M1 Garand Animation

I’ve known about this for a bunch of years, but seeing it again just now renewed my appreciation for it. Excellent Flash animation of the working of the superb M1 Garand rifle. Gives me a new appreciation for what John Garand created. Compared to the relative simplicity of a bolt action rifle, the inner workings of his semi-automatic rifle are a feat of imagination and technical ingenuity. 

http://www.garandflash.com/

Blackpowder Musket

Went shooting with a friend a while back. I hadn’t gone shooting in far too long, and had a great time. And if I may be so immodest, I did pretty darn well for being so out of practice.

Just as we were wrapping up some folks showed up to do some black powder shooting. Now personally I’m all about the modern rifles. There is enough to study about that subject alone, without clouding the water with more archaic firearms. But they are undeniably interesting, so it was neat to to see their setups and listen to and watch those shoulder mounted cannons being fired.

Neat to see the different approaches. I totally appreciate the craftsmanship involved in this, but if it was me making a drag bag I’d make it out of Cordura. And my possibles bag would be made out of Cordura too. But I can’t deny that there is something really appealing about gear made out of leather.

Even the targets are rustic.

I’d probably be more interested in blackpowder rifles if I could mount rails, a SureFire light, a vertical foregrip and an Aimpoint on it.

And being able to mount a can on the end would be pretty good too. Son of a bitch, those things roar!