WHAT A MESS - World & Barrels ..

 We ALL know that the very first thing you must do when handling a gun is                                  CHECK THAT IT IS UNLOADED AND SAFE TO HANDLE.

- Yeah it's another antique - but can you tell me what else should anyone spend their cash on - when the crazed president of America is demanding that Iran "Unconditionaly Surrender" after having been attacked and bombed by Israel with American supplied aircraft & ordnance?

- Anyway, this was couriered to my front door early today and after unwrapping, - I checked its bores with a dowel to find four of the barrels were blocked around half - to a quarter of an inch at the bottom, chamber ends ..

It didn't feel like a lead ball (too soft) so I got to picking out the obstructions ..

Even the 'clear' bores had some scrapings but I can't say what it is .. sort of fiber maybe? - perhaps oily-rusty fiber from cleaning patches jammed in the bottom of the chambers?

This fresh purchase 'PEPPERBOX' antique is fully functional once I can clear the nipples and it has a strong spring action and overall decent condition. 

I think it measures to be Caliber: 120 Bore aka .338" or .340" with two & three quarter 2 3/4 inch barrels stamped with Birminghan proof marks - six shot, double action only

That's an easy shot with my phone .. but trying to get light at the bottom, now that I can blow air through is bloody impossible .. I need a borescope.

Dunno what that grunge blockage is - BUT I do know we should all be considering what best to do - to prepare and protect our loved ones from this criminal warfare POLITICAL INSANITY .. 

Trump is threatening to join Israel's attack against Iran .. and either this conflict, or the Ukraine slaughter could easily escalate into NUCLEAR DEVASTATION.

I suggest that the very least you can do is try prepare by stocking-up on storable foods and liquids for your family's use and maybe consider buying iodine or seaweed tablets - MRE packaged foods - and gas or charcoal fueled barbecue cookers - camping stoves for future use.

A loaded pantry and full petrol tank on your vehicle won't cost anything long term and could prove helpful in any disruption to come. A simple sack of potatoes is better than nothing ..

It is politicians who are banning citizens from gun ownership - while killing us by the tens of thousands around the world ..

Are You Fit and Proper?

Are NZ Police 'FIT AND PROPER PERSONS'?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

RUST & Wintergreen Oil: Part 2

Lawful GUN OWNERSHIP is under attack by POLICE - POLITICIANS & RUST.

I asked  'AI' .."is RUST hydrophilic, hydrophobic, or amphipathic?"

Rust, especially when modified or treated, can exhibit both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. While natural rust is generally water-attracting (hydrophilic), it can be modified to become water-repelling (hydrophobic) through the use of surface treatments, making it an amphipathic substance in some cases. Great ..

WikipediA is good on rust:  Link  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust

Rust is a gradual process that will continue to damage metal if left untreated, eventually leading to significant weakening and potential failure. 

Black powder (Gun Powder) is a variable mixture and it is used in variable conditions ..

In black powder with sulfur you get a significant amount of potassium sulfide in the fouling. Potassium sulfide is EXTREMELY hygroscopic, and when combined with water creates potassium hydrosulfide and potassium hydroxide.
- Potassium hydroxide is, of course?, alkaline/basic, but there's not enough potassium hydroxide formed by the reaction to fully neutralize the acidic by-products that you get from all of the unreacted sulfur (and there's a fair amount) left over, so you end up with an acidic solution.

Sulfur fouling from real black powder eats away at metal because it turns into sulfuric acid. When iron rusts, the oxides take up more volume than the original metal; this expansion can generate enormous forces, damaging structures made with iron. - So that's why that barrel thread is jammed ..

While trying to 'hold' thin liquid Oil of Wintergreen inside the rust frozen turn-off barrel of this boxlock Flintlock - I pushed a clean new cottonball into place and then dribbled in the good oil

White cotton wool went in ..

- After around an hour, that glistening oiled white cotton fiber was no longer white .. having sucked-up dissolved RUST from the 200 year old iron antique pocket pistol.

I've included this pic mainly to illustrate that I tried to show the result, - after pulling the wad the next day and wiping the bore .. Shining a light down a dark oil-dried hole inside a barrel shows ..  a black hole ..

Is that better?

- Wiping "clean" with a cloth removes wintergreen dissolved rust from the metal surfaces .. I'm trying to show that this wintergreen stuff seems to EAT RUST. - That smoothbore WAS encrusted in red-brown rust.

Wintergreen Oil does - in my limited experience - dissolve and loosen rust pustules while functioning as a 'penetrating oil', - and improves the condition of neglected antique firearms.

- Just saying .. no acids, no effort, no wire brushing - just Nature's leaf juice at work all by itself. 

- The active component - chelating agent Methyl salicylate 2-(HO)C6H4CO2CH3 is working to improve my mood, as an old fart's little helper.

I'm growing to really like the smell ..

- I think it works well without causing damage to the 'steel'. I'm still learning what wintergreen can do - hoping that it will loosen & help free rust seized & jammed screw threads..

Life IS good,

Are You Fit and Proper?

Are NZ Police 'FIT AND PROPER PERSONS'?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

 

 

WINTERGREEN OIL for Guns ..

 WINTERGREEN OIL for rust .. Yeah it is old fashioned stuff .. 

WARNING: NOT to be confused with Tea Tree Oil which is highly toxic if consumed and allergenic.

Some old boys on the net swear by Oil of Wintergreen for freeing RUST-frozen bolts - Jolly Jack Tars are quoting using gallons of the stuff onboard seagoing navy ships - so I bought a wee bottle, and am trying it as a cure-all penetrating oil.

I fully accept that modern chemicals may work fine or better - but they might be NASTY STUFF.

WARNING 2: I have never used 'Naval Jelly' but it is said to be mostly phosphoric acid that eats rust - & it will damage gun blueing ..

The science here is that Wintergreen Oil is a thin oil that CREEPS and the active constituent Methyl salicylate 2-(HO)C6H4CO2CH3 is a chelating agent for iron - it dissolves and loosens rust. - It is related to aspirin and maybe can be used as a rubbing oil to relieve arthritis, as it's absorbed into the skin. It is smelly and creepy stuff .. sort of minty-OK ish.

I have old and painful THUMBS - and I gotta say that this minty stuff drips and creeps all over your hands when using AND my thumb pain DOES seem somewhat improved.

- Some say that it's perfume can make a feller sexually attractive to beautiful women ..

I am not selling anything to anyone.

I'm currently still working with three fecked antique gun bits I'm trying to fix .. a rust-frozen flintlock turn-off barrel .. a sheared, cross-threaded stump in an Adams percussion revolver, .. and the drilled remnants of a rusted percussion NIPPLE in a rough old pocket pistol: 

Now I won't try teach grannie how to suck eggs .. BUT this oil of wintergreen stuff works remarkably well to dissolve rust while leaving an oiled metallic surface. - Bear in mind that this stuff is squeezed out of plant leaves by distilling .. much of that orange-rusty metal corruption on my three specimens had GONE after an overnight coating with smelly leaf-juice and a quick rub - just saying ..

Note: Famous gun oil BALLISTOL is mineral oil ("liquid paraffin") mixed with alkaline detergents plus .. One of its additives is said to be Jagermeister herbal liquer which itself contains wintergreen oil. - Gun oils SEAL1,  FrogLube and also Marvel Mystery Oil each contain wintergreen oil - just saying.

The Good News continues in that, the 'good oil' on half a cotton ball lightly rubbed on that action face lifted and removed RUST from what looked to be a clean pitted surface. - Wintergreen Oil seems to seek-out the dreaded rust and deal to it. - Listen and learn with mother ..

Note: If you consider rust to be valuable PATINA .. don't use oil of wintergreen

Be Aware that none of my antiques have much remaining 'BLUE' to damage .. but W. Oil seems not to harm 'cold blue'.

Are You Fit and Proper?

Are NZ Police 'FIT AND PROPER PERSONS'?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

BERETTA Tomcat & Bobcat Pocket Pistols:

 Beretta have made these small tip up barrel s.a pistols since the 1950s - in three calibers .22 rimfire , .32 acp, and no longer in .25 acp.

Both the 20X & 30X versions for 2025 are 8+1 capacity in either 22 Rimfire and 32 ACP while Beretta obviously are being controlled by puerile marketing executives full of bullshit & stardust-spin. - They are marketing a clever compact Pocket Pistol with the option of High Level Suppresser Sights, Suppressers, AND RED DOT mounts - all of which can add to its already unneccessary bulk caused by a protruding MAGAZINE EXTENSION .. there may be no flush mounted magazine option.

What's The Point?

This Beretta USA outfit likely will next offer a 33 Round stick magazine model with telescoping stocks and rifle sling .. ..

Fortunately Beretta US have retained the Tip-Up barrel feature that eliminates the need to rack the slide to chamber a round 

Look at those ridiculous 'catch all' stick-up sights ..

"Lets offer a tidy wee pocket pistol with FOUR different ways of making it way too big for your pockets" - if the raised sights arent big enough - you can put-on a battery powered optical dot sight.

"It's traditional .."

They've obviously discovered MIM metal injection moulding for the modern style flat trigger

- Despite the crap marketing - these guns remain good options for any american seeking a SMALL self defence carry gun - especially if they are handicapped by athritis or other issue that reduces their strength. 

ISSUES: They have beefed-up the weak frames claiming they now are 100% stronger, which is good - but they are a little heavier and fatter. The ammo used in either .22 r/f or 32acp will need to be tested while practicing with this MOUSEGUN .. 22 is a rimmed cartridge and the 32 is SEMI RIMMED. - Find the brand that works reliably and STICK WITH IT as these blow-back pistol actions without an extractor might be finicky little feckers.

There are plenty of reviews online that quote all of Berettas' bullshit sales speak and weird names .. but the fact is that the basic design continues to be interesting, and available to buy for around u.s.$500 in two low recoiling calibers, that will do the job - provided the shooter does hers/his.

Naturally - NOT AVAILABLE IN NEW ZEALAND.

If our western forbears persist in mass-murder russophobe warfare for the next 45 years there might be a chance that our local leaders could reverse their anti gun sentiments and restore our self defence rights .. but don't hold your breath.

Fit and Proper?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

Old Mobb - Highwayman Hanged 30 May 1690 at Tyburn:

 I used to be a zygote - but now I'm a 81 y.o.

- that hanging may have been 18th September 1691. 

When they perfect Time Travel I will go back and see can I clarify the matter.

Old Mobb is said, more properly, to have the name Thomas Sympson. ref:

https://www.executedtoday.com/2014/05/30/1690-old-mobb-witty-highwayman/

Read the stories of daring-do as he sounds an OK sort of armed socialist ..

I was attracted to this story by the pistol our man is holding in the above illustration .. I have a couple that look similar but I have never been tempted to rob purses from vermin Tory parasites.

Old Mobb is recorded as having a wife and five children - Conversely he is reputed to have ridden his horses SIDESADDLE while dressed and made-up as a woman .. was our man an early member of the LGBTQ+  Rainbow community or did he just dress-up for a laugh?

http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/execution-content.php?key=1794&termRef=Old%20Mobb

Here next are multiple tales and illustrations of Highwaymen operating around the City of Bath ..

https://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2013%20-%2002.%20White%20-%20'Stand%20and%20Deliver'%20-%20Bath%20and%20the%20Eighteenth-Century%20Highwayman.pdf

I rather like the stories of these jokers doing their bit to redistribute wealth downwards - Don't you?

"A living cell continuously monitors its surroundings and adjusts its own activities and composition accordingly. - Cells also communicate by deliberately sending signals that can be received and interpreted by other cells .."

A lot of the people I've worked with over the years can't or won't do that.

Explanation: - I bought a large book. 'MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY' .. I'm trying to keep my brain alive by using it to learn new challenging stuff. - Yes I'm getting old and my axons & synapses seem to pause at times.

You have got 36 Trillion cells in your body all working together, destroying parasites, to keep you ticking along - while only 8 billion people on our planet can't seem to do the same to control political parasites ..

Yeah ..

ARE YOU FIT AND PROPER?

they are not

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

Mid 19th Century PERCUSSION CAPS:

If the good Lord intended you to shoot caps, He would have spread them out on the ground like he did flint .. 

Just because something is OLD and obsolete - doesn't mean that it no longer WORKS ..

Anyone want to stand and laugh in front of a 300y.o. flintlock .750" calibre Brown Bess?

Poke 'em on These ..

Rev.Forsyth's 'SCENT BOTTLE' rechargeable Percussion Primer System

That 300 year Flintlock Firearm age (from the early 16th century) - was doomed to ending once the advantages of fulminates - that ignited Gunpowder by a hammer blow, were appreciated.

Joshua Shaw in Philadelphia 1822, - Fancois Prelat of France,1818 - and Joseph Egg of London in 1817, all were involved in claims regarding 'inventing' the copper Percussion Cap in the same form that we recognise to this day, when placed onto the nipple of a PERCUSSION PISTOL or REVOLVER. 

Percussion Caps actually made the Revolver - into practical functional 'Equalizer' tools.

We don't know who but the when was the early 1820s, when the small but perfectly formed and convenient ignition system literally sparked an important advance in firearms development that dominated gunmaking by 1830.

When we had CAPS we also had PILLS

Religions consider that GOD created everything so it's obvious that HE created both gunpowder and the percussion cap - for which we gun owners might be thankful.

Augustin Primer TUBES for TUBE-LOCK PERCUSSION Pieces ..

The early PERCUSSION CAPS were made from copper sheet primed with MERCURY FULMINATE that worked very well, except for leaving corrosive residues. - Various other chemical combinations have been used for this percussion of the main charge - notably LEAD STYPHNATE but this compound is currently unpopular for leaving lead pollution that may be ingested.

MAYNARD PAPER CAP ROLL Primers were popular around 1850's

Note: We can make our own Percussion Caps - as have I .. using a kit from SHARPSHOOTER 22LR and their PRIME-ALL chemicals.  Link to my story:

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2023/12/diy-sharpshooter-percussion-cap-primers.html

There used to be choices of which makes and sizes of CAPS to buy for diffent guns - here I have Italian made, German made, and CCI from U S. - Now, after the GUN BANNERS worst efforts so far, it might be prudent to equip your home base with a Cap Maker Tool and the mixtures needed for DIY ignition into the future. Import them while you still may.

That is - IF you are interested in your Sport and Wild Harvesting continuing to SURVIVE for your family's future.

Homemade Aluminum CAPS Ready for Charging

Making your own gunpowder Propellant and Caps - or indeed FLINTS also - may be a sound investment for your future. - If you enjoy reading & learning from friendly folk .. Cast Boolits is the place to go on the Net. - Link:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?103852-My-homemade-black-powder

Home Cooking some 'Granola' ..

There was one HELL OF A LOT going-on mid 19th Century .. The GREAT FAMINE in Ireland 1845-52, - the last recorded fatal duel in UK 1852, - the Crimean War 1853-56, - the American Civil War 1861-65, - and the 1850–1864 Taiping Rebellion - the bloodiest conflict of the century, leading to the deaths of 20 million people in China.

This was the era of the Bessemer Steel Process, the Steam Engine, Traction Engines and the earliest Passenger Trains and the wire Telegraph .. indeed this period has been named The Second Industrial Revolution. - Such rapid manufacturing and technological advances happened, that a mere 30 years passed before the percussion cap morphed into the 'PRIMER' inserted into the base of every self contained METALLIC CARTRIDGE for use in most rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers .. many of which Politicians now restrict us from owning ..

Fit and Proper?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

GUNS & GOLD Rushes

I reckon to being an odd sod because I find some weird stuff interesting .. one such is when I came across a novel link between 'Bully Beef'' - 'Billy Cans' and the Victorian era French 'Canned Boeuf Bouilli'. - Sorry if you always knew this, but when Railroad workers and Gold Rush adventurers found themselves out in the wilderness - the clever ones who planned ahead imported BOILED MEATS IN CANS to feed the hungry who failed in their efforts at living off the land.

BOUILLI meaning 'Boiled' in Napoleonic French ..

Those emptied meat tins were soon fitted with a wire handle

 and recycled as BILLY CANS.

Now .. I am assured that Bully beef/corned beef in cans helped end cannibalism in Fiji and the other Pacific nations - by providing a convenient alternative tasty meal - that is known in the islands as "BULLAMACOW" .. it being made from both bulls & cows. I reckon that it's also bloody fascinating that Bullamacow is nowadays very often  CANNED MUTTON from New Zealand.

Kiwi 'BULLAMACOW'

While trying to research 'DownUnder' history about gold & guns - I've found regular references to the aussie gold miners having a "MAD MINUTE" every night when they'd come out of their holes, humpies and sly-grog tents to fire their weapons into the dusk as a warning - that their camp was well defended by armed and brave men.

Mid 19th Century Gold Rush Era was also a 

Transition Time from FLINT to CAPLOCK to 'Cartridge'

Gold Rushes Starting California 1848, Australia 1851, New Zealand 1860's maybe?

Not being there at the time, I'd guessed that this may be at least partly fact based - as the many pioneers (including the gunslingers in the American Frontiers) all depended on their weapons for both food and protection - and would unload and freshen their gunpowder charges regularly, even daily, - as who knows how damp, greasy, compacted or depleted the gunpowder and Lead charge had become after a long hard day shoveling dirt and 'panning' in a icy riverbed or down a muddy hole.

A wise habit - if done deliberately and safely .. it would serve as TARGET PRACTICE - MAINTENANCE - & a warning to the neighbours that you were armed and ready - at least you might be - once you'd reloaded .. Best managed by having a second firearm to hand while servicing the first.

"The Australian diggings were certainly wild places. Note this comment from a Mrs Clancy, who describes a typical night on one of the fields in Victoria:
Imagine some hundreds of revolvers almost fired simultaneously. There was murder here, murder there, revolvers cracking, blunderbusses bombing, rifles going off, balls whistling, a man groaning with a broken leg, another shouting because he couldn’t find the way to his hole, and a third equally vociferous because he has tumbled into one.

Now, the reason so many diggers fired off their weapons late at night, was so they could reload with fresh powder. If the firearms were left loaded for several nights or so, the damp air was liable to seep into the chambers, etc and then when needed the revolver could have suffered a misfire."

Our modern anti-gunners seem to believe that every gun is a laser guided murder machine that automatically slaughters all it's innocent victims - causing evil, sickness and slavery to plague the world. - I predict that media images will be ever more fantastic when they advance to use AI to generate their dramatics & headline narratives.

Who needs the facts - all we want is NEWS  infotainment

You know, I suspect that even spiders and cockroaches can take offence - and have issues such as 'identity crisis', ignorance and 'beliefs'.

Fact: CRIMINALS commit CRIME and need controling.

8 out of 10 cats prefer bollocks to reality ..

The Australian gold rush led to the promotion of the 19 man Burke & Wills Expedition of 1860 to explore the interior regions .. (They died)

Burke & Wills - The actual Colt Revolver:

https://paulineconolly.com/2022/burke-and-the-revolver/

But this next outfit claims that flintlocks were "wildly inaccurate" and that British Gun Maker TRANTER made revolvers in Melbourne ..

https://www.goldgemtreasure.com.au/articles/history-through-the-barrel-of-a-gun

You NEED to be a critical thinker to survive all the bullshit and bollocks.

1852 - Man in COVID Mask Gives THUMBS-UP 

.. ah nah/yeah, maybe he is having a drink

NZ Police Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming has resigned with immediate effect amid an investigation into his conduct.

ARE YOU A FIT AND PROPER PERSON?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.