A few things that have backed up and are worth sharing…
First off, I had the opportunity to be on a local radio program with my friends Karl and Aaron. It was a lot of fun, and I think it turned out to be a pretty entertaining couple hours. We discussed computer security, gun history, and answered a bunch of callers’ questions. If you’re looking for something to listen to today, you can find the show recorded and online here:
Part I – Liberty Watch
Part II – America Armed & Free
Second, an interesting set of photos I came across of arms captured in Iraq in 2003. Some is quite predictable (like rows of DShK machine guns), and some is unusual and interesting – like the Lebel, Berthier, and Roth-Steyr 1907 pistol.
Want more of that? Here’s another series of photos taken in 2004/2005 of other captured arms…
And last but not least, I’m very happy to announce that I have formally joined Armament Research Services as a staff researcher. I’m excited at the prospect of doing some fun and interesting work with them in the coming year and beyond!
While it pains me to see so many beautiful guns go to the smelter, one of my MP buddies who I saw after my tour showed me pictures of several of the guns he had captured, and challenged me as the resident firearms expert to pick out which ones were real, and which were fake of the ones they had confiscated from children. Some of them he had multiple pictures of. I failed. It made me a believer in orange tips on toys. Some of their toys are better than movie props, but I imagine alot of those are, in fact, real.
These days Hollywood movies typically use real weapons for closeup shots, often modified to fire blanks only, and rubber or plastic props for wide angle shots. For the latter muzzle flashes are added digitally in post-production. The trend is going towards no actual firing of weapons on the set (even blanks), since CGI is now quite good enough to make “realistic enough” muzzle flashes even for closeup shots. However, some directors still prefer firing blank shots, because it makes the situation feel more real to the actors.
Of course in Hollywood “realistic enough” often means “make a pistol look like a short barreled shotgun” type of muzzle flashes or even more exaggerated, something that Hollywood has made for gunshot sounds for decades…
Congratulations on the new position, Ian! Well deserved.
Congratulation on the new job. IMO not only is your knowledge great, you are very unbiased. As a great researcher in any field needs to be.
Ian’s lack of bias is something that is not commended nearly enough. I find it very hard to listen to or take seriously the type of person who lets a gun’s national origin or historical past cloud their ability to be objective when talking about it.
Ian is great at not falling into that category of person.
Hear, hear!
Andrzej
Congrats on the job Ian!
HI!
Friend of Charles with a Saturday radio show called VOICES OF THE WEST KVOI 4-5pm. Would love a knowledgable guest on 19th century firearms to talk about what they really packed.
We once did a show about unique guns used in westerns that weren’t repros – the Evans in CROSSFIRE TRAIL, the Colt revolving rifle in EL DORADO, couple of 50’s flicks with real Henrys, etc.
Love to have ya. Pleae respond to my personal e-mail address above.
EF
That 1907 Roth is cool, but still a military arm and bound to surface here and there. I am more interested in how the commercially produced AM-180 22LR sitting on the ground to the left of the cooler got there! Is it one of the select fire models? And where are the drums?
You missed the two C96s in the box with the Roth and the Mannlicher M1905 in the cooler under the barrel of the S&W N-frame Revolver.
Blowup of the pic in question: http://i.imgur.com/qvdI3zb.jpg
That image makes me wince. In part because it reminds me of how my guns are crammed into my two gun safes. 🙂
Looks like weaponry never gets destroyed, just passed on.
The British armies obsolete SLR’s ended up in Africa.
Some of them did. At least a few thousand came here to Canada in unmodified form and were sold for $199 early-90’s money before they were banned a few years later. Same with Australian L1A1’s and Indian 1A1’s.
Due to the Marxist nature of our governments throughout a good 30-40 year period, none of the C1A1’s were surplussed to civilians; though there are credible-but-unsubstantiated stories of Cuban reservists and Angolan Communist Guerrillas carrying brand-new Canadian Made C1A1 rifles in the 1970’s. Considering who our PM was at the time, I believe it.
Congratulations on the new position. I hope it all works out well for you.
Congrats Ian!
When they come for our guns, they will take everything.
My favorite found in Iraq were the M-36 Jacksons.
Ian, sorry I’m so late with this ( the demands of work are currently using up every hour I have ), but I’d still like to wish you all the very best with your new venture. I hope it works out the way you want it to, and then some.
It was great reading all the positive responses and invitations from the FW audience, further proof of the real quality of FW and its products, which I know were engendered by sheer hard work, honesty, an open mind, dedication to truth and fact, persistence, thrift, faith and perhaps a little luck ( which doesn’t hurt the timing ).
Insofar as the vintage weapons captured in 2003 shown above are concerned, it is also painful to realize that they were in all probability destroyed, unless someone recognized their historical value and was able to stave off their destruction and / or salvage at least a few of them in spite of prevailing orders.