Important Guns in History #6 & #7

M2 Browning, 1933

Browning's other lasting contribution to weaponry was one of the most formidable machine guns ever made. Designed toward the end of World War I, the M2 began as a water-cooled design but shifted to air-cooled, requiring a heavy barrel. At more than 80 pounds the "Ma Deuce" is a cumbersome weapon, but the .50-caliber round fires with about four times the energy of a typical rifle bullet. It will go through an inch of steel armor and is lethal at two thousand yards. The M2 is still in service with a design that is fundamentally unchanged.

M1 Garand, 1936

Canadian John Garand of the Springfield Armory developed the first semiautomatic rifle to be adopted by a major nation. Technically known as just Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, the gun has always been called a Garand. The gun uses some of the energy from the high-pressure gas generated during firing to eject the spent cartridge and chamber a fresh round. This gives a higher rate of fire than earlier bolt-action weapons, although the clip of just eight rounds reduces ammunition use. About 4 million were produced in World War II; Gen. Patton pronounced the Garand "the greatest battle implement ever devised."

 

Important Guns in History #4 & #5

Maxim Gun, 1883

Sir Hiram Maxim was an American inventor who emigrated to Europe. His creations included fire sprinklers and steam-powered aircraft, but his most successful invention was the Maxim fully automatic machine gun. The weapon was recoil-operated, meaning that it didn't need to be cranked by hand to load new cartridges, as the Gatling gun did. Instead, the force of the recoil ejects the spent cartridge and loads a fresh one. The Maxim proved far more effective and reliable than competing weapons. Both sides of combatants in World War I used versions of the gun; it stayed in service into the 1960s.

Colt M1911, 1911

John Browning developed a new .45 cartridge with improved stopping power in 1904. Later, he built a gun around it. Adopted in 1911, the M1911 earned plenty of respect and caused plenty of fear during decades of service, through two world wars and in Korea and Vietnam before it was replaced by the 9-mm M9 Beretta. The M1911 earned a reputation for accuracy and reliability. Although its replacement has twice the magazine capacity and is less prone to accidental discharge many still prefer the M1911.

Important Guns in History #3

Colt Peacemaker, 1873

Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver, but he was the first to introduce an assembly-line system to make them rather than relying on skilled gunsmiths to handcraft each weapon. Colt's company mass-produced weapons like the Single Action Army, better known as the Peacemaker or Colt 45. Originally designed for the U.S. Cavalry, it became the most widely used handgun during the Wild West years. One version, the Colt Frontier Six Shooter, used the .44-40 Winchester caliber so cowboys could use the same ammunition in their handguns and rifles.

Important Guns in History #2

Gatling Gun, 1862

Dr. Richard Gatling's invention was one of the first real machine guns, with a practical rate of fire of more than 700 .50-caliber rounds per minute. The Gatling gun is a rotating six-barreled weapon driven by a hand crank. Each barrel was loaded and fired mechanically in turn as the barrel rotated, with ammunition fed from a clip by gravity. The gun made a brief appearance in the American Civil War but proved more effective in the Spanish-American War. The British used Gatling guns to deadly effect in colonial wars against massed Zulus in South Africa, Mahdists in the Sudan, and many other wars of this period.

Important Guns in History #1

Hand Cannon, 13th century

China had developed a wide variety of gunpowder weapons known as "fire lances" and "fire dragons," as well as flamethrowers and fireworks, as far back as the 10th century. The first true firearms that used gunpowder to launch a projectile can be dated to the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century. These included bronze hand cannons, which could be held by one man and touched off by another. The range was short and accuracy poor, but the smoke, fire, and roar must have intimidated opponents of the time.

The Usurper

If the shoe fits......

Women with Weapons

for her mistressness: hiswiserangel

Urban Decay Looks Cool!

Perhaps in a Movie or a Video Game...but not in real life.

Unions Are Changing American Schools

Teachers Unions: Destroying the American Dream

Unions: Changing City Skylines

...And Making it Easier for Post-Nuclear Holocaust Video Games to Create Scenery...

PlayStation-Controlled DIY Tank May Be the Wildest Weapon Yet in the Syria War

Syrian rebels, claiming to have spent over a month designing, assembling, and developing a garage-made armored vehicle, debuted the Sham II fighting vehicle near the besieged city of Aleppo earlier today. The Sham II, a reference to ancient Syria (ash-Sham), is a boxy, light armored vehicle built upon a car chassis and is outfitted with a 7.62mm machine gun (which appears to be a Russian-designed PKM) that is controlled from inside the vehicle. The Sham II is also outfitted with five cameras -- three in the front, one mounted on or near the machine gun, and one in the back -- all of which are seemingly controlled by -- a Sony PlayStation remote control. It should be noted that, apparently on the side of caution, Syrian rebels have even outfitted the Sham II with an operable headlight.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/12/syrian_rebels_debut_homemade_f.php#ixzz2EliTrsPI

Unions: We Built This!

Shhhhhh... don't tell the media!