Before I even started filming this video, the Calico’s muzzle brake fell off…not an auspicious beginning! But we will push on without it, and see if the Calico can even finish the course without malfunctioning…and what sort of of time it gets if it does!
Select-fire Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Testing
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Project Lightening Episode 05: Reload
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Semiauto Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Inventor Afield
John Moses Browning (center) elk hunting near Jackson Hole, Wyoming around 1910. His rifle is a Remington Model 8 in .35 Remington, and he is flanked by his brother Matthew on the right. His skinning […]
WAHAHAHAH!
Well, well… The little, ol’ clunky Calico just wiped the floor with the mighty SP5.
Not bad for an almost 30 year old $500 gun with a (undeserved?) poor reputation.
“The little, ol’ clunky Calico just wiped the floor with the mighty SP5″(C)
Nonsense.
MP5 spent 30 rounds in 45 seconds and left 9 badges untouched, and Calico 44 seconds and 8 badges.
Almost equivalent.
It also seems that transferring fire from one group of badges to another takes Calico more time.
Or is it my calculator of the wrong system? 😉
I’m quite sure this is one of the newly manufacturers Calico carbines and not one of the 30-year old versions. That’s quite apparent by the stock’s molded body shape, the skeleton portion of the stock (the older models are folders) and trigger-guard area, as well as the missing A2 style front sight.
So I would really like to see the same comparative test with the original version; for that matter, my Calico Carbine that IS one of the original rendition runs just as flawlessly with a 100-round magazine.
_III_
I remember when I was 16 and my friend was 17 and a guy tried to sell us one of those in the parking lot of a gun show. That tells you everything you need to know about the 90s and the Calico. I wish we would have bought it but we knew it was illegal (and seemed fishy) at the time.
You are probably onto something about the reliability rumor being connected to improper magazine prep. Some folks will not read an owners manual for anything. The one I owned years ago never exhibited any reliability issues with any of the four magazines I had with it. As I mentioned earlier I only sold because the firing pin sear tooth (or whatever you would call it) broke, twice, causing full-auto, and so when the company sent me a new rifle after the second break I just sold it. There were over two thousand rounds through it the first time it broke, and the second time I had maybe five rounds through it before it did it again. It will be interesting to see if yours does full-auto too at some point. Since you read how to wind the magazines though you will likely never have feeding issues.
The Little Calico that could!
Ian, particularly on your 2nd target w/ the center reset, it would be interesting if you lowered your height over bore by mounting your red dot on a riser on the forward rail and getting co-witness w/ your sights. That would also allow you to test your magazines for differing zeros by turning off the red dot, and might allow for slightly faster magazine changes. Even if you were to run the course 3 times in a row, that would be a single magazine change to the MP5’s five – quantity has a quality all its own…
Loving the cheap MP5 killer. Hope it’s not the WWSD/GWACS effect all over again.
Well crap. As I mentioned before, I wanted one of these ever since they came out when I was in Jr. High. I always used the “reliability” issue as and excuse not to part with the money. And now I no longer have that excuse. Guess I’ll start looking for one………
Another “everyone knows” put to the test. Good going.
Some clocks with key-wound clock springs count key turns and stop after a given number of turns, and those mechanisms are just gears with only a given number of teeth cut. Every complete turn advances the gear one tooth, and when the teeth run out, no more turns and that prevents over-winding. Conversely, always wind until it stops. What is left of Calico needs to visit a good clock maker to make this device work for the instruction-reading challenged.
If you’re right about this, Jacob, some more crafting can prevent over-winding. Stupid people will not die out anytime soon, however, and always expect one schmuck to “fix” his gun with a series of hammer blows to the barrel when it doesn’t “shoot straight” at a target when he isn’t even using the sights or when he’s holding it totally wrong. Three guesses as to what happens if the abused gun happens to be a Nitro-Express hunting rifle… just kidding.
Very interesting.
And I second backbencher’s suggestion to test the rear-sight zero keeping.
Maybe chronograph also to see how much the 16″ barrel matters.
No Calico Shirt Ian?
What’s wrong with Karl’s voice?
Ian’s evil laugh at 5:53… Priceless.
Will say my Cx4 9-mm from Pietro Beretta has awful trigger, but similar course of fire does OK. Mag changes though!
@Stiven
Ok, ok… In all fairness an SP5 test with some sort of extended 50 round magazine might have provided a different result and would have been interesting to see.
But be honest: When the zombie apocalypse comes and you have to fight yourself through the city… Would you rather have a 30 rd SP5? Or a Calico with a 100 round magazine? 😉
“When the zombie apocalypse”(С)
Neutrinobomb will cope better with a problem. LOL
Who would have guessed that a full sized gun would outperform a shorty? Speaking of which, how about running a Ruger PC Carbine and PC Charger over the PCC course?
Use Glock mags or course, it’s de rigueur.
I would to see the same comparative test with the original version; for that matter, my Calico Carbine that is one of the original rendition runs just as flawlessly with a 100-round magazine.
_III_
The Calico website all seems to work now!
What interests me is it’s delayed blowback. It’s way cheaper than H&K, cmmg, and sig. How soft shooting is it. Can this delayed blowback be used on an ergonomic magazine fed carbine with something like psa 35 round mags, hint hint for some manufacturers out there. Just asking.
To be fair Ian didn’t used a red-dot when he tested the HK-SP5.
Does it come in bolt-action with a 5-round magazine for California?
Forget it, the Feds would take that away on the grounds that you were a terrorist for having a functioning firearm of ANY sort in the first place. That’s probably what will happen if Biden wins and if ALL Congressional seats get taken by the “Democrats” on the Far-Left. We’ll be left in some horrible “Police State” that won’t even have police (yes, the “defund Police movement” also demands COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of everyone and disarming the random traffic-directing cop who probably doesn’t carry a gun). Just kidding, this is a total joke post. PLEASE DO NOT THROW FLAK SHELLS AT ME.
And so gun Jesus said “let there be roller delay” and behold Calico did rise from the dead it’s website now intact. Struck down by the most evil assault weapons ban Calico is most beloved in the eyes of the Lord.
Found a old commercial for Calico weapons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bxE6MZlxGQ&feature=emb_title
Gentlemen,
Yes, Calico has a rather disappointing website, but you can still dig through it to pick out some information. Namely, here is a link to their catalog, which will likely be the most interesting article to scan through on there:
https://calicolightweaponsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Calico-Catalog.pdf
…The Liberty IIT (9mm) actually looks like an intriguing carbine design, though that giant rail assembly brings to mind the sad shortcomings of the MPA MPAR rifle and the huge block that it had sticking off the front end. If there is a way to mount a light or laser INSIDE of that housing, that would be a neat selling point.
One almost wonders if they should change the design of the rifle’s front post to resemble something more akin to the carry handle of an M16. Namely, beneath the level of the front post, a “handle section” with pic rail would extend forward, allowing a long eye relief optic or reflex-type sight to be mounted. This section would then step down to another short section of rail (beneath the level of the sight rail, of course) for mounting lights or lasers. Might trim a bit of the fat that way!
Does anyone consider that the difference in shooting between the MP5 and Calico could
be caused by the fact that the MP5 has a fluted chamber and the Calico has not
Good question ! Maybe fluted chamber in 9mm is overengineering…?
“Maybe fluted chamber in 9mm is overengineering?”(С)
https://youtu.be/rhjnYGjAyRI?t=152
Hard to say.
Judging by the picture, this system is quite stable against the edge of the case. Apparently, there is a rather strong conical chamber…
Maybe nice addon would be a “magazine” (with side mounted sights) that is an adapter for using stick mags, but on second thought, underside of bolt looks somewhat shallow to pick up rounds from normal mag (double feed would be impossible)
To the question of reliability.
https://youtu.be/sOdkL4aR3FU?t=49
Perhaps, the problem was a weak cartridge. But why didn’t he shoot a second time?..
Some more junk.
https://www.smallarmsreview.com/archive/detail.arc.entry.cfm?arcid=13211
https://www.smallarmsreview.com/archive/detail.arc.entry.cfm?arcid=8240
https://calicolightweaponsystems.com/product-category/calico-firearms-parts/calico-9mm-firearms-parts/calico-9mm-bolt-parts/
https://www.liveauctionworld.com/CALICO-M950_i30579293
WHERE is the article everyone is commenting on? All I see is “Before I even started filming this video, the Calico’s muzzle brake fell off…not an auspicious beginning! But we will push on without it, and see if the Calico can even finish the course without malfunctioning…and what sort of time it gets if it does!” — — Something is missing! I’m looking at: https://www.forgottenweapons.com/calico-liberty-100-carbine-on-the-pcc-evaluation-course/