One participant in the Southern Mountains’ Revenue Wars’ of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries stands out. He has been described as the most famous man of
whom you’ve never heard. He epitomizes Appalachia’s resistance to unjust
authority. Not only did he essentially lead a war of evasion of which
the likes of John Rambo would be proud, he lived to tell about it.
Redmond is a shining example of the state-repellant qualities of the
southern mountains.
The man who came to be known as “King of the Moonshiners” life is
partially shrouded in myth. Accounts of his life vary greatly, largely
because he was a leading cause du jour of fictitious dime novels of the 1870’s and 80’s, but the basic facts of his exploits remain true.
Lewis Redmond was most likely born in the northern corner of Georgia
where it meets Western North Carolina on the eve of the War of Northern
Aggression in the 1850’s, although some sources claim he was born in
Swain County, NC.
People throw the phrase ‘battle rifle’ or ‘battle carbine’ around and
it always sounds a little…weird…to me. I suppose you may want to
differentiate between youre hunting rifle that you knock down deer with
and your ‘just in case’ FAL thats sitting in the closet, but ‘battle
rifle’ always sounds kinda hokey. But..what else do you call it? Your
‘social rifle’? I usually just call it a ‘rifle’ and, maybe, depending
on the context, ‘defensive rifle’. Anyway, Friend Of The Blog, Ryan at TSLRF, has been mulling a .308 defensive rifle. I threw my two cents in and suggested the PTR.
The
PTR is a fairly accurate copy of the HK91. There are several copies of
HK rifles out there, and there are a few ‘niche’ or ’boutique’ makers
who make a very nice (and very expensive) product, but in terms of
mass-market stuff its either Century or PTR. My feelings on Century is
that it is the ballistic equivalent of treasure hunting at the sight of
old outhouses….you might find a jewel once in a while, but most of the
time what you find is crap. (Not withstanding their new milled AK which I
may have to get two or three of.)
Personally, I rather like
the FAL. But economically, if you’re wanting a .308 semiauto for the day
the wheels fly of civilization, and you’re on a budget, you would be
hard pressed to find a better value.
Eliminating the exotic
stuff, here’s the rundown of whats available in .308 these days that
fits the bill and isn’t some super-rare oddball thing (like a .308 Galil
or Valmet): AR-10, FAL, PTR, M1A and maybe one of the AK-pattern .308s.
I’m limiting this discussion to stuff based on platforms that have been
around a while…the AR-10 being the newest. Stuff like the KelTec RFB or
other gunny-come-lately need to be around for a while so we can see if
they have legs or not.
Whats your budget for the gun and it’s
necessary gear? Well, let’s say, mmmm, $1250. Let’s also not cheap out
and go with the absolute cheapest [rifle/mag/etc] we can find. We want
what works. So, while the Century FrankenFAL may be 1/2 the price of a
DSA, it is not a contender because it’s simply a crapshoot in terms of
its manufacture. LWRC and SIG don’t have anything for less than $1250 at
the moment. S&W has some ‘bargain’ AR-10 rifles but nothing on
Gunbroker is less than $1250, and while Remington makes one as well I’m
holding off on any of their new stuff until they get their act together
in terms of QC.
A basic rifle suitable for defensive use, not a target, match or hunting gun:
So now ISIS have taken control of the ancient city of Palmyra, biblical
Tadmor in Syria. Palmyra (city of palms) or Tadmor is home to some of
the world’s most magnificent ruins while government troops have almost
entirely withdrawn, leaving the city, its people and its priceless ruins
in the hands of ISIS, which after this victory, ISIS now controls half
of the entire nation of Syria. This in addition, ISIS took control of
Ramadi, a city in Iraq’s Anbar Province while the US military says it is
sending 1,000 anti-tank missiles to the Iraqi government following the
fall of that city. Who knows, most likely such missiles will also fall
in the hand of ISIS since ISIS, as reported in Tadmor, was able to win
their victory as a result of using the TOW missiles to take that city.
What we all have in common here on the Collector's Forum is a passion
for firearms. We share in the history, development, implementation and
geopolitical consequences.
But before the first gun was shouldered some time in the 15th century,
gunpowder had been throwing fire and projectiles for at least 200 years.
And an infantry soldier could use a gonne.
I won't get into the debate of whether gunpowder was first formulated
in China or Europe. Instead, I'd like to show you what I found at a
yardsale today.
It appears to be an eight-shot hand gonne
(handgonne, hand cannon), which could be utilized by an individual or in
tandem. It's well aged piece of cast iron, and missing its handle. The
pole could be braced against the ground or another solid object, or held
underarm to absorb recoil. This one could be equipped with eight loads
of powder, rocks, ceramic, lead or iron shot. It has nine fuse holes,
and could be ignited with flame, coals or slow burning match.
Not very accurate, and not meant for long range. But it had to be quite an attention getter when it was first used in battle.
My best google-fu identifies mine as Chinese, and from the late 15th to
early 17th century. I may be way off! And anyone with any better
information, please be free to add to this early hand cannon topic.
Paul Riddell had a shitty winter. He lost his Minnesota home to a fire one night this past February.
Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire. The house was a total loss, though.
“I lost pretty much everything,” he says.
Aside from all his family’s other possessions, he lost three firearms in the blaze. But, he reports his Aimpoint PRO mounted
on a Spikes lower/BCM-EAG lightweight upper frankenrifle somehow
survived the fire. That’s it in the inset photo of his rifle above, red
dot glowing defiantly. Aimpoint found out about it and already swapped
it for a brand new optic and with a plan to display the survivor in its
museum.
“Here’s a picture of my AR after it was recovered from my
house fire after being exposed to the elements for over a month in late
February to mid March,” said Riddell. “The rifle was at the core of the
fire.”
Mitch McConnell staged an epic gamble over U.S. spying powers — and lost.
The Republican leader pledged to keep senators in Washington through
the weekend to finish work on expiring provisions of the Patriot Act,
but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called his bluff.
Instead, when the smoke cleared in the early hours of Saturday morning, the 2016 presidential contender was the one with bragging rights.
The battle between the two Kentucky Republicans spilled over on the
Senate floor, with Paul using procedural tactics to force the chamber
into an early Saturday vote. He then used his leverage to kill off
McConnell’s repeated attempts to reauthorize the expiring National
Security Agency (NSA) programs — first for two months, then for eight
days, then for five, then three, then two.
The best place to hide a leaf is in a forest. The best place to hide
the truth about what happened six days ago in the parking lot of the
Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco is in the river of non sequitars and lies a
Minnie Pearl clone named W. Patrick Swanton has been spitting at the
press all week.
Swanton is the press officer for the Waco Police Department. On the
one hand he promises “transparency.” On the other hand he modestly
allows that he is unfazed by the personal danger that a vast and
underreported biker threat poses to Texas police, politicians and
citizens. Swanton has been the sole, quotable source of information
about what happened last week so reporters have had no choice but to
quote him. It is either quote Swanton or leave all that blank, white
space around the furniture store ads.
Swanton’s refusal to answer the questions people want answered has
led to increasingly bizarre speculation. Today’s chuckle of the day, if
one can chuckle about this tragedy, is, “A new Foreign Intelligence
Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the
Obama regime’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deliberately
massacred at least 9 innocent motorcycle enthusiasts on 17 May over
fears that one of the clubs participating in a yearly rally in Waco,
Texas, could possibly be linked to the Night Wolves.”
