When an Atlanta high school finished their construction project this summer, one of the additions that caused some media heartburn was the addition of an indoor shooting range. But the thing is, there are thousands of these ranges already in schools around the county and has been for years…
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk.com
Its called JROTC, and there are 3200 units across the country…
Interesting series of infographics about just what is an improvised EFP. An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively at standoff distances. As the name suggests, the effect of the explosive charge is to deform a metal plate into a slug or rod shape and accelerate it toward a target
Floating around the surplus firearms market is a gun that is often derided as an ‘unlicensed Colt 1911 copy’. Well the truth is, this gun, the Ballester Molina, was designed from the ground up as an homage to John Browning’s .45ACP classic, and they have a growing legion of collectors.
In 1916, Argentina ordered 10,000 Colt 1911s from the US for their military. Unsurprisingly, they liked those so much that they asked for 10 times as many of a slightly modified version from Colt. These are known today as the Colt Systema Modello 1927. By the 1930s, as the US Great Depression turned global, the Argentine government was looking for more of the same gun, only cheaper. And that’s when a local carmaker named HAFDASA seized the moment.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
USS Shark (SSN-591), a Skipjack-class submarine, was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named for the shark. Seen here in 1961 she spent 29-years on active duty before being recycled in 1995.
Displacement: 2,880 long tons (2,930 t) surfaced
3,500 long tons (3,600 t) submerged
Length: 252 ft (77 m)
Beam: 32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: 1 × S5W reactor
2 × Westinghouse steam turbines, 15,000 shp (11 MW)
1 shaft
Speed: 16 knots (18 mph; 30 km/h) surfaced
More than 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h) submerged
Complement: 83
Armament: 6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes
Throughout history, one of the most popular reasons to carry a weapon about your person has been protection against bodily harm, but many also carry to guard against the robbery of personal items—wallet, shoes, watch, wedding ring. While many chose to carry a concealed handgun to keep their valuables on their fingers, once upon a time the jewelry itself may have been their firearm. Enter the Petit Protector.
In the early 1800s saw the height of the Industrial Revolution, in which factories and mechanization took hold of the country and the human imagination. Frankenstein, one of the first depictions of science fiction, was written in 1818. People were fascinated with the latest technology and this definitely held true for firearms as there seemed to be a race to produce oddball defense gadgets.
At the time, personal protection guns were all the rage. The derringer, the pen-gun, the cane gun, and many other things we see as James Bond-style AOWs today had their origins in small shops across Europe and the US during this period.
The ring gun, a revolver mounted to a piece of hand jewelry, was the next logical step.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Here we see the City-class ironclad gunboat USS Baron DeKalb as she plied her way down the interior rivers of North America. Born January 1862 she spent her entire life on the rivers, never seeing blue water. Laid down at the James B. Eads Yard, St. Louis, Missouri just months after the Civil War started at Fort Sumter, she was one of seven stern-wheel powered shallow draught casemate gunboats destined first for the Army and then for the Navy’s Western Gunboat Flotilla. This force was the US Navy’s muscle that would split the Confederacy in two.
The ships, called “Pooks Turtles” after their designer, were the United States’ first ironclad warship, pre-dating the USS Monitor by several months. Each cost $191,000 (about $5-million in today’s figures) which was a bargain.
The 175-foot long boat could float in just 6 feet of muddy water and motor upstream at over 8-knots, powered by her 2 horizontal steam engines and five oblong coal-fired boilers pushing a 22-foot wide paddle-wheel at her stern.
Yes, back in the 1860s they went horizontal with boilers, just like on a steam locomotive. These five fed two engines that turned the ships wheel. DeKalb’s boilers are still supposedly buried in Yazoo Lake, Mississippi under years of sediment.
Her 250-man crew serviced a constantly shifting battery of up-to 18 cannon and naval rifles (although only built with 13 positions) protected by a sloping 2.5-inches of railroad armor plate. Characteristically she carried a yellow band on her twin stacks and a large Masonic compass and dividers stretched between the sister pipes as identification. This has led historians to call her the Masonic Ironclad
Commissioned in 1862 as the USS St Louis, she fought in no less than 18 engagements in 19 months, seeing heavy service. She attacked Fort Donelson (the Gibraltar of the Mississippi), Fort Pillow, captured several Confederate vessels, destroyed the Yazoo City Naval Yard, fought in the Battles of Memphis, Island No 10, Fort Hindman, Fort Pemberton, Haynes Bluff, and made sorties up the wild Yazoo and White River systems, both hotbeds of Confederate snipers and artillery batteries.
Ahhh, nothing like a quiet river cruise for Pook’s Turtles
Off Cairo, Illinois, in 1863, with barges moored in the foreground.
These sister-ships ships are (from left to right):
USS Baron de Kalb (1862-1863);
USS Cincinnati (1862-1865) and
USS Mound City (1862-1865).
Boats are tied astern of Baron de Kalb and Cincinnati.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
It was up the Yazoo that the St Louis, renamed the USS Baron DeKalb after a German-born Revolutionary War officer, found her end. On July 13, 1863 the lucky veteran was holed by an infernal torpedo (a naval mine) in shallow water. There she sank. The US military salvaged her guns, most of her munitions, and anything else they could carry before abandoning the ship to the river.
Her sister-ship, the equally unlucky USS Cairo, was sunk by a mine in similar fashion 12 December 1862. Raised in 1964, she is now on display at the Vicksburg military park, some about 75-miles from where the DeKalb sits in Lake Yazoo.
Today her current location is in a dead bend of the Yazoo River below Yazoo City very near the McGraw-Curran lumber yard. This hairpin bend was cut off from the main channel in the 1950s, creating Lake Yazoo. Prior to this cutoff and at low water the wreck could be seen and was photographed several times by a local resident. The tubular boilers are clearly visible in these photographs. Since that time, the site has completely silted over and even when the lake is dry, cannot be seen. During the 1930s an employee of the lumber mill used a mule team to recover what seemed to be pieces of armor plate to sell for scrap.
Although this wreck is just a few feet off the banks of this quiet and still lake now, it is off limits under penalty of law. Since its still officially US Navy property, you can rest assured the wrath of Washington will be felt by anyone who goes poking around with a magnetometer there. Any possible research or study of a historic wreck must have prior approval of the Naval Heritage and History Command Archaeology Department. The NHC will pursue prosecution of any individual that disturb any naval site.
You can see a wartime photo of Baron De Kalb for a split-second during the opening sequence and theme song of the television show “Big Bang Theory”
Specs:
Displacement: 512 tons
Length: 175 ft (53 m)
Beam: 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
Draught: 6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion: steam engine – Center Wheel, 2 horizontal HP engines (22″ X 6″), 5 boilers
Speed: 9 mph (14 km/h)
Complement: 251 officers and enlisted
Armour: 2.5″ on the casemates,
1.25″ on the pilothouse
Armament:
In 1862 as commissioned:
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 4 × 42-pounder rifles
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle
At sinking
• 1 × 10-inch smoothbore
• 2 × 9-inch smoothbores
• 2 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 2 × 30-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO)
They are possibly one of the best sources of naval lore http://www.warship.org/naval.htm
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.
I’m a member, so should you be!
The ISW posted a very interesting study on the Required Sorties and Weapons to Degrade Syrian Air Force Excluding
Integrated Air Defense System (IADS). Includes number of TLAM sorties (150), JSOW/JDAM sorties, targets, etc.
In short, it says a single CVBG supported by a squadron of F15E’s out of Incerlick could take the Syrians fixed-winged assets apart overnight without a manned aircraft entering thier airspace or even coming in range of thier SAM network.
Its almost a shame to waste a million dollar Tomahawk land attack missile on a flying classic such as this Syrian MIG21 Fishbed. But the rebels will sure love not ducking every-time one of these zip past
According to an article at the Guardian, At least 14% of the American public thinks World Was Z is coming soon to their home towns.
At least I’ll have company….
When you think Winchester rifles, their bolt action Model 70 and the classic lever guns like the 66, 73 and 94 spring to mind. However, the company also made another lever—the 1895—and this gun seems to pop up in the strangest of places.
In the 1890s, Winchester made two types of center-fire rifles: classic lever action guns that used fat, low-velocity bullets, and the single shot 1885 series low/high walls that fired larger rounds. The company needed a repeater that could compete with the new, inexpensive, bolt-action rifles being made by Mauser, Steyr, and others. These ‘bolt guns’ fired full-sized smokeless powder rounds at high velocity and fed from internal box magazines that held a reserve of cartridges. Winchester didn’t have anything comparable with this combination of features, so they turned to their in-house genius, John Browning.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
On India’s northern border with the PRC, there are increasing incidents of Chinese troops walking across the semi-official line of the border which seems to be drawn on an etch-a-sketch. The below grainy video shows a shoving match between some calm and collected Indian troops and the Chinese invaders. If the balloon ever goes up there, it will be epic.