Gun Thread: Happy Mother's Day Edition! [Weasel]

Kate "Ma" Barker c. 1932

Well today it seems fitting to pay tribute to the shooting Moms in our lives, by dragging out our picture of Ma Barker. Happy Mother's Day! In fact, all the shooting 'ettes deserve a special day of their own, don't you think?!

Hey! Remember that time when I promised you a WeaselVideo on the '03 Springfield? Remember that time? Welp, I have some bad news, I couldn't make it to the farm this week so it didn't happen. I'll have it next weekend, I promise!! I double promise! Swearsies!

Anyhow, that's what you get for believing a guy calling himself "Weasel" on the internet, but what do we do for this week? Fortunately, I had some footage saved from a couple of weeks back when I was making the Garand video. So, in an historic WeaselVideo first, we have a Special Guest Shooter! That's right, my main shooting buddy "Geoff" came down to the farm to do some shooting with his MP5. So let's have a look at that, shall we?

WeaselAcres and the H&K MP5

I'm here to tell you, the MP5 is a very, very nice firearm. Bigly very nice. It's a solid platform, and Geoff has done a great job in fitting it out with the folding stock, foregrip and optics, don't you think? A big thank you to Geoff who is probably lurking here this evening, so let's give him a hearty Gun Thread welcome!

The weather is supposed to be great this week, so I am planning to head to the farm for a few days to do some mowing and other chores, and to film the '03 Springfield shooting sequences. I really mean it this time! Honest!

So what else do we have? Well, we're chock full o' content this week!

Our pal Alberta Oil Peon mentioned in the comments last week that he was working on a project gun.

On Friday I messed with the barrel of the Chinese Mystery Pistol. I brought barrel and breechblock home with me, not the frame! So I am legal at border crossing.

Threads on the breech end of the barrel, where it screws into the frame appear to be 5/8-18 NF. Using my thread gauge, 18 tpi is the closest match. Nothing metric even comes close. Looked up British Standard Whitworth, and British Standard Fine, and there is nothing close to 18 tpi in a 5/8" diameter. The thread on the barrel is damaged, so I am going to go with 5/8-18. A 5/8-18 nut does spin on there OK, but a little loosely.

Anyway, my plan is to buy a new Tokarev TT-30 barrel from a Canadian supplier, and once it is in my hands, devise a way to make it fit the mystery pistol. Either thread the barrel in my lathe, or maybe make a threaded sleeve, which could be silver-soldered to the barrel once the right headspace and clocking of the feed ramp and extractor slot is established.

So AOP agreed to send pictures and you can at least believe what he says, because I almost immediately had the following:

Here are 3 pics of the darn thing. It is apparently a Chinese-made copy of an FN model 1900, dating to the warlord era in China, between the fall of the last Emperor, and the rise of the Commies. But it's not chambered in .32 ACP, but in .30 Mauser. Both Mauser Broomhandles and FN 1900's were popular in China during that time, so it's not surprising that some gunsmith there tried to make a "1900 clone" chambered for the hotter cartridge.

Looks like some former owner might have tried to fire a 7.62 X 25 Tokarev cartridge, which then damaged the chamber, and whacked the slide back viciously, too.

And the only marking on it is that one serial number.

Thanks AOP, that's a very cool mystery gun. We'll look forward to more reports as your project moves along!

And from our pal A.H. Lloyd we have the following nice report:

A couple of years ago I started building a Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" out of spare parts. The goal is to have a nice refinished "shooter's gun." It will have little historical value for collectors, but is something one can shoot without remorse. The project had languished, but during the lockdown I took the plunge and bought a reproduction holster/stock.

This may come as a surprise to many people, but right now it's illegal to put a stock on a handgun because "short-barreled rifles" are for some strange reason restricted. You can own them, but you need to get a tax stamp. This restriction is why "braces" are becoming more popular.
Anyhow, the C96 is one of a handful of pistols exempt from this silly rule due to its C&R status. Last weekend, I withdrew to a secure undisclosed location for some range time to see how it shoots.

The distance was about 18 yards and my first 30 shots were with just the pistol.

Not bad for a casual shooter. Weasel would probably have obliterated the bullseye. [...or shot himself in the foot. - Weasel]

Next, I added the stock. If you look at videos about this, you'll see repeated references about the need to tuck the thumb of one's shooting hand lest the hammer smash it. This is absolutely true, and I learned a painful lesson. After applying some dirt and hot iron, I continued, with the result shown below. Pay no attention to the upper two holes, my daughter forgot what target she was engaging with her .22.

In terms of handling, I like the C96 a lot. It is barrel-heavy, but 7.63 Mauser is a very snappy round, and while you get a lot of barrel rise, it then self-corrects. With the stock attached there is much less recoil, leading to faster, more accurate fire. Pistol carbines are all the rage now, but this weapon shows they are nothing new. I understand why the Chinese and Spanish cranked them out in bulk, and why the C96 stayed in production for 40 years (longer if you include the clones).

If not for the expense and rarity of the ammo, this would be a fantastic little plinker. It's a little awkward at first, and using stripper clips is not something most people are used to, but otherwise it is a hoot to shoot. Completely changes the feel of the weapon.

Since I was playing with archaic stuff, I thought it would be fun to take out my Webley Mk VI in .455 and see how it compared. This one has a shaved cylinder, but I've modified some full moon clips to take the original cartridges.

Growing up, I read a great deal about how the .455 was supposedly a hefty round with fearsome recoil, but in the large frame it's very easy to shoot. In fact, the contemporaneous Dreyse M1907 is a lot snappier, but no one talks about the brutal recoil of .32 ACP.

A note on the target: I was having some fun, so I fired it on single action, double action, and unsupported on double action, which generally wrecked my group but was quite enjoyable. All in all, a nice relaxing day at the range. Tragically, I decided to take a canoe home and well, its turned over and everything was lost. Again.

That's a great report, AHL!! Thank you!

Our pal and delightful 'ette Bebe's Boobs Destroy sends us the following question:

Howdy! I've been shopping for a faraday pouch for my phone to foil our contact tracing marxist overlords here in California & it's kinda confusing but I'm pretty sure this is something the horde could help with!

C'mon, people, let's help Bebe out!

Our pal Zeus sends us the following note on WTM's targets from last week:

When I saw the post from WTM and the picture of the target he shot with his .45 LC Judge it reminded me of a story a corrections officer friend told me about his annual range qualification. He shot a good string except for two hits in the throat area of the silhouette target. When adding up his qualification score the range officer told him the two shots in the throat didn't count. His terse reply was," Well, they sure as hell count in the street."

That's a great story, Zeus, thanks for sharing it!

Virginia
VA Indoor ranges to reopen May 15th! Alert courtesy VCDL

Sad people who cannot make the new NoVaMoMe date of August 29th

Due the Chinese Cooties hysteria in Virginia, the NoVaMoMe 2020 has been postponed until Saturday, August 29th. The time and location remain the same. If you haven't already, please check your email and let the Central Planning Committee know if you are able to make the new date. If not, your registration fee will be refunded and we will open your spot to those on the wait list. Questions? Just email us at NoVaMoMe2020 at gee mail dot com. Thank you!

Link-O-Rama

I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA

This week's mail bag entry comes from our pal JT

Man, ain't that the truth. Thanks, JT!

Please note the new and improved gmail account morongunthread at gmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Open Blogger at 07:00 PM

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