Alex C.

A dixie cup full of dirt rendered the gun completely inoperable.

The most interesting car ever made. The death rattle of the steam powered automobile. Direct drive, no boiler ('Merican steampunk magic), 4 cylinder compound engine with high and low power pistons, 6 crystals used to regulate burners, one spark plug. If you have the time, for the love of god watch this: "Howard Huges preferred his Doble, because it was the only car that would out accelerate his Duesenberg."

Needle guns were very short lived even in Europe. They were around for quite a while, but really only saw heavy use by the Prussians from the Seven Weeks War and on into the Franco-Prussian War, when it was replaced in 1871 with the Mauser model 1871 (that used metallic cartridges). The French used the Chassepot only for a few years until they realized it could be upgraded to fire metallic cartridges (we did this with our Springfields). Basically metallic cartridges took over before we "needed" to get ahold of needle guns. In 1860 the Spencer and the Henry rifles were designed and production soon started. While these were not in the hands of every soldier on the battlefield, in the years after the civil war the US got the Trapdoor (which we clung to for far too long, as guns like the Mauser 71/84 were exponentially better). Remember that America was pretty insignificant on the global stage during the needle-fire era. The old Bismarck quote "The Americans are truly a lucky people. They are bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors and to the east and west by fish" seems to apply here.

C&Rsenal is probably my favorite. Perfect fusion of history and firearms, and Othais does an incredible job.

Is it likely that advancements in body armor could outpace small arms development? Because I want a Holtzman shield from Dune. Seriously though, advancements in armor have thrown humanity for a loop several times in history.

You can get a Makarov or Tokarev for about the same price these days, and both are better cheap combloc options.

What is the Russian equivalent of a trailer-dwelling man in an incestuous relationship with a cousin who also has has poor, dated taste in music? Because THAT is that dude's ride... and hopefully third-gen f body stereotypes are trans-atlantic.

The Sturgeon M4 Update Package:

Lol. Issue weapons only.

My 'Merican military rifle rack is now rounded out, with most major offerings since 1892: .

Lol. Nathaniel is well aware of my passion for automobiles. Believe it or not it surpasses my deep-running appreciation for firearms! But lets throw in some factoids for anyone who doesn't think much of the humble old internal combustion engine... by referencing what 500 C.I. is capable of: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/0403_top_fuel_dragsters/ * One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500. * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. * A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster’s supercharger. * With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle. * At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F. * Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases. * Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder. * Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow. * If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half. * Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence. * In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G’s. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G’s. * Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! * Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. * The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM. * THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 MPH (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66′ of the run (09/28/03, Doug Kalitta). Putting this all into perspective: Lets say the you are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass by it. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the ‘Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. Just as you pass the Top Fuel Dragster the ‘tree’ goes green for both of you. The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it – from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race! Or by the numbers: http://www.motortrend.com/features/112_0502_top_fuel_numbers/ 7500 - Approximate peak output, in horsepower, of a competitive 2005 Top Fuel engine. That's almost 1000 horsepower per cylinder. 500 - Engine capacity, in cubic inches. The block and heads are CNC-milled from solid billets of aluminum, and the oil pan is titanium. 45.5 - Maximum boost, in psi, produced by the supercharger at wide-open throttle. That's more than 3.0 bar, twice the boost achieved by a Mitsubishi Evo VIII. 12,654 - Rpm the supercharger spins at maximum engine speed. With the engine at 8500 rpm, just turning the supercharger soaks up 900 horsepower. 165 - Temperature in Fahrenheit of the 14-71-type supercharger after just 4.5 seconds of maximum boost. 569 - Number of times the engine's crankshaft turns during the entire quarter mile. Each intake valve opens 284 times. 16 - Spark plugs per engine. The twin MSD magnetos produce 88 amps. You need just 12 more to power your MIG welder. 77 - Gallons per minute the fuel system can pump at wide-open throttle. The engine will consume 22.75 gallons of fuel during warmup, burnout, staging, and the quarter-mile run. 900 - Cost, in dollars, of a 55-gallon drum of nitromethane fuel. Current regulations allow a maximum of 85 percent nitromethane in the fuel mix. The rest is alcohol. 58,700 - About what you'll pay, in dollars, for a new, ready-to-run Top Fuel engine. 29 - Minutes it takes to tear down and rebuild a Top Fuel engine between rounds. Each engine is rebuilt 184 times a year (if the driver goes to the final round at every race). 28 - Quarts of oil used during warm-up and quarter-mile run. The oil pan holds 70-weight oil mixed with special thickener. 6 - The maximum number of clutch discs in a Top Fuel car. The multistage clutch is timed to progressively lock up during the run. Each $115 disc lasts a maximum of three runs. 2225 - Minimum weight, in pounds, of a Top Fuel dragster. That's a power-to-weight ratio of 3.37 horsepower per pound, about 20 times better than the new Z06 Corvette's. 300 - Wheelbase, in inches, of a Top Fuel dragster. About 3000 inches of chrome-moly tubing is needed to build the frame, which is left unpainted because of the need to constantly weld cracks. 1082 - Greenbacks you'll need to buy a pair of new Goodyear R36x17.5 rear slicks. If you're lucky, they'll last you a bit over a mile--four runs. 58 - Bead Lock bolts used to retain each rear tire to the wheel. Tire pressures are set between 6.5 and 7.5 psi. ...And Here's What It Does 0.84 - Seconds it takes for a Top Fueler to accelerate to 100 mph from standstill. At launch, drivers are subjected to up to 4.75 g--more than a space-shuttle astronaut. 333.08 - Top speed, in mph, of the 2004 NHRA Top Fuel Championship-winning U.S. Army dragster. When he pops the parachute at the end of his run, driver Tony Schumacher experiences peak deceleration of 6 g. 12,000 - Downforce, in pounds, generated by the rear wing at 325 mph. The downward thrust made by the exhaust gases escaping the headers alone generates 800 pounds of downforce. 85 - Distance, in inches, you'll need to be above the header pipes to avoid getting toasted by the nitro flames exiting those pipes. 8.5 - Number of inches the rolling diameter of the rear tires grows during a 325-mph run, reaching a maximum of 44.5 inches.

Also, a little project I have been working on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QEhPwVd2AE 657 at the wheels (750 of so HP at the fly) on pump gas for a little 4.6 liter aint too bad. Of course the little bastard camming and the giant "HOOSIER" logos have stifled any potential money races. I took Miles Vining from TFB/Small Arms Review for a ride when he was in town and scared the hell out of him. However it wasn't my fault: A little slammed Evo with cheater slicks, a giant FMIC, and a BOV that could be heard in the next county saw it fit to challenge me

From a photoshoot a while back in my shop: The GT's shortblock can withstand well into 4 digits, and Ford engineers overbuilt the hell out of it. The 4v heads flow an incredible amount of air as well, and a stock longblock with more boost than the factory twin screw delivers will put down really earth-shattering horsepower. Of course, being a Ford mod-motor, they are easy to squeeze power out of (as opposed to a Lambo that needs a shop like Hennessey). However, to be quite honest the car is somewhat boring to drive. It accelerates so smoothly that it does not throw you back into the seat like most high performance cars do. You simply see the speedometer rushing to the peg while you try and keep up rowing gears. Also, did I mention you can squeeze a lot of power out of them?

Chrysler had a practical turbine car. I have seen one and they are amazing machines through and through. My old man worked at a gas station as a kid and he said there was one that would regularly drive by and you could hear its very distinctive sound from very far away:

You posed the question, but what do you think will be the next leap?

If a package the size and weight of an EoTech 512 could present you with wind speed, range, and calculate suggested holdover and windage all the while running off of two AA batteries, I would say we would have a hell of a breakthrough, but cost effectiveness would be the real issue there.

The problem with integrating power supplies is weight and of course that they run out of juice. You might think that they could install some kind of magneto, stator, or alternator type system that uses some kind of component of the action cycling to recharge the supply, but you have to take into account that firefights are rare for most military men equipped with a gun. Even an infantryman may never actually see a real engagement during his time in. But it is undeniable that optics technology has come a long way.

This morning at work I was showing a coworker with a mutual interest in small arms a photo of the Steyr-Roth I posted in the small arms thread, and another coworker who knows next to nothing about firearms asked if it was worse/less lethal than a modern firearm. Well, if you were in a room full of aficionados, some might argue that modern pistols are more lethal due to capacity, weight, reliability, cartridge power, etc., but on the other hand a portion would argue that the changes have been somewhat insignificant. Compare this to other military innovations, such as the difference in aircraft, tanks, ships, and so on relative to today and you see that these have evolved to a much greater extent. While obviously we have fancy alloys, self loaders, and improved propellants nowadays, you see the venerable AK rifle soldiering on with "improved" replacements being put off or deemed not cost effective. Forgive the simplified narrative above, but do you think we have reached somewhat of a plateau in small arms tech? In the past there have been definitive points that changed everything; Flintlocks, the self contained cartridge, smokeless powder, self loading firearms, and so on, but we have been waiting for the next big technological leap for decades. What could be the next big leap the bridge the gap between now and phased plasma rifles in the 40 watt range? I suppose the obvious answer would be caseless ammunition, but that has its own set of issues that seem to present more problems than it solves. Of course, it is very possible that we may never see another "Lebel moment" again, but that is disappointing.

I agree. However people would be in for a shock when they realized what a now "affordable" FN MAG would cost (when the unit price for the US military is over $7,000 and Ohio Ordnance charges $14,000 for single unit sales). Hell, people are bitching that the repop FG42s aren't free.

I find it hilarious how the people attracted to those groups are often the worst examples of the Aryan archetype desired by the Nazi big dogs.

Elaborate.

Regardless of the gun's past, that is to say even if Joe Blow ordered it from the Sear's catalog, it would be worth a considerable amount of money in that condition with the case and accessories.

Ughh. I was shocked that that got posted when this sold for over $80,000 two weeks ago: http://www.rockislandauction.com/viewitem/aid/65/lid/1597 My favorite is "repeal the ban so that these/STG44s/Lewis guns/Belt feds/etc. will be affordable again!". Yes, because the price on firearms with historical cadences and accolades would suddenly be competitively priced with a Del-Ton AR15.

Indeed, but cavalry had always been a symbol of imperial might and authority so it was not unusual for them to get the latest and greatest (and shiniest) stuff. Also, Franz Joseph was the self proclaimed "last emperor of the old school" so he would have certainly wanted to see cavalry well equipped.