H&R Top Break Revolver in .38 S&W
In the late 1970s my aunt was given a small H&R revolver for her wedding day. My grandfather had purchased it used from a friend for a few precious dollars as a wedding gift for her. When he handed over to my aunt explained to her, “This pistol is for your new husband. You use it on him if he ever tries anything.”
While my aunt never had to use the little H&R to keep him in “straight” it still lives on her night stand.
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Out with the SWAT Team
For the past two years I have been working with Police Departments in the Pierce County area on various projects. Generally I perform documentation, promotional, and training photographs for events that they host. Most of the time the photographs are pretty mundane documentary photos. People at podiums, crowds, group portraits. Pretty standard photographs.
Every once and a while they throw a curve ball at me. This time the curve ball was Simunitions training session at a local college.
For those who aren’t familiar with Simunitions – they’re soap filled plastic bullets that are fired out of highly modified or dedicated firearms. They’re setup so that is almost impossible to chamber a “real” cartridge, but they’re realistic enough many of the firing aspects of a “real” firearm. Unlike commercial firearms replicas, like airsoft, Simunitions replicate everything from the smell, and feel of a real firearm to the techniques required to repair a malfunction.
These training scenarios are designed to put pressure on the officers, and pit them against a wide range of hand selected volunteers. Some of these volunteers are highly trained combat specialists, while others are individuals who only have a basic level of firearms handling. This wide playing field allows the participating officers to experience the different types of active shooter scenarios that they might encounter.
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NSSF SHOT Show 2010 2nd Floor Panoramas
Panorama from the top of the DPMS booth Towards the Glock booth
Panorama from the top of the DPMS booth Towards the CZ booth
Magazine Assy, NSN 1005-00-550-8694, A – 10/79; A Photo Study
I recently came across an original m1911 Magazine Assembly (1989 Production, P/N 5508694, NSN 1005-00-550-8694) at the local gunshow and I couldn’t help myself from parting with $15- to make it mine. It’s obviously new old stock as it’s still in it’s original plastic and foil wrapping and the plastic appears to be somewhat well worn. As I understand it, these magazines are becoming less common and new old stock like this specific magazine is becoming increasingly hard to find.
Not wanting to pop the seal on an military contract 1911 without documenting the ordeal I grabbed a suitable backdrop and began snapping away. My goal was to tempt Chris Kaukl of How-I-Did-It.org and 230Grain.com who has become quite enamored with the USGI Feeding system after writing a relatively detailed article outlining the differences between ‘traditional magazines’ and ‘enhanced magazines.’
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Czech Out This Czech Steel Jacketed Steel Core 7.62×39 [230Grain.com Repost]
Yet another repost from 230Grain.com
Some time ago I received 80 rounds of some very mean looking surplus 7.62×39 in light blue cardboard boxes. After some digging around on the internet and a brief discussion with some friends from The Firing Range we figured out that the ammunition was Czech in origin and potentially over or undercharged (factory proof or rifling test loads). Some more deliberation made me decide that it was my duty as a denizen of several Internet firearms communities to dissect and weigh a sample projectile and post the results on the Internet. The results have been been on 230Grain.com and on the Something Awful but I figured it was deserving of a slightly more permanent article here.
PPSH41
In my quest to document every firerms related bit that comes through my hands I photographed the heck out of this PPSH41 bolt. This guy is on the chopping block to be sold on to some internet gun nerd for a reasonable price because it does me no good since I can’t own a fully automatic PPSH41 and it would be far too time consuming to attempt constructing a semi-PPSH41.
New Gun Galleries!
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Photos of a Schmidt-Ruben Swiss 1911 rifle, a pristine Long Branch No.4 Mk1, and a sporterized (refinished) Nazi Browning HiPower (P35) are now up in the firearms gallery.
Firearms Galleries
Ive been sitting on a stash of relatively detailed firearms photos that I’ve taken over the past couple of months. As I edit and upload them I’ll add them to the my new “Firearms Gallery” so everyone can at least get an idea of what the guts of some guns looks like. The Album is accessible beyond this post’s more tag and under the Firearms Gallery.
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How To Butcher Your Marlin 60
Last year I ended up receiving a beat up Marlin/Glenfield Model 60 semi-automatic 22LR for a job. During some down time last year I became a little desperate for a project so I decided to use up a few cans of spray paint I had left over from my Nerf Maverick paintjob and decided to make my marlin as “tacticool” as I could on my limited budget. My Model 60 went from a standard issue plinker to a “tactical bubba can snypa special” and was reliquished to the back of my closet where it spent most the past few months.
Then Clinotus of 230Grain.com mentioned that April would be “Tactipril” and I decided to break out the ‘ol Model 60 and submit it as fluff for the competition. I couldn’t just leave well enough alone and decided to get in touch with my friend James about using his metal lathe. After some idle catching up he agreed to teach me how to use his lathe and to help me with my quest for the “tacticool.” Unfortunately for me, the Model 60 isn’t as easy to butcher as it’s counterpart the Ruger 10/22 which is the firearms ricer’s dream rifle. Instead of having a barrel held in with an easy to remove screw the Model 60 has a pinned and pressed barrel which is a pain to remove, but who in their right mind takes the barrel off of a Model 60? They’re amazingly good rifles out of the box.
Unable to find much information on removing the barrel from this line of rifle I decided to make a nice and informative post on how to potentially ruin a $100 rifle. My results were positive but I can understand how this process could permanently ruin your firearm and that is why I am posting this article for entertainment purposes only.
Interview with Scott Dover, Vice President of Aero Precision
The AR-15 platform was born of aerospace industry technology and design practices, so it’s only fitting that Aero Precision, one of Boeing’s leading OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), is also a major OEM for some of the largest AR-15 vendors in the United States. Ten years ago, Scott Dover and Charlie Silkett expanded their company’s product line beyond aerospace technology to include firearms manufacturing. The techniques andquality-control processes honed to perfection manufacturing jet engine components are now also applied to their line of firearms parts.
Scott Dover is the Vice President and lead of firearms production at Aero Precision. He agreed to give us a glimpse into what it takes to manufacture an AR-15 and show us around his production floor. Under his watchful eye, we managed to get some photographs of his facility and some of his products during their manufacture as well as a brief interview about his company and production process.
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