LocustFork
Are you a Barrett dealer? What price would you have to have for a Barrett M82A1?
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Finally got around to meeting up with my FFL dealer yesterday that you shipped the Ruger Mark (Giveaway) gun to. It's a pretty cool little plinker. Thanks again!!! 0 -
what would you place the value on a wasr 10 (HI CAP) with polymer front grip folding stock and orginal wood stoks recoil buffer and only 500 rounds max through it I got it brand new form my local ffl dealer I also have a 75 round drum just looking for what a dealer would offer me. im not lookings to sell just need to get a value. Please help thanks! 0 -
Email Sent 0 -
I am very glad to hear you like it. You did a GREAT job on the history lesson for me.....It answered a lot of questions and filled some gaps I had wondered about. Thank you for participating. 0 -
Hey that was a cool giveaway. I didn't enter because I knew I'd be a youngster among the adults...but I also didn't see the winning entry.
Can you repost it please?
Congrats goldeneagle76.0 -
Goldeneagle76 wrote......
Between 1257 and 1265, Scientist Roger Bacon wrote a book of chemistry called Opus Majus which contained a recipe for gunpowder.
1346 first use of cannon which rests on unimpeachable evidence, and which seems to have been productive of much effect, was at the battle of Cressey. Here it is most usual to date the employment of artillery. That day which witnessed the first efficient use of a weapon destined to revolutionize the art of war.
Hand Gonne introduced in 1400
A French translation of Quintus Curtius made by Vasqua de Lucene, a Portuguese, in 1486, preserved among the Burney MSS. of the British Museum, exhibits in one of its illuminations the earliest representation of hand fire-arms which has yet been discovered.
Flash Pan introduced. With Hand Gonne it was just too difficult to use one hand to touch a lit match to an open hole in the gun barrel in the heat of battle while trying to hold the gun steady with the other hand. Also, there was often not enough gunpowder exposed at the touch-hole to ignite reliably. So, the gun designers had to come up with a more reliable system to get the gunpowder lit in a hurry.
Matchlock was a welcome improvement in the mid-fifteenth century and remained in use even into the early 1700s, when it was much cheaper to mass produce than the better classes of firearms with more sophisticated ignition systems.
1517 Wheel Lock was the next step in firearms evolution. It is said to have been invented by Johann Kiefuss of Nuremberg. Like a lighter the same system was used in these firearms to create sparks as needed to ignite the gunpowder to fire the gun. No more waiting to get a wick lit, and no more stressing about it going out in wet weather.
1570 Snaphaunce first appeared (early Flintlock). This mechanism was much simpler and less expensive than the Wheel Lock.
1612 Flintlock was developed in France. With the Flintlock the striking surface and flashpan cover are all one piece, where in the Snaphaunce they are separate mechanisms. This made the mechanism even simpler, less expensive, and more reliable than its predecessor.
early 1700s the Brown Bess Flintlock made its appearance. By this time, the flintlock was accurate up to about 80 yards but nobody could aim at a man and kill him at 200 yards. A shooter of average experience could load and fire two to three rounds per minute.
In 1718, James Puckle of London, England, invented, the "Puckle Gun," a tripod-mounted, single-barreled flintlock gun fitted with a multishot revolving cylinder. This weapon fired nine shots per minute at a time when the standard soldier's musket could be loaded and fired but three times per minute. Puckle demonstrated two versions of the basic design. One intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second variant, to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets, which were believed to cause more severe and painful wounds than spherical projectiles.
1805 Percussion Cap ignition system was developed. This firing mechanism is a great step in advancement from its predecessors because it does not use an exposed flashpan to begin the ignition process. Instead, it has a simple tube which leads straight into the gun barrel. Percussion cap was the key to making reliable rotating-block guns (revolvers) which would fire reliably. The percussion cap firing mechanism gave an individual soldier a weapon of precision and reliability which was used to devastating effect in the U.S. Civil War.
In 1855 the "Enfield" took the place of the smooth-bore musket as the general arm of the infantry of the line, and the place of the "Brunswick" in our rifle regiments. Here, then, we may date the beginning of long-range rifle-fire. It was applied with good effect in India during the Mutiny, and afterwards in the hill fights with the frontier tribes.
1856 "Horace Smith & Daniel Wesson formed their second partnership (S&W) in 1856 for the development and manufacture of a revolver chambered for a self contained metallic cartridge. A licensing agreement was arranged between Smith and Wesson and Rollin White. In 1855, Rollin White patented the bored-through cylinder.
1861 Doctor Richard Gatling patented his design of the "Gatling Gun", a six-barreled weapon capable of firing a (then) phenomenal 200 rounds per minute. Richard Gatling created his gun during the American Civil War, he believed his invention would end war by making it unthinkable to use due to the horrific carnage possible by his weapons. At the least, the Gatling Gun's power would reduce the number of soldiers required to remain on the battlefield.
1863 Samuel Gardiner, Jr. received a U.S. Patent in 1863 on a "high explosive rifle bullet" in .54, .58, and .69 calibers. Fused to explode 1 1/4 seconds after firing, it ensured that any soldier hit by the projectile with a range of 400 yards faced the danger of the bullet exploding within the impact wound. The U.S. Government purchased 110,000 rounds of such ammunition for issue during the Civil War. General Ulysses S. Grant complained that "their use is barbarous because they produce increased suffering without any increased advantage to using them."
In 1880, August Fiedler (Stronsdorf), forestry commissioner of Prince Reuss, managed to build the first telescopic sight that really did work.
1918 The Thompson submachine gun or Tommy gun was invented by General John T. Thompson, it was the first hand held machine gun. Thompson was driven with the thought of creating a hand held machine gun that would help end the First World War, However, "the first shipment of prototype guns destined for Europe arrived at the docks in New York city on November 11, 1918, the day the War ended."
1934 Canadian, John Garand invented the M1 semiautomatic rifle which was adopted in 1936 after grueling tests by the Army. It was gas-operated, weighed under 10 pounds, and was loaded by an 8-round clip. It fired more than twice as fast as the Army's previous standard-issue rifle and was praised by General George S. Patton
The history of the modern assault rifle begins with the German Sturmgewehr used during WW2, the first rifle that could fire a medium size bullet at high rates of fire. In response the U.S. military began developing their own assault rifle, the result was the M16 assault rifle, first issued to American Soldiers in Vietnam in 1968 and designed by Eugene Stoner, a Marine Corps Veteran.0 -
Gatorhide wrote.....
Gunpowder was the very beginning of firearms. It was probably an accidental discovery for it's use as the force to propel a projectile thru a barrel and thus create a weapon. The definite places and dates of the discovery of gunpowder can never be established for certain. However, China is a logical starting point, considering that fireworks began there and are an accepted part of their history.
The Arabs however were also chemists, and their culture flourished while Europe was still in the dark ages. Arabs also served both China and Europe with their sciences, and there is evidence that they may have also had some developing input in the creation of black powder. The first recorded individual's name in history to appear concerning the making of gunpowder was Mr. Friar Roger Bacon from England, who recorded the formula for gunpowder in 1250. The first black powder was dustlike and unreliable and was hard to keep mixed up. The secret was to get the powder to burn and not to explode. This is where the fireworks formula, and the accepted formula for gun powder clash heads as to the inventor.
Cannons were the first type of weapons using gun powder, and shot a crossbow bolt type of projectile, and were the first used by the Spanish, Majorana, and English in about 1350.Some of these cannons were small and hand held, however the modern firearms came slowly because of their poor design and inherited flaws which caused them to fail often. As with anything else, this new discovery had to evolve in design in order to succeed in function.
The traces of modern firearms proved very slow to evolve indeed as they would fail more often than not. Reliability was non existent, and also included the fatal flaw of being too slow and clumsy to fire.This proved unreliable for war at any level. Mankind for whatever reasons did not actively pursue this new invention, and instead reverted back to his own knowing ways to confidently fight and hunt with his traditional weapons of the time such as bows, battle axes, spears, knives, clubs, sling shots, and traps among others.
The earliest firearms had smooth bores and could fire stones and irregular scraps of iron. When rifling was invented, the obvious best material to use was lead for several reasons including easily melted into a mold for bullet shape, soft enough to be controlled by the rifling itself, and yet heavy enough to retain the required velocity and sufficient penetration over an extended distance.
The first type of a firing mechanism was the matchlock, which had many shortcomings. Around 1500 the wheel locks mechanisms appeared to replace the former. The flintlock quickly proved to be the efficient mechanism to replace both predecessors and would prove to be a very effective and simple design that would remain true to its form for centuries to come.
The flintlock eventually would give way to the newest kid on the block in 1830 with the invention of Percussion and Pinfire arms. This is when the mountain mans need for a grizzly stopper and a buffalo killer created these changes. Although the military chose to stay with the proven flintlock. Percussion arms would prove to be the on ramp to the freeway in modern cartridge developments and designs. However, just as importantly, the much needed trend towards the improvement of loading speed and convenience which also further led to the modernization of firearms. The most needed changes were self-contained weather proof cartridges, and in 1857 Smith & Wesson came out with the 22 Short rimfire which was the first of 75 different rimfire cartridges to be released in due time from several different companies.
Breech loading and repeaters would succeed and play a vital role in The war between the states, and had an enormous influence upon weapons and weapons development itself. Conical bullets had been used for some time by then, but the Minie bullet, perfected by a Capt.Minie of the French army proved revolutionary. It had sufficient accuracy to 600 yds in battle use, but in 58 cal could be deadly to 1,000 yds. By 1865 the muzzle loaders time were running out, though many would remain in use throughout the 19th century, most especially in shotguns. Shops that made guns at this time, did so by hand and they had little standardization from gun to gun, even in caliber and or model numbers given.
The demand outstripped the maker's ability to produce their guns fast enough. A gun made one day would to some degree be different than the same gun produced next week, both in design and parts. This was still a developing industry, and because there was also no assembly or production line, or quality control consistency as we know it today. Consequently replacement parts would have to be hand fitted each time for each gun. No two were made exactly alike in the early days.
Black powder still remained as the propellant with the invention of the metallic cartridges. The next forward step was the introduction of the centerfired primer, which proved more efficient than a rimfire in larger calibers. This was the beginning of modern recognized cartridges we all know them today. The 45-70cal. would prove to be the most popular choice in black powder metallic cartridges.
The Buffalo was the object of the worlds' greatest continued hunt, covering a number of years,from 1870 to 1884 for the most part, and would involve thousands of hunters and millions of Buffalo. The modern metallic cartridges loaded with black powder proved to be the tragic end to the great Buffalo herds of the old west. It's estimated that 75 million head of Buffalo once roamed the great vastness of the old west at one time. What a great sight to have been a witness too. Modern day man has only his books, pictures, paintings, and imagination.
Firearms used in the old west, as we see them portrayed on western television shows, all used black powder. Early Black powder itself evolved and re-invented itself over time into a more reliable improvement that would hold its consistency better and not separate from within itself, and would thus became more reliable. All of the Colts, Winchesters, Smith & Wessons, Marlins, Spencers,etc., and all lesser known makers used black powder.
Smokeless powder was invented by an Austrian named Frederick Volkmannaround around 1870. However, it was not until after 1890 that smokeless powder finally began to be accepted. One of the first rifles designed for smokeless powder in America was the 30-30 Winchester mod.1894. The Krag Jorgensen in .30-40 Krag or.30 U.S. was adopted by the U.S. Army and was the first bolt action smokeless rifle/cartridge combination to hold this distinction as a military round. The Krag replaced the single shot 45-70 cal.black powder breech loader as this was the standard troop issued firearm in the old West.
The Krag was discontinued after the Spanish American war in favor of the 1903 Springfield, which was a close copy of the Mauser, and could be loaded with a clip instead of dumping the loose ammo into the side loading box, as with the Krag. At the beginning of the 20th century the military rifle was more important to the sportsmen of the world than at any time previous. The Mauser action is still today considered to be a truly excellent design, both in form and function, with many custom gun makers and production arms companies alike still producing them, or a variant thereof.
Interestingly enough, sportsmen that then used the military rounds to hunt game with, quickly found out that the hard jacketed bullets would not expand, and therefore had very poor results on killing game like deer and coyotes alike. Long after WW1 ended, there were still hunters that swore the German 8 mm and the U.S.3006 were not powerful enough for deer. Unbeknownst to them, the hard jacketed military bullets could deliver their full power, -only- when the bullet met sufficient resistance and expanded, thus receiving more of the delivered energy. Enter the soft point bullets we now all still use for hunting today, except where deep penetration is required as in heavy big game hunting.
The U.S.1903.30cal.Springfield continued to be used thru out WW1,as was the U.S.mod.1917.30 cal. They both were still used thru out WW2.In addition to The Springfield, the U.S. military also used the U.S.M1 Garrand 30cal/3006,the U.S.M1 carbine.30cal/110 gr.bullet and was designed to replace the.45 Auto typically carried by officers, artillery personnel ,and others whose first priority might not be combat. However, the carbine was used in heavy combat, but proved a rather ineffective man stopper. Especially in Korea where the enemy had many layers of clothes on due to the extreme cold weather, and also their limited effective range was a severe handicap.
Side note: A friend of mine named Red Tullock who died back in 1986, was in the Army in WW2 and was involved in many heavy combat battles in the Pacific theater. He told me how he was shooting the M1 carbine at running Jap-o's and he could see the bullets clearly striking the enemy -without- the intended results, as he could see the dust fly from the dried mud on the enemies uniforms, as he was hitting them ,and yet they continued to run. He was not impressed with the carbine's knock down power. He however, had nothing but praise for the M1 Garrand itself. Red Tullock was awarded the Silver Star for bravery, when he single handily attacked a machine gun nest. Armed with only the .45 Automatic, and throwing a number of hand grenades, He was able to kill all of the entrenched enemy soldiers, as was witnessed thru the binoculars of his commanders. They had in fact pulled back from the hill without him, and unbeknowst to him. He found himself alone and charged the nest. When they heard the explosions of grenades and gunfire, they watched his actions from their new location as he charged up that hill to fame.
Weapons used by U.S. forces included the Model 1911.45cal auto, another John Browning design. side note: My wifes'uncle Redell Mills was in the marines in WW2 and saw heavy combat on Iwo Jima,Saipan, and Okinawa among other islands. He tells me that the Reising sub machine gun was a fine weapon in his own experiences. The most famous of the sub machine guns was no doubt the Thompson M1928 also in .45 Cal. The M3 and M3A1"grease gun"available in.45 Cal,or in 9 mm,which would prove much cheaper to produce for the war effort, than the Thompson. The Gerrand would remain the primary battle rifle for the balance of the war, and also remain in service through out the Korean war, and up into 1957.
The M14 service rifle which was adopted by the U.S. military in 1957 to replace the M1 Grande, was a direct spin off of the M1 Grande itself. Improvements were increased ammunition capacity, including the ability to reload with already loaded clips, and the ability to carry additional loaded clips upon ones self. The new 7.62x51 cal. also offered a slight increase in the amount of ammo that could be carried because of a slight reduction in overall length. Production of the basic M14 stopped sometime in 1964.
The M16A1 was the next introduction for the U.S. military to essentially replace its predecessor ,the M14.The M16 was the end result of Eugene Stoners' AR10 as was introduced by Armalite corp.in the mid-1950's.The British Army was the first to jump on Stoners' band wagon with the purchase of 10,000 rifles. The U.S. Air Force was next with the purchase of this new radical designed weapon in 1961.The U.S. Army then followed shortly thereafter and selected it as their new standard issued rifle as well.The 5.56 mm was the new cartage that the M16 was designed around. This was the first 22 Cal. centerfire military round put into use.
This newest 22cal.Center fire allowed the soldier to carry many more rounds of ammo, perhaps creating the phrase of -Spray and Pray-Recoil was noticeable less, however the early models were unreliable and were pronged to jams. This had as much to do with the soldiers not being taught how to clean and care for this weapon as anything else. Also to blame was the new ball powder that had been substituted in place of the proper IMR propellant by the ammunition makers, and somewhere along this time line, the correct loading information had been lost, or was not forwarded to the manufacturer during the early production of this ammo. Bureaucracy does have its downfalls.
The U.S..45 Automatic remained the standard issued sidearm thru 1984. Then the military introduced the Beretta 92F in 9mm in 1985. This has remained the standard military issued sidearm. However, the miltary is once again expressing desire to return back to the 45 Cal.sidearm,at least to be issued in part to some of the U.S.armed forces.
The M16A2 was the next model improvement in the M16A1 rifle. This latest model M16A2 along with the several variants offered, is still in active service today around the world by U.S. military forces fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and anywhere else U.S.troops are stationed. A large number of foreign militaries also subscribe to the M16A2 as well.
Today,the U.S.Dept.Of Defense continues to test any number of future shoulder fired weapons for the future U.S.military soldier.Some are scheduled to become available for use sometime in 2009.One model that was observed on the military channel is a bull pulp design,that is considered to be a smart weapon to some degree,and if adopted as such,will offer a number of currently unavailable futuristic capabilities. These now remain classified,and will offer several different offensive weapons within one shoulder held firearm. Stay Tuned. >written by gatorhide<0 -
Thanks for those Locust. I've not read them yet, but I'll be able to find them later.
-spurge0
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