Birthday Greetings

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Think about the evolution of military equipment over the past 100 years.

In 1920, the infantryman carried a bolt-action rifle. The tanker drove a rattle-trap armored against rifle fire that could clank along at 3-4 miles an hour. Many of the navy’s ships were powered by coal, and the big cannon was the sine qua non of naval warfare. Pilots flew in planes made of wood and doped canvas – basically box kites with motors, armed with machine guns and glorified grenades.

Thirty years later, the infantry carried cyclic-fire weapons, tanks could shake off light artillery (usually) the Navy’s sunday punch was powered by oil, and planes were the piston-engine equivalent of todays’ Formula 1 cars and the first jets were duking it out in the skies, armed with cannon and the first crude guided missiles.

Thirty years after that, tanks could hit the speed limit, see in the dark and shake off big, powerful artillery. The pride of the Navy was nuclear-powered. The first “stealth” aircraft were just starting to take shape at the Skunk works, and the front-line planes were armed with radar and infrared missiles that could reach out, in some cases, 100 miles.

And forty years hence? Drones are in the field, ships are stealthy, aircraft can shoot down aircraft that have no idea they’re there.

But through each of those eras, there’s been one thing in common – the M2 (HB)

Which was, as it happens, adopted by the US Army (in this case ,the long-disbanded Coast Artillery branc) for the first time 100 years ago this year. I’m gonna throw it out today, since I have no idea what the actual date of adoption was.

Here’s a quick history and tear-down guide…:

…from a channel that’s probably the most essential source of firearms trivia on the Internet.

15 thoughts on “Birthday Greetings”

  1. I’d love to have one but I was at Cabellas the other day and .45 ACP was more than $1 per round. They didn’t have any ammo for .50 on the shelf and if they had, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have afforded it.

    Now, if they made a conversion kit to .22 LR . . . .

  3. Pulling the trigger on a fifty was something to behold. I’ll never forget the feeling.

  4. I am the owner of a Colt 1911 & a Ruger target pistol.
    I hate gun porn. You ain’t gonna blast your way to safety.

  5. Maybe I was a bit harsh. Or maybe not.
    But if you think that doing what you want to do — buy another gun or another thousand rounds of ammo — is going to keep you safe, you are wrong. Unless you live alone in a cabin in the woods, your weakness isn’t that you don’t have enough guns and ammo to fight off government NPCs , it is that the government will freeze your bank accounts.

  7. Mammuthus, I’m not sure if those comments were directed at me, but I was in Vietnam when I had an opportunity to use the 50, and blast our way to safety worked. I also did not have to buy ammo, food, hand grenades, and much much more.

  8. “ the government will freeze your bank accounts.”

    Gee. Seems like it would be kind of hard for them to freeze a safe full of silver and gold bars and coins. And with the government out there proving they can deprive you of a job, your freedom of movement & etc. It probably is a good idea to prepare yourself.

    But what do I know.

  9. AllenS:
    I’m right there with ya! Fired the MA Deuce many times, ammo courtesy of all of us taxpayers. But the REAL fun, was firing the 20mm M61 Vulcan! If you can’t blast your way out of trouble with that, you are screwed! 😂

    And Pete: Crypto is good, too. As long as you have interweb access, you’re good!

  11. Try going to Menards, paying for your purchases with silver and gold bars. Let me know how that works out.

  12. I’m always blessed to see how some inventions stand the test of time, especially with firearms. I guess you can get better killing power for less weight with the modern cartridges, but there is something to be said for “someone’s always going to make .45 ACP, 30.06 SPRG, and .50 BMG”.

  14. Every so often these guns get brought in for inspection and upgrades, and logged through the Federal inventory system. Some of the M2s have been soldiering on
    for close to a century themselves. An M2 (serial #324, made by Colt) originally issued in 1933 was just pulled from active service and donated to a museum just a year or so ago.

    They’re just amazingly well designed and built machines.

  15. kinlaw:
    Great points. If one looks at most of the front line battle weapons of the U.S. military, Browning’s inventions are literally king of the hill.

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