Tag Archives: lost gun

Not your average catch of the day

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crate-of-british-enfields-were-dragged-off-newfoundland-in-2011

The archaeology department at Memorial University in St. John’s Newfoundland has been working since 2011 to save a crate of 20 Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled muskets that were delivered to Canada via fishing trawler after an extended period on the bottom of the Atlantic.

The rifles, still in the crate they have been in since around the 1850s-60s, are housed in a large container filled with a chemical solution that includes a bulking agent and corrosion inhibitor designed to stabilize the relics.

“This soaking process will take many years and is done to prevent the wood from collapsing, cracking, or warping once dry and also to prevent any remaining iron from staining the wood surface,” Memorial’s Archaeological Conservator, Donna Teasdale, told me.

And they are now starting to find inspector’s marks on very well preserved brass and walnut.

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More in my column at Guns.com

Do you know anything about this oddball wheelgun?

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Ian over at Forgotten Weapons takes a look at an odd European revolver that just screams steampunk.

“With no markings or provenance at all, the origins of this revolver are a mystery. Its features all point to the 1880s or 1890s, and someone clearly spent a lot of time working on it – but we don’t know who. What makes it interesting is the very unusual operating mechanism. It is similar to a ‘zig-zag’ system like the 1878 Mauser or Webley-Fosbery, but with angled splines on the cylinder instead of grooves.”

When things are so bad that you have to send it to the people

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So in California, which has had an assault weapon ban going all the way back to 1989 and yet still have mass-shootings with California-compliant firearms, lawmakers tried to pass over 20 legislative actions on increased gun control this session.

A baker’s dozen of these made it through the legislature in Dem-heavy votes of which Gov. Jerry Brown signed 7 into law and returned five with vetoes.

Since gun rights groups and Republican lawmakers couldn’t derail these, a group of gun owners on a gun forum (Calguns) got together and decided, “Let’s try for a ballot referendum to repeal these…”

And that’s exactly what they are doing.

With a pressing deadline of Sept.29, they are trying to get 450,000 signatures on 7 different propositions. Of course, California has 13 million gun owners, which by definition should all be capable of registering to vote, so it’s not far-fetched.

I’ve spoken with the man behind the effort, a San Diego tech company executive, and it’s a hail Mary play with a lot of spunk behind it.

More over in my column at Guns.com here and here.

This Smith held up pretty good

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Castaic Lake in LA County (Golden State) is at near-record lows. In fact , that bad boy has dropped 150 feet in recent months. As the lake pulls away from the banks its showing off parts of the mud that are rarely seen. This left a local Castaic fisherman spotting a muddy old backpack in the flats. When he opened it, he got a shock:

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Yup, a Federal T-badge, a pager, calendar from 1992 (what a way to perfectly date it!) and one hell of a corroded Smith and Wesson. You gotta hand it to that Smith though. It looks like a 5904 wondernine (with the safety still on) to me but if not, its definitely in that series. Id like to see what it looks like field stripped. As you may have guessed, all of the above came from a ATF agent who lost them when his fishing boat was swamped 22-years ago and is still with the agency.

More if you are interested here in my column at Guns.com

Stolen Museum Gun Shows Up On TV

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So you’re the curator of a museum and you have a near priceless antique Colt vanish. The police have no leads. No signs of it on Craigslist, Gunbroker, or the local pawnshops. Then late one night almost a year later, while watching TV, in walks your missing gun.

Jim Gordon’s Casa Escuela Museum in Glorieta, New Mexico is a small privately run collection of vintage firearms. Like many small museums, the Escuela does not have regular business hours to eliminate overhead and is by appointment only for interested historians and collectors. One Wylie Gene Newton, a 65-year old collector scheduled a private viewing of the museum. After a second visit, in March 2011, a very rare and beautiful 1849 .44-caliber Colt Dragoon revolver came up missing. Detectives soon paid ole Wylie a visit but came up without the Dragoon. The gun had pulled an Amelia Earhart……

Read more in my column at Firearms Talk.com