His name was Josh Randall. This just shows my age.
Surely you're Joshing me!
[Sorry, I just had to offer that... but I always liked him better as Vin or Virgil Hilts, or maybe Jake Holman or Reese.]
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Posted on 08/07/2003 10:52:17 AM PDT by Long Cut
During the US congressional hearings on the effectiveness and reliability of the M16 rifle in Vietnam, INTERARMCO/Interarms owner, weapons broker and dealer Sam Cummings was called to testify as an expert on the capabilities of the M16 and the Vietnamese and Korean fielded M1 and M2 carbines, since the congressmen were suspicious about the forthrightness of some of the testimony they'd received from Army Ordnance senior officers.
Commenting on the Carbine's WWII development as a replacement for the pistol for rear-area and support troops and that accordingly, its performance was more akin to that of a .32 or .38 pistol rather than a serious Infantryman's rifle and that in comparison, it was a *dog,* the Representatives were mildly shocked when their own stenographer jumped up and said *He's right! He's right! During the Battle of the Bulge, I popped a Kraut with eight hits from with my carbine, and the bastard got back up and nailed me....*
It seems the congressional investigators hadn't needed to have gone to such great lengths to find a real expert. They had one working for them all along....
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His name was Josh Randall. This just shows my age.
Surely you're Joshing me!
[Sorry, I just had to offer that... but I always liked him better as Vin or Virgil Hilts, or maybe Jake Holman or Reese.]
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Yep. Mel Johnson, designer of the Johnson semiauto rifle and Johnson Light Machinegun did some postwat work with doing just that, the result known variously as 5,7 Spitfire or 5,7 MMJ.
Johnson did most of his work with light projectiles in the 55-grain range, as used in the M193 version of the 5,56mm M16 round of the period, and a 1:12 barrel rifling twist.
With a 1:9 twist barrel suitable for either the light bullets or the heavier .224 bullets now popular- and the NATO SS-109 bullet with a potential for soft body armour penetration, the 5,7 MMJ might just have some utility today.
The handgun possibilities would include the pistol versions of the M1 carbine, the Universal and Iver Johnson Enforcers, and possibly a rebarrelled Ruger Blackhawk, once available in .30 carbine, could receive a new chamber for the semi-wildcat. But the idea has potential. And loaded ammunition is available from Quality Cartridge in Maryland.
It's the second cartridge from the left in the pic below, between a round of 4.85 British on the left and a .224 Winchester cartridge to its right. The fourth one over, with the red waterproofing lacuer at the case neck, is a 5,45x39mm Soviet cartridge, to give you some idea of the relative size.
Nooooooooooo - now it is still being pushed on Congress in a new form. These excerpts are from the NRAILA e-mails I get.
"H.R. 2038, introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), does not just "reenact" or "reauthorize" the 1994 Clinton ban. It bans millions more guns. And it begins backdoor registration of guns."
"In the Senate, the Clinton gun ban`s authors, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), introduced S. 1034. The bill is less extreme than McCarthy`s, which they hope will give it a greater chance of passage. Like H.R. 2038, S. 1034 does not merely "reauthorize" or "extend" the Clinton gun ban, it: permanently bans millions of guns and ammunition magazines, including magazines used in the most popular target shooting rifles and conventional handguns; expands the Clinton gun ban by prohibiting the importation of "large-capacity" magazines; and places legitimate importers at increased risk of unfair prosecution for a 10-year felony offense."
So if you haven't writen to your congresscritters to oppose these bill's, I urgently suggest that you do so now. It is urgent to take action against these measures. I haven't heard of them being defeated yet, so everyone needs to take action now!
110 grain Jacketed ball
1900 Feet per second
Remember the .256 Hawkeye versions of the Ruger Blackhawk, and, I believe in the Ruger singleshot #1 rifle or carbine for a year or two?
A pal of mine reworked a Martini Cadet singleshot to take the .256 cartridge but with the case neck expanded to use a .308 bullet, which offered a much wider selection of bullet weights and styles. That was a good bit more esoteric than the usual reworking of the Cadet actions to a .38 or .357 revolver cartridge, common at that time, but the resulting rifle was a little joy both to carry and shoot, and took a good many whitetails in the Kentucky woods for its owner. I suspect a .38/.357 would have done about as well, and even an M1 carbine will do okay with a good hollowpoint bullet for such work. But that was a sweet little setup.
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We may be saying things like that about the current crop of short/fat magnums that have popped up like so many mushrooms. But as shorties, there might be some interesting possibilities for use in autoloader actions. Or other things....
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What do you guys know about his one?
A reworked Indian version of the venerable British Short Model Lee Enfield, but rechambered to accept the rimless 7,62 NATO/ .308 Winchester cartridge.
The stone-reliable ejection of the SMLE with the rimmed .308 becomes a bit more iffy with the rimless .308, due in part to the wide variation of case base diameters and rim thicknesses; 7,62 has been produced by a lot of different countries to a lot of differing specifications.
If you do go that route, I urge you to experiment carefully as to what varieties of ammo work well through the Enfield action- I prefer the later #4 myself, though my kid favours the late SMLE in the original .303 British chambering, about equal ballistically to the .308 in any event- particularly as to reliable ejection. THat adjustment is critical on the reworked .308s, and note that when the British rebarrelled their wartime #4 snipers' rifles to the 7,62 NATO, they rearranged the ejector much differently from the Indian 2A1 pattern.
The synthetic stocks and satin nickel finish are okay if you like that sort of thing; I'm more a wood and Parkerizing or Sunkorite fan meself.
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I bought it not too long after the Ruger pistols were introduced.
It was far more accurate than I would have thought and of course would fire about half a dozen different cartridges. I don't know exactly what the ballistics were from that longer barrel but they must have been pretty decent.
For a couple of years just about every time I would traipse through the woods I would carry the rifle and stick a Beretta model 70 .22lr in my pocket.
Its price looks to be $299.95, which looks DAMN good.
Try a websearch for *Kimball .30 carbine*. I believe the auto-mag folks also produced at least some prototypes of a scaled-down version of their .44 Automag in a .30 caliber carbine version. But if you rework either into a 5,7 MMJ, don't let the collectors find out or you may be facing crowds of them conming after you with pitchforks and torches.
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