1 April 2019

[cwo4uscgret]

Something old, something new; something shiny, something blue...

I just picked up this (new to me) S&W Model 686-6 Plus; stainless steel and a seven round cylinder. Haven't shot it yet but that's next on the list. Also shown is my Delta Elite SOCOM/MEUSOC Clone in 10MM.

[cwo4uscgret]

The Swiss have been making excellent quality firearms for centuries; longer then the first Europeans landed in America!

I suspect there are those of you who have a Swiss K-31 (Karibiner) chambered in 7.5 Swiss. The supply of them has mostly dried up; log gone are the under $200 deals for all matching serial numbered guns with a troop tag under the buttplate. I had three at one time; down to one.

This isn't about the K-31 however; it's about an earlier gun, two guns before the K-31; and it's transition/upgrade to a more modern gun.

One of the first Swiss Military Rifles to be chambered in the 7.5 Swiss was 1896/11. The Model 1889 (shooting a different 7.5 Swiss round) was upgraded to the Model 1889/96; which then morphed into the Model 1896/11. This was accomplished by adding a new barrel with new front and rear sights a pistol grip was grafted onto the stock of the rifle. The new rifles were also fitted with 6rd magazines, similar to the 1889/1900 pattern magazine, minus the reinforcing ridge, although the magazine did include a bolt hold-open feature for when the magazine was empty. A new trigger-guard was fitted to accommodate the new magazine.

I bought my 96/11 from a friend in Ohio. It had been his brother's and Fred didn't want it. It is an older import; fully in compliance with the laws at the time it has a sticker showing import by Interarms, Inc! This is not a carbine sized rifle; it has a 30.7" long barrel; the K-31 has a 25.65" barrel. While much of the bluing is gone from my example, the bore and action are almost perfect. The only problem encountered with shooting this gun is that the sights are regulated at 300 Meters! I have, but haven't installed, a taller front sight made to give it a 100 meter center. The s/n on my has a P in front of it; meaning its been "privatized" - taken from service and kept by the person it had originally been issued to.....

[cwo4uscgret]

All guns in all calibers have recoil when shot. With training and technique recoil can be managed. On that note, let me introduce you to the most painful 9mm pistol (and its .380 little brother) I've ever owned and fired.

Here's a Detonics Pocket 9 and a Pocket .380. The Pocket 9 because of its design and construction hurts when you shoot it.

[cwo4uscgret]

On November 19, 1913 this Colt Police Positive Special chambered in .32 Police was shipped along with 49 other guns to Frothingham and Workman, in Montreal, PQ, CA. These guns were the first guns shipped to the Canadian Pacific Railway so they could begin to standardize their guns on their trains, ships, hotels, etc. Mine is marked C. P. R. No. 6 on the butt. I received the Colt letter with the gun. I sent an e-mail to the Security Division of CPR and got a nice e-mail back from their Security Division Director who gave me the info about uses of the gun. He also said the .32 NP guns were phased out prior to WWII; whoever had it all these years too good care of it!

[RKP]

106 and looking great !!

[cwo4uscgret]

Before Bushmaster bought the "Carbon 15" name and remaining stock from them, the Carbon 15 line of guns was made by a company named "Professional Ordnance." Here's a Professional Ordnance Carbon-15 .22 LR rifle.

It is very light; several interesting features as well; one - you can adjust the recoil spring to a specific .22 round to retard the bolt releasing so accuracy isn't affected by recoil; and two - turing the charging handle over changes the gun from semi-auto to essentially a magazine fed single shot bolt action rifle.



With an oversized scope:

[DrHenley]

I like that one!

But...isn't this an oxymoron???

Originally Posted by cwo4uscgret

y a magazine fed single shot bolt action rifle.

[cwo4uscgret]

Doc - shortly after I bought the gun (paid $300 for it which I thought was expensive for a .22) I had a spring go bad. Professional Ordnance was out of business - someone suggested I contact Bushmaster. I did and ended up talking to a gunsmith at Bushmaster who had worked for PO. He actually had a couple of the springs and sent them to me gratis!

That wasn't the first time that had happened; in the early 1980s I took a S&W Model 39 down to the bare frame. Hey a 1911 strip down is a piece of cake; how bad could a DA/SA 9mm semi-auto be? Bad! Imagine using one's coffee table as a work bench; shag carpeting on the floor, and dropping the safety detent piece on the shag carpet! Never found it; wrote a letter to S&W; told them what happened, and about 4 weeks later, received the part in the mail! Good on you S&W!

[cwo4uscgret]

Something a little out of the ordinary. L. W. Seecamp emigrated to the US from Canada after he left Germany at the end of WWII. Before founding the L. W. Seecamp Firearms Company he was an O. F. Mossberg's gun designer. His very small .25 acp, .32 acp, and .380 acp pistols are mechanical marvels.

One thing that he did was to convert Single Action 1911 pistols to Double Action/Single Action guns. Seecamp also authorized other companies to to do the conversions. My Seecamp converted Gold Cup National Match gun was done by a company, TSW, of Paramus, NJ. Here it is:




Here's what the double action mechanism looks like; what looks like a single action trigger - is. You can pull the single action trigger (although you can't do it easily, the DA Trigger blocks access) and fire the gun.

[cwo4uscgret]

and then there was one.

I bought two Italian Military/Police M-1 Carbines from CMP about 12 years ago. I can't remember when but within a year or so of buying them and shooting them I sold one and kept the better shooting of the two. They were both Inland made guns; WWII then to Italy as a Foreign Military Assistance "loan".