Joe Doakes from Como Park emails re a birthday that’s coming up tomorrow:
January 23, 1855 was the birthday of John Moses Browning, who single-handedly revolutionized firearms. Look at the list of cartridges he designed, and weapons he designed them for, many of which are still in use today.
In an age when some Americans think we’re the Smartest People Ever, it’s worth remembering that clever people did amazing things before we came along.
Joe Doakes
As I noted two years ago – try to imagine a product (a fairly complex product – not a shovel or an ax) designed over 100 years ago that’s still in widespread use today in its original, unimproved form.
How many U.S. servicemen owe their lives to John Browning? My uncle was in the army in Europe during WWII and my dad was in the army during the Korean War. Both of them loved the BAR, the M-1917 M-1919 .30 cal and the M2 .50 cal machine guns. While in the Air Force in Vietnam, I also had the thrill of firing the M2. Let me just state the obvious here; I would never want to be on the receiving end or one of them. My uncle told me a story of a German infantry unit that surrendered to his unit within one minute of opening fire with an M2. It was toward the end of the war in Europe. The German Sergeant told my uncle that he had seen too many of his men die facing off against one of them and decided that enough of them had died for Der Fuhrer.
It’s rare when I don’t have “The Yankee Fist” on or about me.
Definitely an iconic brand.
This post reminds me of the passing of another giant in the industry,
Mikhail Kalashnikov. He was a intuitive engineer who obsessed over his inventions. The story of his family and his love for Stalin is surprising, and troubling. He seems to have taken Stalin as a father figure after Stalin forced his real father to an early grave. What is so frightening about Stalin’s regime of fear is that it worked so well.
my favorite old toy is a colt M1911 S/N: 1,721,xxx
mean as hell at 25 ft on a frozen pumpkin, not so good at 100yd but always big fun to shoot
just for some of that fun I took it out for target practice the other morning when it was -26F — no hesitation, just 3 mags of loud booms in that cold morning air
A classic and I’d love to own one, but you have to be Sasquatch to carry it comfortably concealed. In a pinch though, when fully loaded it can be used as a boat anchor!
Sasquatch or Mike Hammer! 49oz before you load it, nearly 4lbs fully loaded – you don’t just stick this one in your jacket pocket.
Kel and Night Writer, youse guys are lugging around too much weight because you’re doing it all wrong. My Bedside Burglar Buster is a Combat Commander. Losing that inch really lightens the load yet it’s dead-on balls accurate anywhere inside the bedroom (it’s an industry term) 🙂
Regarding the wisdom of those who came before us, it’s also worth noting that a lot of the hand tools of the past–those shovels and hammers and such–are much better balanced and functional than those of today. I’m blessed to have my great-grandfather’s tools, and suffice it to say that as long as they sell replacement handles in hardware stores, I will never have to buy another hammer in my life.
It’s like people used to use them every day or something…
Joe D – my BBB is a Taurus Judge, the first two chambers loaded with bird-shot/disks, followed by 3 rounds of .45LC for the persistent. If that’s not enough, the higher-capacity, but lighter, carry pieces come into play. (Indoors, I prefer to start with the birdshot to minimize over-penetration and to provide some margin with the tachycardia).
I nearly had a chance to see it in action up close and personal a couple of months ago when I came home one night about an hour and a half earlier than expected and my wife didn’t hear me announce myself when I came in as she was upstairs with water running. She did hear me banging around in my office desk and then coming upstairs, though. When I opened the bedroom door she was across the room with the Judge in hand, pointed down but in the ready position. I said, “Right. Forgot the flowers. Be right back.”