a forced evacuation of the last holdouts.

"We are going to take all the weapons," Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley told the Associated Press.
But many residents didn`t want to leave, for fear of losing their pets, their possessions or their homes.

Fox News cameras caught one violent confiscation on tape. Police entered the residence of an elderly woman, Patricia Konie, demanding evacuation. "I don`t want you in here, period," she said, pointing out her street was dry, she had adequate food and water, and if looters came, she had a gun.

When the police asked to see her gun, she showed them a small revolver, which she carefully held safely in her palm--no hand on the grip or finger on the trigger.
Police suddenly body-slammed the elderly woman into her kitchen wall, sending dishes and a trashcan flying.
Then they confiscated the gun and dragged her out of her home, dazed and staggering, for processing.

New Orleans attorney Ashton O`Dwyer, whose house was intact and who had plenty of food and water, also resisted, as shown in a CNN.com segment. "Let them be warned," he said. "they try to come to my house, they try to evict me, they try to take my guns, there will be gunfire." Yet while authorities sought to disarm ordinary citizens in New Orleans, they had no plans to disarm private security guards hired to protect businesses, the wealthy and connected. Which means that, as is so often the case throughout history, freedom and safety are reserved for the well-to-do- while ordinary citizens most in need of protection are left with little more than their prayers and pleas for mercy.

Bova, the Gulfport resident quoted earlier, brought the situation into the starkest focus. When I told him of New Orleans` policy of disarming honest citizens, he was speechless at first, for he hadn`t heard the news. then he grew livid.
"These are people who have lost everything," he said. "their kids, their homes, their life savings, all their possessions. All that`s left is that they`re still alive. You mean to tell me, after losing all that, politicians want to take away their guns--the one thing that can keep them alive? "Who do they think they are?" he shouted. "these people ought to be indicted and put in jail!" "For generations, anti-gun politicians have claimed that honest citizens don`t need firearms because the police or the government will always be there to protect you," said NRA`s LaPierre. "that`s nonsense, it`s naive, it has never played out that way in history, and New Orleans proves it once and for all.

"Authorities are trying to do what the looters and criminals could not: disarm the law-abiding citizens of New Orleans trying to protect their homes and families," he said.
"The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who`re trying to defend themselves." NRA-ILA chief Cox agreed.
"We`re going to do what it takes to ensure this never happens again," Cox said. "First, we`re going to go into every state that has laws allowing authorities to confiscate firearms from lawful people during a state of emergency, and we`re going to change those laws. Second, we`re going to get legislation on Capitol Hill to amend the federal disaster laws, so that governments never have the authority to confiscate firearms from peaceable citizens--whether under a state of emergency or not.

And third, we`re going to go to court to defend the Second Amendment rights of people whose firearms have been confiscated, and we`re going to get those firearms back," Cox said. "The NRA will not allow this travesty to stand."

Xavier's Note:
In preparation for further lawsuits over gun confiscations the NRA and SAF are looking for people who actually had guns confiscated. If you have personally had a gun confiscated in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina hit, please call (888) 414-6333. Be prepared to leave only your name and immediate contact information so we can get back to you. Once again, they are seeking contact information from actual victims of gun confiscation in Louisiana only.
Contact SAF via e-mail at safalert@liberty.seanet.com. Please be ready to provide them with your full name, address, current working telephone number and the date and time of the firearm(s) seizure, as well as any other pertinent information.