A Stuffed Trigger:

Movie Cowboy Roy Rogers' very smart horse was called TRIGGER - and indeed he was stuffed and mounted when he died (The horse - not the yodeler). Sadly this palomino stallion NEVER served at stud ..

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_(horse)#:~:text=Trigger%2C%20originally%20named%20Golden%20Cloud,a%20grandson%20of%20Trigger%20Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Rogers

Roy Rogers (real name SLYE ), was "The King Of The Cowboys" and the original "White Hat" good guy while the 'Baddies' always had black Stetson hats in Hollywood movies.. He was an interesting joker and enduring performer in real life .. worth a read.

TRIGGERS:

This is the typical curved trigger in it's guard..

But around 44 years ago Glock Ges upset that image by putting a "safety" in theirs ..

BUT things were not always done that way ..

There used to be something called a SPUR TRIGGER on some single-action revolvers

Pocket Pistols are sometimes built with HIDDEN (drop down) TRIGGERS to smoothly reduce the gun's profiles .. They spring down when the hammer is cocked.

Never overestimate the IQ and knowledge of strangers, - as I once passed around that lovely two barreled gun at my Pistol Club AGM only to hear one new member comment "That's rubbish - it hasn't even got a trigger"

Among other mysteries in life are .. Why do I always say "Bloody Hell" every time I can't open the lid on a jar? - or, why do I always need to have a pee whenever there is something I must listen to on the news??

- There are similar FOLDING TRIGGERS that work as a sort of 'safety' because they have to be levered down into position for use ..

Everything on my Unwin & Rodgers Knife-Pistol has to be pulled into position for use - including the nicely weighted folding trigger ..

but at least my trigger won't corkscrew your hand like this French BERTHOD example might ..

Tranter patented his special "double trigger" system in 1856 - whereby his revolver was cocked by the bottom external trigger but fired by the smaller one inside the guard ..

I love the elegant and simple percussion trigger system on this  J Rock Cooper pistol with a RING TRIGGER ..

Some pistols claimed to be "hammerless" .. how about 'Triggerless'?
Such as a CHICAGO SQUEEZE COCKER PALM PISTOL?

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2018/06/squeezer-palm-pistols-antique-modern.html

or this wee beaudy?

The recent ALTOR low-cost single shot 9mm pistol uses a ramp that sweeps the trigger finger from the simple striker-trigger as it is pulled rearwards to fire ..

There are SET TRIGGERS and electronic triggers and allsorts out there - even some old s/a revolvers that are fired by fanning and have had their triggers extracted

Former Texas Ranger-turned-Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Outlaw modified his Colt Single Action with a shortened barrel and had the trigger removed. The rear portion of the trigger guard was left intact to allow for a firm grip, since the gun could only be fired by thumb cocking or by “fanning” it. Unfortunately for Outlaw, this proved to be his undoing in a gunfight with El Paso Constable John Selman on April 5, 1894, when, in a drunken stupor and after killing a Texas Ranger, Outlaw rapidly fired this six-gun several times at Selman, but only succeeded in wounding the lawman in the leg. Selman got off an accurate shot that proved fatal to the gunman. (Spangenberger, “Hideout Hijinks,”

USE THE SIGHTS - USE THE TRIGGER ..

Going wayback into ancient times .. some early matchlock or tinderlock 'arquebuses' used a simple pivoting iron SERPENT to lower the smoldering igniter to the touch hole (vent) ..

Flash Eh

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

How can police claim to be well trained without achieving a Firearms Licence?

Under the New Zealand Firearms Act (specifically the Arms Regulations 1992 and updated 2025 amendments), a holder of a B Endorsement (pistol target shooting) must actively participate in scheduled pistol shooting activities at a certified club range at least 12 times each year. 

Marty K.

Dodgey Old DOGE .. Liked his Gun Bibles.

 All of life can be found in the pages of books ..

A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morosini, Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could shoot the gun by pulling the silk bookmark cord while the book was still closed. Now on display at the Museo Correr in Venice

If you feel that you are at risk - always seek the advantage ..

- Here comes another one .. Just like the other-one ..

There are videos that present such cleverness to Youtubers .. ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEKIh5_drqM

This linked video is how "John" made one for his bookshelf ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq5_s_ARmYw

BUT, But but .. There is even a business that sells custom prepared secret storage online ..

https://freehollowbooks.com/books/control.php

This one, -  for a Ruger LC9 can be YOURS for only $55.00

I started down this rabbit hole when I bought an old 19th century, leather bound antique book of plays intending to hack-out it's internals as a novelty boxed set - intended to be a little like this one .. which sold at auction a few years back for just 300. pounds

This one went for 500 euro ..

But maybe the concept is a little hackneyed .. .. worked-to-death already?

__________________

Smuggled pistol, Dublin, 1920-21

This book, a French Dictionary, was left at the Gresham Hotel wrapped in brown paper with the instruction "Miss K. Mullen c/o Mr. P. Kingsbury (To be held"). Inside the book is an automatic pistol concealed in a hollow cut out of the pages. The package was never collected from the Gresham, and came into the possession of an employee of the hotel whose son donated it to the National Museum.

Miss K. Mullen, very probably a false name, was likely to have been a member of Cumann na mBan smuggling weapons and ammunition for use during the War of Independence. Women undertook these dangerous jobs of moving weapons and communications around the city as they were less likely to be searched by the police. However, if ‘Miss Mullen’ had been caught with this package containing a hidden firearm, she would have been subjected to the same violence suffered by many Irish women during this time.

So - how about an interesting antique pistol housed inside a correct period antique book?

Maybe I will - Maybe I won't

FIREARMS LICENSES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR NZ POLICE TO ENSURE THAT THEY DONT ENDANGER THE PUBLIC.

Marty K.

Jelly Bryce - FBI Agent & Point Shooter:

On March 13 1962 President John F Kennedy said:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible

 will make violent revolution inevitable."

Introducing JELLY BRYCE 1906-74:   

Sometimes there are folk with extraordinary abilities.

Not me .. I was always a 'mid field' runner. - In all my years competing at IPSC pistol matches and '3-Gun' Competitions I fluked one stage in one match, by winning it. As I recall, I was using a Glock G20 10mm Auto - but it may have been my G17 9mm.

That special stage win doesn't mean that the 10mm Glock loaded to 'major power factor' is faster than the smaller 9mm - it was just a fluke.

Jelly Bryce was a fantastic revolver shooter who is recorded as outshooting and killing some 20 gangsters in confrontations. He used the "combat crouch" hip shooting position, that was common in police training from the 1930s to the 1980s - He was both deadly and very fast on the draw. 

I read that he had fantastic HAND-EYE co-ordination and his eyesight was extraordinary in that - he could SEE every bullet he fired as it flew downrange to it's target.

I have been able to see the occasional bullet in flight glinting in sunlight from my pistol, on range.

It seems that the fantastic ability and combat record Jelly had, - led to the teaching of the combat crouch in law enforcement for around FIFTY YEARS .. Even though most police officers were not so gifted with his extraordinary point shooting abilities.

Here is a great story, well written, - about Jelly Bryce ..

https://gunmagwarehouse.com/blog/the-legend-of-jelly-bryce/

Read, enjoy, and learn,

Some say he was the fastest gunfighter ever,

"Practice Baby - practice"

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

Marty K.

UNWIN & RODGERS NON*XXL Percussion Knife-Pistol.

 The word "incorrigible" might label my fetish .. in that, as a fried bread addict, I knew that I shouldn't - but I did it anyway.

- I bought another one ..

In case anyone is wondering .. as a younger man I used to smoke 30 per day unfiltered fags - drink beer .. and loved my high fat, high protein western diet, slurping dairy icecream by the bucket. I scored serious cardiovascular disease.

- Following my heart attack, - and a triple bipass in 1990 - and further, multiple stents (And later DYING on the angiography operating slab - to be ZAPPED twice before coming back with four big red burn marks on my chest after five minutes awol), - Dey fort I mite be mentlee ahfektid butt Im gud ay ..

I decided to curtail all three costly consumptions, booze, smokes, & fat-foods - swapping them for my interest in pop-pops.

- I had seen stories about these multitools called 'Gold Prospector's Knife-Pistols'

UNWIN & RODGERS .28" calibre Percussion Knife-Pistol.

These are hard to find 'down under' so it may just be excusible that I clicked on the 'BUY NOW' button after hurriedly researching more than a few previous U S & UK auction sales - I confirmed that hammer fall prices for similar examples were way above the local asking price for this fresh import ..

- This Unwin & Rodgers outfit, were cutlers in Sheffield England for around 80 years from 1820 - making the full range of edged tools including "Bowie Knives" exported to America.

They made this particular style of Knife-Pistol as a muzzleloader, and then as rimfires with most of their output going to America - until the business failed after the American Civil War ended.  Most of these are twin bladed with a 'cap-box' - while some had a compact bullet mould, a rammer, or a pair of tweezers, inserted into the back-end of their half-checkered buffalo horn scales.

- I read that the company mark, NON*XLL was purchased in 1860.  (This I*XL look-alike mark was officially registered by the firm in 1876 - this helps date this gun maybe to between 1840(ish and 1861.. when they introduced rimfire cartridge models. 

Hinged Butt Trap .. Some had extra bits (but not mine)

I did a story about these 'novelties' a few years back .. https://flicense.blogspot.com/2018/03/unwin-rodgers-knife-pistols.html

MY new antique Unwin & Rodgers is a RARE single bladed knife-gun with a powerful hammer spring .. in fact all the springs are very strong, resulting in me needing both hands to cock the gun. There is NO half cock notch and the fold-down trigger has to be levered into position but has a surprisingly light trigger pull.

- I never expected to find one of these to drool over. - A Single blade - Birmingham proof marks on the 3 5/8 inch octagonal "German Silver" Tapered Barrel, having a steel standing breech and inline nipple ( Sheffield is around 70 miles north of Birmingham). - Smoothbore, dating from around 1840-50?

 No Half-Cock notch ..

- Other parts of this gun also seem to be 'German Silver' - a type of white brass, 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc.

"Never Bring a Knife To A Gunfight" ?

Nice .. You can either put a blade onto a pistol, or put a barrel onto a knife eh .. I doubt either design saw much actual social use but they do make for interesting multi-tools that might well save someones life. Imagine taking this out of your pocket to slice a piece of sausage or to cut a cigar .. impressive no?

This not a small "penknife" like the ones I have carried since I stopped filling nappies - this is a BIG tool with a 1/8" thick 3 5/8 inch straight-back blade - although a heavy lump, it would easily hide in any jacket or trouser pocket.

The Smallest one may be Legal Carry in UK

You might say that the knife-pistol is a big lump ..

But Compared to a Six-Shot PepperPot .. It still is a BIG Lump ..

The pistol part of this Knife Pistol is perhaps, technically a smoothbore 'Boxlock' Percussion Pistol - of around .28 inch caliber. If I was out in the GOLD Fields of California - Australia or New Zealand in the 19th century, - I likely would have loaded this smallbore mechanism with TWO lead balls over some 15-20 grains of blackpowder - and I would definately have ensured that it was always close at hand in a jacket pocket. - But my cautious nature would likely have meant that my trouser belt carried a holstered full sized revolver & a Bowie - and yet another small pistol in another pocket.

They were wild and uncertain times back then - not like today's advanced civilization .. Free from greed, violence, terrorism, murder or mayhem.

Link to interesting chatter & photos about these pistol-knives:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/unwin-and-rodgers-pistol-knife-modern-greece-blockade-runner.216370/

and ..  https://www.littlegun.info/arme%20britannique/artisan%20u%20z/a%20unwin%20and%20rodgers%20gb.htm

Life is Good - nah, it's Bloody Brilliant - Keep taking the pills,

Marty K.

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

This is a great wee video from Mr Cap & Ball on shooting small concealed carry blackpowder pistols ..

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=513b073ce7acbed3&rlz=1C1ONGR_enNZ933NZ933&sxsrf=AE3TifMl1nlkbZ4CwoUd83GTHMJvs2PPvQ:1767784832098&q=Miners+pistol&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNmdDXp_mRAxWvk1YBHZ8EPT8Q1QJ6BAhMEAE&biw=1366&bih=599&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b5f46dd8,vid:FthFAPuoagI,st:0

The Government is Your Friend ..

Our 'media' is used by it's owners to bend your feelings and beliefs - in whatever direction supports their current schemes for control and wealth gain. - Their managers are skilled at psychological influencing their audience with emotional language.

When a dog is shot it can be reported in many ways .. "Armed gunman shoots childrens pet." or "Dangerous dog attack threat ended." or "City pavement fouling and disease risks improved by animal control."

Princess Diana in Angola 1997

When there were reports that Soviet military were using small plastic anti-personnel mines in Afghanistan 1979-89 - the western press hyped it up to such a degree, - to demonize the murderous Commies, that action was taken to BAN Cluster Bombs and "mine" munitions via the 'Ottawa Treaty'

PFM-1 and PFM-1S SOVIET Anti-Personnel Mines.

These small but deadly Russian mines were classified as inhumane ..

Deformation of the soft plastic skin of the mine forces the arming plunger to strike the detonator, detonating the mine.^[14] Because the body of the mine is a single cumulative pressure primer, it is extremely dangerous to handle the mine: The Imperial War Museum states that "A pressure in excess of 5kg would activate the mine".^[1] Holding it between the thumb and forefinger may be enough to make it explode.^[11] The charge is usually nonlethal, although sufficient to maim.^[11]

However .. When it was later disclosed that the Russians had made their mines BY REVERSE ENGINEERING & copying AMERICAN BLU-43/B & BLU-44B MINES - as deployed by U S forces during the VietNam War .. things went a little hushed.

The American mine itself is made out of soft plastic, and is hydraulically activated and contact/pressure detonated. The color of the plastic varied and could be olive drab, tan, brown, or camouflaged, and had no painted or molded markings. Each mine contained a small amount of liquid nitromethane/nitroethane explosive and was designed with a shape that would cause it to spiral down to the ground, removing the need for a parachute.

This sub-munition is the American BLU-43, also known as Dragon's Tooth, a High-Explosive-Blast (HE-Blast), aerially-dispersed, hydraulically activated, contact-pressure-fired, plastic-bodied, scatterable, Anti-Personnel (AP) landmine that is designed to wound by its HE-Blast effect.

- These were widely used over VietNam, Cambodia & Laos 1955-75 - and as Laos, Cambodia and America were NOT at war - they went largely unreported.

- Don't Panic about these U S and Russian killers .. as we British are not kindly innocents in a cruel world ..

During this era, I - as a young man, was employed in England as a plastics technician - quality controler setting-up Injection Moulding machines for production of plastic components.

The companies I worked for made any crap they could for a profit - including glass filled nylon components for the release mechanisms of BRITISH BL755 Cluster Bombs - as developed by Hunting Engineering UK with the Ministry of Defence. This contract was successfuly fulfilled - with 8,925,906 sub-munitions produced .. me being informed by my contact "Jack H" that our bomblet release mechanisms had worked great when tested in VietNam - having been transported there by air in RED CROSS MARKED AIRCRAFT that he had personally supervised the loading of.

These British Cluster Bombs, tested in VietNam, - were used in both the Falklands War, the Bosnian war, and in the Gulf War.

Jack was a war hero from WWII who got hit on the head when on patrol in woodland in Germany, and saw red .. single handedly eliminating seven enemy combatents.

Over a pint - Jack told me that he had moved-on to his next development project, which was anti-personnel mines shaped as small coloured childrens balls designed to explode when handled or kicked.

- BUT he explained - once you perfect the explosive devices and widely deploy them .. you move to the next stage of saturating the land mass by dropping millions of totally harmless identical inert balls to paralyse any enemy movement and life very cheaply.

Great eh,

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

Marty K.

COLD BLUEING Is Best Done HOT ..

Some like it HOT.

LOVELY Marilyn Monroe had a VERY high IQ of 168

- some 'dumb blond' huh

I just watched a commercial magazine video that proclaimed it would reveal the secrets of cold blueing - but it was just an advert for one brand beginning with 'B'.

No secrets then, - BUT me trying to be straight, I reckon .. anything in a bottle that you buy over-the-counter at your gun shop will have an expensive chemically active, secret formula that naturally includes WATER, - mixed acids, selenian dioxide plus COPPER SULPHATE. This coats the iron you are working with in a tiny amount of copper that then gets used in an oxygen swap process ( a REDOX REACTION) that takes oxygen from one goop and adds it to the other, harder goop, the IRON (in your steel) and makes the black'n'blue colour

 IRON OXIDE Fe2+

So, That is clear then .. Better than nothing ..

Now - here's the interesting bit .. Whenever they want to take your money away - they will LIE to you.

- So they call it "COLD" blue to implant the thought that this will be easier & better than using the old fashioned hot methods that involve slow boiling and steaming and carding and polishing and oiling ..

The truth is that their magic blueing stuff will always work much better on HOT steel.. so warm it up first before wiping the goop on and you'll be pleased. Use boiling water or a hair dryer, whatever.

The details will change depending on the bottled choice of chemicals - the instructions, and the variable nature of your steels - but with any luck you'll get a dark coated surface that looks good and will better resist rust when you oil and wax it.

I'm reading good reviews of Brownells OXPHO-BLUE - that can be applied cold using damp cottonwool in multiple applications - with boiling in water in between coats .. to give a decent build-up that looks like proper bluing .. only snag seems to be that it is NOT available here in NZ, and it costs plenty to import.

sighs,

Never mind eh

Are YOU 'Fit and Proper' ..?

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN, AND MAINTAIN THE SAME STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE in exactly the same way that we citizens are required to.

Marty K.

"What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" 

LAZY DOG Kinetic Projectiles:

Link to .."THE PLAN TO KILL HUMANITY"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBIt8J_Vs1Y

When I was a smartassed lad - back in the '60's - We used to have the CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament .. I went on protest rallies - nobody seems much interested now.

Bullets are kinetic projectiles fired from guns by expanding propellant gases .. but you can also "fire" bullets from slingshots or crossbows - air rifles and 'magnetic rail guns'. These projectiles all get their ENERGY from the speed they are moving.

 Towards the end of WWII military scientists developed non-explosive ordnance that could be dumped out of high flying aircraft to freefall, accelerating to deadly velocity.

LAZY DOG Projectiles aka 'Yellow Dog' and 'Red Dot'.

These were dropped onto massed enemy combatents from a great hight in the Korean War and were extensively deployed in VietNam and over Cambodia. These could be packed 10,000 to 17,000 at a time into Mk44 cluster bomb containers - but were also dumped out of helicopters by the bucket-load or just shovelled out, with devastating effect onto unprotected people moving through the jungles below. 

About the size of a .50" Cal Bullet ..

When released from high altitudes over 10,000 feet - they can silently reach velocities of 700 feet per second that is 480 miles per hour.

Kinetic weapons are the oldest and most common ranged weapons used in human history, with the projectiles varying from blunt projectiles such as rocks and round shots, pointed missiles such as arrows, bolts, darts, and javelins, to modern tapered high-velocity impactors such as bullets, flechettes, and penetrators. Typical kinetic weapons accelerate their projectiles mechanically by muscle power, mechanical advantage devices, elastic energy or pneumatics or chemical explosives.

When dropped in numbers of more than 17,000 at a time these yield 6 hits per square yard being WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION deployed against populations

Governments are your friend.          ??

IN THE INTEREST OF PUBLIC SAFETY - WE MUST INSIST THAT ALL NZ POLICE EMPLOYEES QUALIFY FOR, & OBTAIN AND MAINTAIN THE STANDARD NZ FIREARMS LICENCE

Marty K.