Thread: Guns Guns and MORE Guns

Nice pistol! Never heard of one in that caliber. Lots of obsolete stuff out there.
I never got into reloading. I expect that's the only way to be able to shoot something like that on occasion.

TBH, I restrict my purchases to common calibers. I frequent Gunboards some as I like to learn about the old guns and military history. As I posted an Arisaka I inherited, I lamented that I cannot find any rounds for sale.
One of the guys has hooked me up with a few boxes of Norma. That will give me a chance to shoot it some.

I dislike a razor I cannot shave with, a cylinder which don't pop, or a firearm I cannot shoot!

The only experience I have with a 1911 type pistol was owning and shooting an AMT Hardballer when they first came out. It had a jamming problem caused by the use of similar stainless steels in the barrel and slide. Solved that by packing the locking lugs with lithium grease. Other than that it was OK to shoot.

The browning Hi Power fitted my hand better and I preferred that which was a good thing as it was our service pistol then circa 1970s. It is going to be replaced now by the SIG P320 from what I understand. I did manage to get a WWII vintage Hi Power made by Inglis Canada which had tangent sights and a shoulder stock holster. IIRC you could likely keep someone's head down at 300 yards with that combo not that the round would do much at that distance. Got some funny looks at the range playing like that.

Yes, old rounds that are hard/impossible to get are fun to shoot. I had a 280 Ross sporter that I shot some with whatever rounds I could scrounge up. Had the reloading dies to form my own brass too but sold the rifle before I tried that. The only other older round that was a bit of trouble for me to find was 6.5X54 MS for a sweet little 1905 MS full stocked carbine that I had. Someone had fitted it with a Lyman swing arm rear peep sight in addition to having it's original sights. Interesting sight that Lyman was as it allowed for the operation of the bolt on the split bridge receiver.

Had a lot of fun with guns back then, lots of good memories.

Bob

Oh well. A heavy box will arrive Tuesday or so. Might be a bit overkill.
Things being as they are, figured to bite the big one. Sport shooting is a hoot. Part of the American fabric.
I like ringing gongs and shredding cans. Damn the expense.
Grew up doing it. Favorite was the shotgun hulls lined-up on a fallen tree.
Paper targets are OK. Just not as much fun!
Live every day to the fullest. Pop some caps in a peaceful manner!

Originally Posted by BobH

The only experience I have with a 1911 type pistol was owning and shooting an AMT Hardballer when they first came out. It had a jamming problem caused by the use of similar stainless steels in the barrel and slide. Solved that by packing the locking lugs with lithium grease. Other than that it was OK to shoot.

Yup Bob, I had a stainless AMT backup that ate my lunch for a while.
Some strategic RIG grease tamed that thing. Stainless on stainless needs to be hard and well polished/greased.

Anyone looking for hot shooting surplus 9mm ball should look for Canadian 9mm ball ammo. They came in boxes of 64 rounds each as the Sterling SMG had 32 round mags. If they could operate the blowback action of the Sterling, moving the slide on a Hi Power was easy.

Bob

The Sterling 9mm SMG was my personal weapon in the British Army because the but folded and it fit in a tank turret.

There were 4 crew in a Chieftain Tank, 3 in the turret and each had a personal weapon in there with them, can you imagine tryiing to get 3 full size Rifles in the turret and find somewhere to put them without getting them stuck in the turret race.

We never filled the magazines with 32 rounds though because the gun kept jamming so we only ever loaded 30 rounds.

The mechanism was remarkably simple. The round when fired just pushed the breach block back, the breach block just had a small nipple welded on it so there was no seperate pin and the block had a sear to catch the rim of the brass casing and would eject it out of the port. They could be set to fire single shot or automatic but in auto the mag empties in about 3 seconds so we never used it.

It was always said that it an SMG couldn't shoot through a wet army great coat at 30m (50ft).

It was the same round that the 9mm Browning pistol used as well so that was handy.

I used to enjoy the ranges but hated cleaning the SMG after, rubbed the breach block in the sand bunker to get the carbon off.

Hunting with a slingshot is pretty popular in the UK, I use one myself, I have bagged a few squirrels with mine, using 10mm ball bearings for ammo.

Originally Posted by BobH

Anyone looking for hot shooting surplus 9mm ball should look for Canadian 9mm ball ammo. They came in boxes of 64 rounds each as the Sterling SMG had 32 round mags. If they could operate the blowback action of the Sterling, moving the slide on a Hi Power was easy.

Bob

I have some of that, Bob. Strange story, but seems the CIA was arming lots of groups with SMG's clandestinely in the 50's. (Go Figure)
They were buying it from Canada having the headstamps read '42 so it would appear to be WWII surplus if it was discovered.

I have 8 boxes. Wish I could send you one. Definitely makes a stout pop.

Yes, come to think of it we also only loaded 30 rounds in a Sterling mag for the same reason. Sterlings and Hi Powers were issued to naval boarding parties with the FNC1 not being too handy in the interior spaces of a ship. The FNC1 was ok for securing the upper decks though.

There were two basic versions of the FN rifle in Canadian use. The semi auto only C1 which had a 20 round mag and the full auto capable C2 with a heavier barrel, fore stock that could be folded out to a bipod and a 30 round mag. The RCN version of the C2 had no folding fore stock and a big red A engraved in the butt stock for quick identification. IIRC we always had 2 FN rifles in a rack on the bridge at sea as shark repellent in case someone fell overboard. I think the standard macabre joke was "never mind the shark, shoot the swimmer before the shark gets to him".

There was also a 22 LR conversion kit for the FN that allowed basic weapons familiarisation on the indoor range and you could also sight the rifle in for 100 yards when using the 7.62 NATO round with the kit. That actually worked well when you got to the outdoor range and fired the rifle using 7.62 NATO rounds at 100 yards.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...101630910#lg-2

Bob

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I have some of that, Bob. Strange story, but seems the CIA was arming lots of groups with SMG's clandestinely in the 50's. (Go Figure)
They were buying it from Canada having the headstamps read '42 so it would appear to be WWII surplus if it was discovered.

I have 8 boxes. Wish I could send you one. Definitely makes a stout pop.

Yes, the CIA did supply ammo to clandestine operations using ammo with foreign head stamps. Thanks for the thought on sending one but I have been out of shooting for a long time now. I'm just an old man who like to reminisce about the old days.