Tuesday - December 09, 2008

Gun Porn

Now that Kim has retired, it’s up to the rest of us to put the firearms information out there. I will leave it to the other blogs to cover the scary black rifles and the more mundane firearms. My interest in guns tends towards the unusual and unique. I also appreciate beauty but I don’t like excess. So I won’t focus on the plastic or plain vanilla guns, and I probably won’t show too many of the guns that are so fancy you wouldn’t dare shoot them. Highly figured wood, an excellent finish, and a moderate amount of engraving are about as far as I go. Orphaned cartridges and gun designs also float my boat.

Here is one you might like. It’s about at the top of my “fancy but shootable” scale. It’s a restored and improved 1876 Winchester chambered in .45-75. The .45-75 is a real oddball round. It was probably the first bottleneck “high powered rifle” cartridge designed in America. It was developed as attempt to get the big Army contract. The Army was using the single shot Springfield “Trapdoor” rifle at the time, chambered in the blackpowder .45-70-405. This was plenty enough gun to shoot indians and the horses they rode in on, but the single shot rifle left a lot to be desired when the going got hot; a repeater was needed. Problem was, the only repeating rifles in those days were lever action guns that fired relatively puny cartridges, and none of them had an action long enough to handle the “big” (2.55") .45-70 round. So Winchester made the .45-75; a shorter fatter cartridge that looked like a bigger version of their earlier .38-40. It produced nearly the same ballistics as the .45-70 - a 350 grain bullet at 1350 feet per second - but would fit in the rifles they knew how to make. The Army wasn’t impressed. Their testing showed that the bottleneck cartridge idea doesn’t really work with blackpowder; it just raises pressures with no real increase in velocity. So Winchester put the rifle out for sale on the civilian market, where it was quickly found to be more than enough gun to shoot buffalo with, or anything smaller. Which means anything with feet, as buffalo are rather huge beasties. 132 years later, the .45-70 is still a very popular cartridge. The .45-75 died out in less than a decade. You can still buy ammo for it, but it’s really expensive.

So on to the rifle. This one was restored and improved by Turnbull Restorations. Doug Turnbull is a master gunsmith. Obviously.

The receiver is engraved with a period #10 style engraving pattern with a full body bull moose on the left side plate of the receiver.  The remainder of the receiver is engraved with beautiful detailed scroll work.  The receiver, hammer, lever and butt plate are finished with original Bone Charcoal Color Case Hardening.

The stocks are 3X fancy American Black Walnut with beautiful figure and are checkered with a period correct Winchester factory “H-pattern” checkering.

All this can be yours, for a mere $16,500.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 12/09/2008 at 01:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner