Hmmm. Time to bring back letters of marque and reprisal?
AND stop all this nonsense about what kind of weapons individuals should be “allowed” to own and use.
These two boats, armed with a few basic firearms, beat back a close-range pirate attack, killing or wounding several with shotguns and rifles.
The armed yacht was American, and was named for a LOTR character. Gandalf I think.
Anyway, I've been known to sail pretty good distances, and I sail armed.
This is me.
I even had to chuck a few guns overboard before making an unscheduled stop in Mexico, but that's another story.
It has been years since I’ve even seen a copy of SoF, so my memories are hazy. I remember, out of the half dozen or so issues that I read, the reporting was interesting, thorough, and felt authentic.
JIC™ 500® Mariner® kit includes:
* 500® Mariner®
12 gauge pump-action, 6-round capacity, 18 1/2" barrel bead sight, proprietary Marinecote™ metal finish
* Heavy-duty multi-tool, serrated blade lock-back survival knife and cordura carrying case
* Floating synthetic carrying tube with shoulder strap (tube includes a heavy-duty synthetic seal, factory tested to be air-tight and waterproof to a minimum of 17psi or 40' when properly installed)
* Gun lock
* Swivel studs
* Owner's Manual
* Contents packaged in heavy-duty re-sealable bag
* Easily stores with bumpers and jackets
* Shoots hell out of pirates or sharks
* Also tightens nuts, bolts, cuts bait
Although most firearms are banned, apparently, by the Coast Guard on civilian vessels (or so I’m told) and at many foreign ports, they usually do allow flare pistols.
For a while someone was making steel inserts that would fit into the chamber of a flare gun and accept a pistol or .410 shotgun shell; sort of an “adapter”. Although only a single shot, it would be better than nothing and the chamber insert and a few rounds would be easier to hide aboard a boat than a shotgun or rifle, I would suppose.
I made an 11-inch long 1” OD .58 caliber muzzle loading barrel out of schedule 80 seamless steel pipe that slides into the breech of my German 26.5mm flare pistol and extends out beyond the muzzle. I use if for firing salutes on the 4th of July, but I could have just as easily bored it out to take a 12-ga. shotgun shell - although the recoil would be brutal and I would go to jail if the BATFE ever caught me with it.
Some Gunsmiths have made similar inserts that chamber .44 magnum, .30-30 rifle rounds etc.and are rifled..
the tricky part is getting the extractor to work. Otherwise you have to poke the empties out with a stick from the muzzle.
My boat would have a belt fed .30 cal at a minimum and I probably opt for a M2 .50 cal (even a semi-auto variant) just to be sure they couldn’t safely get within 2000 yards of me.
For many years we took the boat to Cabo for 8 months of the year and always carried handguns and amunition.
For many years we took the boat to Cabo for 8 months of the year and always carried handguns and amunition.
Here is a link to the Soldier of Fortune Magazine site:
http://www.sofmag.com/wp/soldier-of-fortune-magazine/
Crusing World is an interesting magazine, the cooking articles/food storage tips are fab as well.
THey have posted a number of articles over the years about carrying AK47s as a self-defense measure.
I dropped my subscription a number of years ago due to the nature of some of their adverts.
SOF is a must buy each month, the old edition goes to son #2 (as a Grunt, he enjoys the writing) for our recycle efforts...