Re: Way OT: Fun with Machine Guns...

Maybe, maybe not. The metallurgy of the 1860's wasn't as good as it was even 50 years later, and that (and simple age) means that the steel might not be as strong as it was when new. Hidden corrosion takes place, and there's no way to check for it. There's a chance that a barrel or cylinder will blow up, even with a proper black powder load. Considering the fact that there are plenty of modern replicas that are perfectly safe to shoot, the increasingly valuable originals ought to be put out to pasture. It just doesn't make sense to use collectors' firearms, when replicas are available. Keep the originals and pass them on as part of our heritage.

When a "good" M2HB barrel lists at Sarco for $225, that's not "consumable" in my book. An "excellent" to "new" barrel might be three times that much, *if* you can find one. I'm sorry, but replacing barrels at that rate is not in *my* budget.

And burning/wearing out a barrel by firing continously means you're shooting like a jerk. The military trains gunners to fire in short bursts, and allow plenty of cooling between bursts.

"Consumable" guns are those in current production, or at least readily available. Once something stops being readily available/replacable, it's no longer "consumable." Registered machine guns have been capped

-- no more can be produced or imported for the civilian market. That makes it incumbent on all the current owners to try to preserve them for posterity.

All my guns are operable. That doesn't mean I *have* to operate them. Believe me, I've done plenty of shooting in the past. I'm at the stage in life that whenever I think of shooting, I think of the bother of cleaning the gun afterwards. Why get it dirty just to punch some targets and hear it go "bang"? Been there, done that.

Actually every time I fired the M-2 .50cal in Nam it was with the tripod and T&E device; the tripod is pretty tall. I always sat cross-legged behind it and I don't think it would be practical to lie prone behind it and shoot it effectively. Our Vietnamese had a couple of the old air-cooled .30cal Brownings and they had a low tripod that required the gunner and A-gunner to lay prone behind it. Perhaps that's the one you were thinking of.

Maybe, maybe not. Everything is consumable. As long as there is one, then something has been "preserved"...as long as there's a picture something has been preserved. It's not a tragedy if a machine passes from the earth. You can build as many as you like...hang the money. And hang posterity.

In private hands, they are private property and the owner can do anything he pleases with them within the law. If an owner desires to shoot his guns and has the means to do so, then he's welcome to it in my book.

Nothing speaks louder than the voice of experience...

I'll have to ask her, but I think she was either positioned as you describe, or kneeling. Her wounds were/are predominantly on her left thigh...at least that was what she showed me. And she said at first she had her face too close to the grips and the guys had to back her off a bit...even for the single round shot. They weren't belt feeding it - just firing singles.

And it was the round which failed, not the weapon...that was just the initial rumor. Don't think I'd feel very comfortable about shooting reloaded .50, myself.

Why even bother having the guns? Dusting, lubricating, wiping down, storage, insurance, registering, theft...

WmB

...why even bother having a stash?

$225? Is that all? Damn, I used to fork over $300 by the time I had a new match barrel made and fitted to my AR-15 and about $500 for the

Mach> >

Waaaaaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Agun is a machine and therefor consumable by definition. Who cares if an owner shoots them responsibly and eventually wears them out, they're the owners' property, NOT YOURS!

DOINK! A point or few beyond him it seems.

Probably why my father never went on hunting trips. He'd had enough playing with guns in the war.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Ah, my favourite Eagles' song!

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

...she caught the Katy, and left me a mule to ride...when that train pulled out, my mule layed down and died.

And now you guys got me playing this album: Eagles: Their greatest hits, 1971-1975

Great album :-)))))

Oddly, I've never hunted anything in my life except other people.....people who were often hunting me back an the same time.

It's cheaper to keep her It is cheaper to keep her

When your little girl makes you mad You get an attitude and pack your bag Five little children that you're leaving behind You're gonna pay some alimony or do some time

It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her) It's cheaper to keep her (Cheaper to keep her) ..............................

...nickel is a nickel, dime is a dime, house full o' children and not one's mine, I gotta bottle up and go...