South African 'BLASTER' - "BMW Flamethrower"

Medium-Rare or well done sir?

In 1998 South African inventor Charl Fourie designed a defensive system for use against carjackers - I guess he might have been furious eh!

The system used LPG (liquid petroleum gas) flame thrower nozzles installed on the sides of the vehicle that would, at the flick of a switch, project five metre high plumes of flame upward into the faces of would-be attackers.

Of course, in South Africa it is not illegal to use lethal force to defend oneself if in fear of ones life, and there are few restrictions on the ownership of such devices.

There was much debate about this design - including speculation by the South African Automobile Association - as to maybe would such defensive systems increase the trend of carjackers to just shoot first as they approach their targeted victims.

The devices were not a commercial success - selling only in the low hundreds due partly to the high selling price - and manufacture ceased in 2001.

LPG fuel conversions were for many years popular here in New Zealand, as a means of reducing transport costs. The conversions were subsidised with a Govt. grant and the LPG fuelled Taxis are still used as the cost savings are worthwhile on higher mileage vehicles. The two basic options were to switch entirely to LPG or to retain the original fuel system switchable to yield a 'duel fuel' system with much increased distances between re-fuelling stops.

Big Fords and Holdens (General Motors Australia) are available new LPG fuelled for a couple of grand premium - but conversion costs here are in the area of NZ$5000. American readers will need to distinguish between Gas fuelled vehicles and gas fuelled cars.

Carjacking is not a problem here - and any such flamethrower system would certainly be frowned upon immediately unless intended for recreational camping barbecues and lighting - but there wouldn't be much extra technology and cost in the required pipework and nozzle fittings to adapt an existing installation for camping.

*WARNING*  - Do not do this at home !

CONVAIR B36 The Other "PEACEMAKER"

Between 1949 and 1959, the massive 70 metre wingspan, ten engined B36 was the delivery vehicle for Americas 'cold war' Nuclear Deterrent, - their means of delivery of massive nuclear bombs from mainland USA to the USSR.

The 'Peacemaker' had a payload of 33,000 kilos and an intercontinental range of  16,000 kilometres without re-fuelling.

                                                CONVAIR B 36 PEACEMAKER

Following  my post about the Colt "Peacemaker" Revolver, a mate John drew my attention to this other "Peacemaker"  I'd never heard of it - as despite working for an airline for twenty-nine years, - I'm not that fascinated by aircraft or by sitting inside them!

 - The truth is that I actually hate flying and spend the hours when I'm locked-up inside those metal tubes testing the floor by intermittently pushing against it with my feet to check that it's still there.

The thickest point of those huge wings was 2.3 metres giving a crawl space inside the wing that let the crew work on the engines in flight - which is lucky, as those engines, - all ten of them, were not very reliable.

 - The six propeller Pratt & Whitney engines had three bladed 5.8 metre propellers and were mounted backwards as pushers. - Problem #1 was that they were designed to point the other way and the reversed mounting caused overheating, engine fires, and carburettor icing.

                                                     
                                                          B-36 TAKE-OFF

- Then  the two turbo-jets each mounted in pods near the wingtip were very thirsty (and smokey!) so were mostly shut-down and their intakes blanked-off  by louvres operated from the flight deck. But the four General Electric jet-engines did greatly help with take-off power and gave a sprint capacity when speed or extra height was needed.

On Take-off, the Captain of the 15 man crews would report to the control tower " - Six turnin' and four burnin' ".

Over time, with a history of poor running, overheating and engine fires - this catch phrase changed to:
" - Two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking, and two more unaccounted for!".

The aircraft was too big to fit inside hangers for maintenance and tech crews despaired of such tasks as changing the 336 spark plugs on the freezing ground in Northern Arctic Continental America where the B36 operated from. - Each of the six 28 cylinder radial engines had 56 spark plugs!

One extreme experiment using a B36 was 215 flight hours equipped with an air cooled nuclear reactor being carried to see what effect it might have on the aircraft systems(!) during which test time the reactor became 'critical' for 89 hours! - They were investigating whether nuclear powered propulsion was usable for aircraft. - "Only in America!" - But they did have a four ton lead disc shield in the middle of the aircraft between the reactor and the cockpit.

Worth reading more about the B36 'Peacemaker' on Google, - if you're into aircraft history eh.
Marty K

COLT SINGLE ACTION ARMY "Peacemaker".

The M1873 Colt .45"  Peacemaker has to be the worlds most iconic 'sixgun'.

                                         " The good people of this world are

                                    very far from being satisfied with each other

                                       and my arms are the best peacemakers."

                                                                         Samuel Colt, 1852

This was the die-cast toy six gun that every wee lad HAD to have in the 1950s - and that my Dad would NOT let me have! - No Toy Guns. - I guess that  having fought throughout the Second world war with both the Irish Guards and No.2 Commando, he didn't need guns to be reminded of what he had been through.

                                                 1873 Colt SAA Artillery Model.

The  Model P , Colt  M1873,  SAA  was a long time coming - as Colt waited for the Rollin White (S&W) patent to expire in 1869 before they began their development of through-bored cylinders for metallic cartridges.

The SAA together with the S&W Model 3 Schofield replaced the Colt 1860 Percussion Revolver and soon beat the Schofield into second place as the preferred military sidearm.

                                                    Colt 1860 Army Percussion

The very first M1873 SAA Serial Number 1 was chambered in .45" Colt - but over the years, Wikipedia says, they were made in thirty different chamberings - so I won't even attempt to detail any particular variations as, to coin a Sgt. Schultz phrase - "I know Nothing"

Anyone choosing to write about early Colts needs to be very careful as there are many enthusiasts who really do know their Colts ! - Indeed, one gun photo that I was looking at using here - proved to have 'Made in Italy' stamped on its barrel - not quiet what I needed eh!

                            Colt .45" 1873/74. - Colt-Schofield 1875. - .45" Long Colt.
                               - Just three of the Thirty Different Chamberings !

The 1875 SAA was also known as "The Gun That Won the West" and continued in production as the US Militarys primary side-arm until it was replaced in 1892 by the double action .38" Long Colt Model 1892.

The Colt Frontier Six-Shooter (1877) was a variation introduced in 44-40 WCF Caliber that matched the round used in the Winchester Model 1873 and Model 1892 rifles that were very popular in 'The Old West".

The rather neat Bisley Model was also very popular for fast shooting in the wild west, and the long barrelled Buntline Special has a mythical association with Wyatt Earp and the "Gunfight At The OK Coral".

There are both Second and Third generations of the SAA made by Colt - as well as many replicas.

The one thing that they all have in common is that being single-action they need to have the hammer manually cocked before they can fire - as of-course the trigger has only a single action - to release the hammer.  - This feature allows the movie gun-slinger to spin his guns with his finger through the trigger guard - I would think a very pointless activity if the other guy is quietly taking aim!

This movie action reality(!) may be to blame for so many new shooters immediately putting their fingers on the trigger when they first handle any gun - They really need watching at that very first stage. - The modern version of this nonsense is when movie punks fire their autos while holding them canted over on their sides - is there any reason for such crap?

I was driving down the South Island to an Antique Arms auction in Dunedin in the early 1990s in my Subaru registration number GLOCK 1 and was overtaken near the destination by reg.no. COLT 45 - So I had to have a few smiling words with its owner in the car park about daring to take-on my "semi-auto" in his "antique" !

Oh - just a free advert while I can - If you know of a nice SAA that's being a nuisance gathering dust around the house - I'd be happy to adopt it and take care of it - no charge!
Marty K

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

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STURMEGEHWER 44 - The FIRST Assault-Rifle:

The Sturmgehwer 44 and its 7.92x33mm Kurz cartridge were very significant developments in the history of light weapons. Early versions were known by the Germans during WWII as the  MP43 and the MP44 - (Maschinenpistol 43 , 44) and differ only in relatively small details.

This "Storm-Rifle" was soon to become known as an "Assault Rifle" and its adoption by German Forces in the Second World War came rather too late to make much difference. - Its design and manufacturing method of welding together various stampings was strongly criticised by the allies military experts - so much so that there had to be a strong smell of 'sour grapes' in the air!

German Army studies had indicated that most shooting action occurred at under 200 metres range and didn't need a full power cartridge to be shot from a full-sized rifle. Certainly Specialist troops  manning machine guns - and snipers targeting a selected mark at long range needed the full power rounds - but the Sturmgehwer was a deliberate compromise blend of the full-auto heavy machine-gun, the pistol calibre sub-machine gun  and the full sized bolt-action Kar 98 'battle rifle'.

Perhaps what was needed was a smaller, handier weapon that fired a lighter cartridge than the rifle,  yet more powerful than the 9MM Pistol round, - and might have a full-auto rapid fire capability when needed. - Such a gun was suggested way back in 1918 by Hauptman (Captain) Piderit of the German Small Arms Proofing Committee. - Sadly he was ignored until years later in 1938 when the authorities ordered development of such a weapon   - Enter the MP43, MP44, - The StG44. that eventually proved itself very well on the Eastern Front was something of a blending of the competing designs submitted by both Walther and Haenel.

The Mp44 / StG44 proved to be dependable in the below freezing winter conditions when used against the shorter range Soviet Armys PPs and PPSh-41 sub-machine guns  - having a muzzle velocity from its 16.5 inch barrel of 2,247 ft per sec (compared to the 2,493 ft per sec of the Kar98). Its rate of fire on automatic was between 550 and 600 rpm.

                         8MM (7.92x57) MAUSER, 7.92 Kurz, and 9MM Parabellum.

This new type of  'Assault Rifle' was developed and introduced at a time when Hitler had decreed that all such new weaponry should be put on hold due to administrative infighting through the upper ranks of The Third Reich. So the Armament Office cheated by renaming the weapon while continuing its testing - until they were found-out - stopped and then allowed to again proceed in September 1943 toward its eventual production. - By the end of the war nearly 426,000 had been produced and had proven their value in use with the short 7.92x33mm Kurz Round.

Volksgrenadiers Armed with StG 44s Fighting in The Ardennes (Luxemburg)Dec.1944

Although in no way copies - The Russian AK47 - and the American M-2 Carbine with 30 Round magazines - were built to fulfil the same needs and purposes as the German StG44 - in the full knowledge of the 'STURMGEHWER 44'  - and both teams had sample weapons in their hands to compare - thereby helping push forward the trend for the modern "ASSAULT RIFLE"

Marty K.

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

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'KRUMMLAUF' - & The Israeli 'CORNERSHOT'.

The  WWII Sturmgehwer STG 44 is worth a story all to itself - but I'm talking here only about the shooting around corners part of its history.

KRUMMLAUF (are you having a laugh?)

The Stg 44 KRUMMLAUF  was built in four different degrees of bend - 30, 45, 60, and 90 degrees and for infantry use was aimed using an attached periscope mounted on the barrel.

These bent barrels had very restricted life-spans due to very high internal pressures at the bend. The 30 degrees units were longest lived at around 300 rounds - while the sharper bends were much less.

A second big problem was that as the bullets passed through the curved area they tended to break-up and pass down-range in bits, giving an unintended fragmented  'shotgun' effect. In an effort to reduce pressure at the corner, small holes were drilled on the inside of the bend in the barrel to bleed-off gas pressure - but barrel life remained severely restricted.

The WW2  30 degree 'I' infantry model is said to achieve groups measuring 35mm x 35mm at a hundred metres range.

The Krummlauf  'P' model was a 90 degree version developed to be poked-out the top of  Panzerjager Tiger  casemate type Tank Destroyers which had no machine guns fitted and were otherwise highly vulnerable to enemy troops climbing on board in close engagement attacks. 

                        WWII American M3A1 Sub-Machine Gun Fitted with a Curved Barrel

 A modern take on the 'Krummlauf'' is the Israeli invented 'CORNERSHOT'  pictured below fitted with a Glock pistol and uses a camera and screen rather than mirrors.

CORNERSHOT Looks very Useful eh.



 Note: Journalistic liberties being taken in this video: "The first gun that can shoot around corners"!!

Close-up detail of 'CORNERSHOT' that would not be a happy sight if you are behaving badly!

 Marty K

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870



DANGEROUS VEHICLE CONTROL NEEDED:

Military Style Assault Vehicles - Controls Needed:

The time may be overdue for our politicians  (as a representative democracy nation) to have a look at restricting dangerous vehicle use here in New Zealand.

 These massive noisy, antisocial and often high-powered machines are huge consumers of imported oil-based materials and fuels - and cause thousands of injuries and avoidable deaths to our innocent citizens and children every year.

Powerful commercial interests and influential lobbyists such as the New Zealand Automobile Association have prevented meaningful debate and the introduction of new controls on this avoidable  accident & death toll of our island nations roads.

How long must we ignore the need to stop this toll on our innocent families so that corporate entities can maintain their massive profits - earned from vehicle sales, petrol consumption, and easy revenues from insurance policies?

Let us be clear - 'SUV's such as 4WD "Landcruisers', Hilux,  Landrovers, Jeeps, Safaris, etc - as a class of  ASSAULT VEHICLES must be removed from our roads as they serve no useful function other than to threaten other legitimate travellers by their obstructive bulk and power.

 Their military style off-road traction abilities serve only to allow their users to avoid controls by legitimate road traffic authorities - by rough riding through our otherwise pristine countryside (where they endanger our rare native wildlife and snails.).

New age restrictions are needed with a minimum age of 25 for starting driver training for males and 21 for female potential license holders.

- Further more - high powered race-style machines such as the Mazda MX5, Porche, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes,  etc serve no useful purpose and are capable of killing many innocent victims in one single crash.

Users of such 'Miltary Style Assault Vehicles' can easily have their transport needs satisfied by other means such as bicycles, walking, step-through electric scooters, and public transport - including buses, trains, and taxi shuttle services.

Any move towards these preferred modes of transport will also yield savings in fuel use and help limit our carbon footprint.

There is no need for a total ban on all privately held individual motor transport - all that is needed is new legislation to severely restrict the ownership and use of any vehicles with the following features:

High Capacity Fuel Tanks.
Automatic Transmissions.
Spoilers.
Hood Scoops
Audible Noisy Exhausts
Any performance enhancement such as turbo-charging or supercharged motors.
Any engine having more than four cylinders (five, six, eight, or more).
High Power Engines - capable of exceeding Statutory Speed limits.
"Mag-Alloy" Performance Wheels.
'Go-Faster' Speed Stripes and embellishments.
GPS Navigation Systems (what is wrong with paper maps?)
High or Low seating capacity - the standard two plus two seating arrangement serves well and any variation merely increases dangerous misuse.
- Anyone wearing a hat (including reversed baseball caps) while behind the wheel.

We are not talking about  car crushing,  or car confiscation here - merely essential controls to end a libertarian era of  'First Ship' feral driving - and the tragic crashes on our 'Kiwi' roads.

Pedestrian Organisation Of Foot Free & Ecologicaly Responsible Cyclists.

                                                             ------------------------

Theodore Roosevelt - Cattleman, Rancher, Hunter, (26th President)

Theodore "T.R" Roosevelt Jr. 1858 - 1919.

Born an asthmatic sickly child into a wealthy New York family, Roosevelt - while enjoying the best of home-schooled  education  (followed by Harvard) that money can buy, compensated for his less than robust health by strenuous activities like rowing and boxing and outdoor nature studies, biology, and naval studies - while determined to rise into a position of power in the ruling classes.

That's about all I intend to say about that side of Roosevelt as it's obvious that he was most successful and clever politically - but that's a whole other story, - And I'd guess most parents will know that their kids "Teddy Bear" cuddly toys were named after Theodore R  in 1902 when he was reported widely for refusing a shot at a Black Bear when hunting in Mississipi.

                                                     Roosevelt Standing off Indians
'T.R' Roosevelt was a writer of many books - but particularly of interest here are those about his life in the Dakotas cattle ranching, riding, hunting, shooting, indians and camping-out in extreme blizzard weather. - He describes one time desperately struggling homeward through a freezing snow-storm, without his usual fur overcoat - with icicles hanging from his pony's lips. His stories of hunting and tracking are well worth reading.

                     Roosevelt on a 'White Goat' Hunting trip with "The Missourian"
      from a  F.Remington painting in 'RANCH  LIFE AND THE HUNTING TRAIL'

'T.R'  left the Dakotas ranching phase of his life when he lost all his cattle from blizzards - and returned to political life - forming the "Rough Riders" in the Spanish - American War in 1898. He became famous nation wide for his brave fighting exploits in Cuba.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick" was his slogan in the early 1900s.

In 1909 'T.R' went hunting and collecting in Africa killing approx. 11,400 specimens that were shipped back to American museums.

With him and his son Kermit on this trip were legendary hunter-tracker R J Cunninghame and from time to time the Big-Game hunter and explorer F R Selous.

Roosevelt took with him on this safari as his personal arms - a presentation Holland and Holland double rifle in .500/.450 - a Winchester 1895 in .405 Winchester, - a customised M1903 Army Springfield in .30/06, and a Fox No 12 Shotgun.

On October 14th 1912, Roosevelt was shot in an assassination attempt, but survived and continued with his blood seeping onto his stained shirt, to give a 90 minute speech before agreeing to go to hospital.
- The bullet lodged in his chest only after passing through his metal glasses case and a thick once folded 50 page copy of his speech notes in his jacket pocket. The bullet lodged in his chest muscles

                           BULLET HOLED SPEECH NOTES AND GLASSES CASE
                                           FROM ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

had penetrated three inches and was not removed by doctors. This consequently made his arthritis worse and he could no longer exercise regularly and became somewhat obese.

In 1913-1914 Roosevelt took part in a Brazilian jungle expedition exploring the river Rio da Duvida that was later renamed in his honour. He suffered further injury and illness - being delirious with infection and fever on this mammoth jungle trip - there is his popular book 'Through The Brazillian Wilderness'  that tells all.

I think it would be fair to say that Theodore Roosevelt held many powerful positions in public office and led an interesting and full life that was closely involved with firearms - both from behind and in front of guns (as a target).

When five years later -suffering from breathing difficulties he died in his sleep in the early hours of January 6th 1919 - his son Archie telegraphed his family "THE OLD LION IS DEAD".

                                                    --------------------------

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870