Category Archives: weapons

Cold War Bruisers– IN COLOR!

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How about this great original color image of brand new frontline RAF and USAF strategic bombers, right out of the Cuban Missile Crisis era.

A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan B.2 (s/n XH535) in flight with a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52H-135-BW Stratofortress (s/n 60-0006)–the first B-52H to fly– over the Mojave desert near Edwards Air Force Base on 10 July 1961. 

U.S. Air Force photo 342-C-KE-14932. National Archives Identifier 176246788

It is notable to compare the two frames, as most people forget just how big the Vulcan was. For reference, the B.2 Vulcan, which entered service in 1960, had a 111-foot wingspan and was 105 feet in length while the B-52H, which entered service the same year, spanned 185 feet and taped out at 159 feet in length. 

Both of these beautiful aircraft went on to meet tragic ends early in their career.

XH535 crashed during a test flight under A&AEE control near Chute, Wiltshire, on 11 May 1964 after entering a spin and then belly-flopping. Four of six crewmembers died, with the pilots saved (albeit the co-pilot with a broken back) as they were able to eject at low altitude.

SN 60-0006, while part of the 34th Bombardment Squadron, 17th Bombardment Wing, crashed while making a ground-controlled approach to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio on 30 May 1974– 50 years ago today– because the aircraft’s rudder and elevators failed. Luckily, there were no fatalities.

Freedom is never free.

21st Century Survival Gun

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A simple new platform that will be headed to shelves this summer is from North Carolina’s Veteran-owned Dark Mountain Arms.

The Stowaway system is a single-shot bolt-action, take-down firearm that is initially being offered in 5.7 NATO but, as it is multi-caliber via an easy swap out of a bolt face and barrel, future options on the table include 9mm, 4.6×30, .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 Mach2, and .17 HMR.

A packable design with a weight of less than 3 pounds (2.8 pounds for the 16-inch threaded barreled rifle and 2 pounds flat for the 5-inch barreled pistol), the gun can be stowed in two primary pieces and then easily reassembled.

More in my column a Guns.com.

Mossberg Plinking

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80 years ago today, Rosyth, Scotland, 25 May 1944: “Leading WREN Bertha Brokliss, of London and WREN Mary Baptiste, of St Annes-on-Sea, Lancashire, being instructed in firing .22 rifles by Chief Gunnery Instructor J Jones, of Irvine, Ayrshire.”

Photo by LT EA Zimmerman, IWM Collection A 23655

Same as above IWM A 23654

The very curious rifles are Mossberg 42M-Bs, of which the British Government ordered some 46,000 between June 1941 (when the U.S. was the “Great Neutral”) and March 1943.

Mossberg 42M-B

Equipped in British service with Parker Hale PH 16 D rear sights, they served in basic marksmanship roles– and some were even passed on to the Home Army Auxillary units and SOE teams with a Parker-Hale small-bore moderator (suppressor) attached, because, why bloody not?

Calling Mr. Roscoe

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One interesting new (well, rebooted) gun design that I am looking forward to testing this summer is the Heritage Roscoe.

A salute to the old-school pocket revolvers from the days of Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, the cigar-box-worthy .38SPL +P Roscoe looks right out of the mid-20th Century, clad in a deep glossy finish, classic round butt wood grips, fixed sights, and a 5-shot cylinder. Plus, it is available in both 2- and 3-inch models.

Best yet, it has an ask of $350, which should translate to $299-ish at retail.

Heritage, the Taurus subsidiary best known for its affordable single-action rimfire pistols and carbines, has launched the Roscoe line. This comes almost a decade after Taurus sunset its popular Model 85 5-shot small-frame revolver line– upgrading it to the larger 6-shot Model 856– and recalls the company’s history during the old Bangor Punta days (1962-72ish) when it was a sister to S&W and they shared tech.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Just a ciggy break and a Schmeisser

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80 Years Ago today. 24 May 1944. Here we see an S&W Victory .38 revolver-armed and cigarette-equipped LT W. Smith, along with platoon Sergeant F.G. White, armed with a captured German MP40 SMG– often incorrectly dubbed a “Schmeisser”– of the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), taking a breather in Pontecorvo, Italy. The two are clad in denim cotton battledress.

Note the good sergeant also has a Mills bomb at the ready while the fact that both men have field glasses count point to them being members of a recon element. The Canadian troops had entered the Liri Valley city that morning, after the breakthrough of the Hitler Line, and found it completely in ruins.

Canadian Army Photo by LT C.E. Nye, who has some 275 images digitized in the Library and Archives Canada. The above is MIKAN 3202714, PA-144722

Pontecorvo May 24, 1944, Canadian troops enter the ruins of the city after hard fighting. (Canadian Army Overseas Photo)

With a lineage that goes back to the War of 1812 and the Fenian Raids but a name that was only bestowed in 1902 after service in the Boer Wars, the RCR was bled white at the Somme, Arras, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele during the Grear War.

At the outbreak of WWII, the RCR was deployed as part of the 1st Canadian Division, garrisoned England for four years, then finally hit the beach in Sicily (Operation Husky) followed by the amphibious action at Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. The RCR fought up the Italian boot, including key battles around the Moro River valley near Ortona in December 1943, and the battles on the Hitler and Gothic lines in 1944.

Sent in February 1945 to join the First Canadian Army in Northwest Europe for Operation Goldflake, they ended the war in Holland, where they inherited lots more German hardware. 

Privates J.A. Taylor and J.D. Villeneuve of the Royal Canadian Regiment stacking rifles turned in by surrendering German soldiers, IJmuiden, Netherlands, 11 May 1945. LAC 3211669

A common theme that would follow them to Korea in 1951. 

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, with assorted captured DP-28 and PPS 43s in Korea.

The Royal Canadian Regiment has been awarded a total of 61 battle honours since 1812, including 27 for its WWII service.

Comprising three active and one reserve battalion today, their headquarters is at Garrison Petawawa in Ontario.

 

The Glong gets a (much-needed) Update

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One of the models that has been around since almost the beginning, the first Glock 17L, or “Glong” pistols – so named because they have an extended 6-inch barrel and corresponding 8.9-inch slide rather than the standard model’s 4.5/7.3-inch barrel/slide – was introduced as a first-generation gun back in 1988.

Moving up to Gen 2 in 1990 and Gen 3 in 1998, the pistol has been stuck in a world where Boyz II Men and Chumbawamba were still in the Top 40, largely replaced by the similar but more practical/tactical G34.

Well, that is until last week, when the G17L leaped over the Gen 4 standard and went right to Gen 5, complete with a Glock MOS optics plate cut at the 2024 NRA Annual Meetings in Dallas.

Yup, it’s back.

Other updates include the new-style Glock Marksman Barrel (GMB), a better trigger, and the deletion of the oft-detested finger grooves on the grip, replaced by the company’s more modular grip frame that accommodates a series of interchangeable backstraps.

More in my column at Guns.com.

The ‘Fighting Carney’ Back From 51 Engagements off Houthiland, Earns NUC

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With her battle flag hoisted, the early (laid down in 1993) Flight I Burke, USS Carney (DDG-64), returned from an epic 235-day deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Gulf, sailing into her homeport of Mayport, Florida on Sunday after a brief stop in Norfolk.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) visits Naval Station Norfolk following a seven-month deployment, on May 10. Throughout the ship’s seven-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operations, Carney successfully destroyed Houthi-launched weapons, including land attack cruise missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, and unmanned systems. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Manvir Gill)

She accomplished a couple of firsts on her cruise, noted by the Navy as being the “first ship in the area to intercept land-attack cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) launched by Houthi forces toward Israel in October 2023.”

Importantly, she (and class leader Burke) were noted as being the first combat use of the SM-3, when the two tin cans fired a brace of high-flying ABMs at Iranian ballistic missiles headed to Israel on 23 April 2024, splashing at least three.

During her 7-month deployment, while operating in the Red Sea and Eastern Med, Carney:

  • Had 51 engagements
  • Faced Houthi missiles and drones
  • Conducted two strikes in Yemen, destroying 20 targets
  • Shot down one Iranian medium-range ballistic missile

231019-N-GF955-1104 RED SEA (Oct. 19, 2023) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) defeats a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea, Oct. 19. Carney is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to help ensure maritime security and stability in the Middle East region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Lau)

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG-64) defeats a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea, Oct. 19, 2023. US Navy Photo

Not bad for a ship that was commissioned some 28 years ago and hasn’t had a major upgrade/refit to a more modern standard (i.e. SPY-6, etc). 

The engagements broke a record set in 1945 off Okinawa, at least how the Navy marks it.

“I could not be more proud of what the Carney team has done since September,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti aboard Carney. “Called to action on the very first day that you entered the U.S. 5th Fleet, you conducted 51 engagements in 6 months. The last time our Navy directly engaged the enemy to the degree that you have was way back in World War II, and it was the USS Hugh Hadley (DD-774), with her engagement record of 23. You saved lives, ensured the free flow of commerce, and stood up for the rules-based international order and all the values that we hold dear. It has been eye-watering to watch, you are truly America’s Warfighting Navy in action.”

She even apparently got six “kills” with her 5-inch gun, something that hasn’t been documented since 1945. Most were reportedly single-shot swats against low flyers but one went 12 rounds. 

Carney has to be the first tin can with kill rings on her 5 incher since Okinawa. The red stripe is reportedly a LACM crossing shot. Also, note that she has an older 5″/54 Mk 45 Mod 1, which is basically a 1970s design. It would be interesting to see what something like a newer 5-inch/62 Mk 45 Mod 4, helped out by a SPY-6, could accomplish.

The ship earned a Navy Unit Commendation from the SECAV.

Old Crow Flies Onward

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The last American “Triple Ace,” Brig. Gen Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 102.

Born in Oakland in 1922, he enlisted as an aviation cadet with the USAAF right after Pearl Harbor and earned both his butter bar and lead wings by September 1942.

After cutting teeth on the P-39, he joined the 363rd FS, in England flying early model P-51Bs in January 1944 and bagged his first (of six) Messerschmitt Fb 109s on 3 March and, upgraded to a bubble canopy P-51D, by the end of the war would add a He 111 bomber and five Fw 190s to his scorecard, ending the war with 16.25 aerial victories spanning 116 sorties.

Both of Bud Anderson’s Mustangs were dubbed “Old Crow” after the rock gut whisky, the later, P-51D-10-NA Mustang, AAF Ser. No. 44-14450 B6-S, seen here.

Post-war, Anderson continued on active service with the USAF as a test pilot, squadron, and wing commander, ultimately logging over 7,000 hours in over 100 types and retired in 1972 as a full bird colonel, later upgraded to a star in 2022.

He earned two Legion of Merits, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, 16 Air Medals, the French Legion of Honor, and the French Croix de Guerre, among other decorations.

He passed in his sleep at his home in Auburn, California last Friday.

Via the CAF

Crusty M1s

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In one of the gun groups I am in, an FFL recently posted the below group of badly rusted, crusted, and downright moldy M1 Garands. The story is that they had been brought in by a local unspecified Veterans group for service, likely after they got soaked during an event and put away (for a long time) without cleaning.

While there were lots of wringing hands, finger-wagging, “back in my daying,” and sighs in the comments section, few good ideas were introduced.

I will pass on what I passed on then: the Vet group should simply contact the Army’s Ceremonial Rifle Program via TACOM and see what can be done through their offices. Of course, TACOM notes in their FAQ on the program that: “The organization is responsible to properly maintain the rifles. If repairs are required, it is at the organization’s expense,” so they still may be out of luck but, still, it is worth a try.

Of course, where does the program get their guns from anyway?

The CMP’s role

In 2017, while touring the CMP’s sprawling facility in Anniston (across town from the 15,319-acre Anniston Army Depot– the “Army’s attic”), I got the low down on the Army’s ceremonial rifle program, which the CMP supports direction by servicing rifles for veterans’ groups and providing M1s refurbished for this program. At the time, there were an estimated 31,000 rifles out on loan to groups including such organizations as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Disabled American Veterans.

Before the CMP took over support for the groups, there were a myriad of blank-firing adapters and rifle models used, and they didn’t always work. The CMP standardized the process with a single BFA and standardized rifle (the M1) and hasn’t had any complaints about functionality. In a 2019 GSA report, CMP spent $3.6 million on the program since 2008 and at the time stored about 30,000 Ceremonial Rifle Program rifles for free in its warehouses for the Army.

But anyway, if you have a set of loaned M1s via the Ceremonial Rifle Program, please keep them clean and dry!

London Irish at Cassino

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80 years ago today. Official caption: 17 May 1944. “Italy, Fighting around Cassino. A 17-pounder anti-tank gun with part of its protection troop entrenched under the barrel. The men are left to right, L/Cpl McCluskey of Belfast, Rfn Nelson of County Down, and LCpl Kerr of County Tyrone. 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles.”

Taken by Capt. Richard Felix Gade, No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit. IWM NA 15075

Note the M4 Sherman medium tank as well as the Bren gun at the ready in addition to the Ordnance QF 17-pounder.

First fielded in 1943 on the push towards Tunisia to dispatch the Afrika Korps, the 3-inch gun was rushed to serve under the codename Phesant to counter the armor on increasingly heavy German panzers. As such, it replaced the woefully inadequate 57mm QF 6-pounder. However, as it was only able to penetrate 163mm of armor at 500 meters, the 17 pdr was soon replaced after the war by the 120mm BAT recoilless rifle in its anti-tank role.

As for 2 Bn, LIR, the unit dates back to 1916 and landed in France for the Great War as part of the 60th (London) Division, formed from London Irish. Disbanded after WWI, it was stood back up in 1939 initially as part of 6th Armoured Division and later within the 78th (Battleaxe) Division, seeing much combat in Italy including battle honors earned at “Lentini, Simeto Bridgehead, Adrano, Centuripe, Salso Crossing, Simeto Crossing, Malleto, Pursuit to Messina, Sicily 1943, Termoli, Trigno, Sangro, Fossacesia, Teano, Monte Camino, Calabritto, Carigliano Crossing, Damiano, Anzio, Carroceto, Cassino II, Casa Sinagogga, Liri Valley, Trasimene Line, Sanfatucchio, Coriano, Croce, Senio Floodbank, Rimini Line, Ceriano Ridge, Monte Spaduro, Monte Grande, Valli di Commacchio, and Argenta Gap,” then serving as a garrison in occupied Austria postwar.

The British Army in Italy 1945 Infantry of 17 Platoon, ‘H’ Company, 2nd London Irish Rifles move forward through barbed wire defenses on their way to attack a German strongpoint on the southern bank of the River Senio, 22 March 1945. Menzies (Sgt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit IWM NA 23238

Late 20th Century amalgamations saw the LIR folded into the Royal Ulster Rifles, then the Royal Irish Rangers, and finally to The London Regiment, based in Camberwell since 2000 and has seen much recent service in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cyprus in the past quarter century.

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