Genuine Options For Going BANG:

 EVERY firearm is capable of causing life threatening wounds - indeed many non-fire arms are fully capable of targeting and killing, including air-weapons, - arrow projecting BOWS - Crossbows - Slingshots - Spears and indeed the whole spread of impact tools including axes, hammers, baseball bats and of course knives & swords - edged weapons. - "Accidental" injuries can occur.

Of Course there are no individuals out there who have dropped a NUKE by accident - Are there?

The U S Government Pentagon admits to having had 32 'BROKEN ARROWS' nuclear mishaps - so that's nice and reassuring eh - I don't expect that the Russians, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Brits, French, Israelis, or Iranians have ever been anywhere near as careless. - All those stories about Russian sailors glowing green in the dark, and forbidden zones in central Australia & elsewhere would of course be bullshit. - How many U S or Russian (other Brands are available) nuclear submarines are permanently missing? - the answer is NINE or TEN depending on how you count "nuclear" - as powered, armed, or both.

Naturally there are some knowlegeable folk who would dismiss the firelocks, flintlocks, and percussion "cap'n'ball" muzleloaders with a sneering shake of their heads - as progress has advanced beyond this kind. (I too like the old Glocks etc).

QUESTION 1: Did the invention of warheads mounted on missiles mean that nuclear bombs dropped by aircraft would no longer work?

QUESTION 1a: Did the Colt AR15 development stop the old 30-30 from still harvesting deer and hogs?

OK .. Can 5 lead balls fired from a 31" caliber Model 1849 Pocket Percussion Revolver each penetrate Thirteen inches of ballistic gelatin to pass the FBI Standard? - Answer YES.

OK .. Can 6 lead balls from a .36" Colt Navy 1851 or 1861 model each penetrate to more than twice that minimum FBI recommendation? - Answer YES

And of course the old 44-Army percussion revolver can still down a horse or bison most effectively with it's .451 inch diameter ball or conical bullet. - The 31 Caliber Pocket Pistol uses balls that measure .32 inch while the 36-Navy naturally uses .375 -.380 inch pills.

So .31 guns are really 32s - the .36 guns are .38s - and the .44" guns are actually .45"s.

QUESTION 2: Are modern guns easier to load and use ... Obviously. - Are they MORE powerful ... Sometimes

QUESTION 2a: Is anything killed with a modern cartridge gun MORE DEAD than something killed with an old obsolete firearm .. Obviously NOT.

My second topic is "Brands" or Makers ... there likely are hundreds if not thousands of gunmakers who produced guns over the 750 plus years history of blackpowder guns - some excellent, and some perhaps more ordinary - with the most famous name Samuel Colt being THE American legend.

Those early original 'Colts' are fascinating pieces of firearms history that are rightly treasured as valuable antiques. There is strong evidence that English born gunsmith John Pearson had much design input into the first 26 prototype guns for Colt.

https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2011-B103-John-Peason-Gunsmith-for-Sam-Colt.pdf

 - Samuel Colt bought the steel AND SOME COMPONENTS he used to make his guns from Thomas Firth & Sons of Sheffield England, up until 1869.

There are collecters & experts who will minutely examine and record every slight 'variation' from the 'norm' while seeking for extra value from rarities AND checking for forgeries and reworked guns.

In the late 1950s Val Forgett contracted with Italian gunmakers Gregorelli & Uberti to make fine copies of Colt's 1851 Navy model, in 1958 and onwards. - Their success lead to Colts Manufacturing Company contracting with Lou Imperato in 1993 - who founded 'Colts Blackpowder Arms Co.' and they bought Italian made components to be finished & assembled as "Colts" in U S.

Are these "Second Generation" & "3rd Generation" percussion revolvers 'REAL Colts' ? ... Discuss .. but please remember always that many of Samuel Colts very earliest commercial guns were made for The Patent Manufacturing Company under contract by Eli Whitney Blake. - Were they real Colts?

The present U S Colt Co. is a subsidery holding of the Czech business Česká zbrojovka Group. (Colt CZ Group) .. are they real Colts ?

Now ... There is  'expert opinion'  to consider - and there is accepted fact that has later been discredited or thrown into doubt. If you stray into collecting interesting rare old Colt guns for financial investment ambition - it would be wise to learn of RL Wilson and some nasty collecting events. - Try listening to this two hour sorry story for starters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq8yHzNF3DM

Marty K.

Size Isn't Everything - British Cartridges:

 Come on Guys - we're talking 'man stuff' about shooting - not ...

Cartridge designation is an absolute nightmare of a mess that means we need to be very careful - because using a wrong round can cause a dangerous KABOOM - even using the right round in an older gun can be disasterous if that round is loaded to a later more powerful specification than the early firearm was built to use .. such as a smokeless powder load rather than a black powder load.

The particular rounds I want to consider seem, from the names, to be very different cartridges ..

The .450" Adams aka .450 Boxer Mk I can also be called: .450 Revolver, .450 Colt, .450 Short, .450 Corto, .450 Mk III, and .45 Webley. 

The .455 Webley naturally is also known as .455 Eley , and .455 Colt. (various Mks.)

The .476 Enfield is also known as .476 Eley, .476 Revolver, and .455/476 (a clue)

Three different sized Calibers right? ... Well NO, - wrong actually as they all three use a .455 inch diameter bullet - unless you accept that the .455" offically used a .454" pill (maybe).

The ".476" refers to the brass CASE Diameter - not the bullet - and each of these designations of rounds are detailing small changes in specification upgrading performance while leaving the earlier cartridges still useable in the revolver. There are changes to the cartridge case length and capacity.

These are proactive changes - NOT retroactive. - Be very cautious in what you might be tempted to fire in the earlier model firearms.

Note: The rimless .45 ACP or 45 Colt is meant to use bullets that measure .452 inch.

These calibers have such long histories that there are developments and changes with time - with cross-use, plus there is a small degree of flexibility in the actual size of projectile that can be used - resulting from commercial manufacturing tolerance and the fact that lead (copper too but less so) is to some extent malleable and 'plastic' and is intended to fit itself to the bore of a firearm in a gas sealing manner - by expanding under pressure and obturating.

This is a link worth taking a look ..

https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/476-enfield-revolver/30418

- Could someone use bullets made for a 45 ACP to reload for a .455" Webley? - That would depend ... many war surplus Webley .455 revolvers were cheaply modified to accept .45 ACP ammunition and sold,- some have not yet blown-up.

Marty K.

73 Genders - GUNS - Old Soldiers :

My father died in a ditch aged 50. This greatly upset Mum and she tried to keep it as quiet as possible.

______________

"Gun Control"?

When a mansion in a walled estate becomes too restrictive - move out and buy an island. - When an island becomes restrictive - buy a whole country. - If the planet becomes too small .. conquer space ..

Gun Control used to be making sure you hit your target .. now it's about making us helpless.

Badge Of The Irish Guards.

Dad was a rural Co. Wicklow Irishman who left home at 15 with a ticket to London and 'Half a Crown' in his pocket. After working at various jobs he volunteered for the British Army Irish Guards Regiment in 1938 and then Numbers 1 & 2 Commandos - where he served almost eight years throughout WW2 until 'demob' in 1945.

Twenty years later he and Mum were on holiday with her sister at Parson Drove and they were walking up the lane to catch the bus into Wisbech when Dad said "You girls go on ahead I just want to have a word with this feller." ... talking away as they walked on - until "where's he got to?"

They found him collapsed into the Fenland roadside dyke - dead from a final heart attack. - When he died aged 50 he was the Station Master at the busiest station on the whole London Transport network BAKER STREET.

- He said that to volunteer for special duties in the Commandos had been the only way to get away from the poofy public-school Guards officers.

I think he was a believer - as another story he told, was while advancing up a road in Italy they were attacked by a Stuka Dive Bomber and while running for cover - one swaddy cried 

"What shall we do Corp?" - Dad instructed "Pray You C#nt - PRAY".

Many of Dad's family may be found in the graveyard at one of the seven old churches in Glendalough Wicklow.

There are now apparently 73 genders - plus "Furries" as opposed to only male and female, in our fashionable non-binary society.

- Our Billionaire 'leaders' need to be reminded that they too will eventually end-up in wooden boxes.

Marty K.